By Jake Donovan

Dejan Zlaticanin has become the latest fighter to join the growing Premier Boxing Champions family. The unbeaten lightweight contender from Montenegro has signed a five-year agreement with powerful adviser Al Haymon, in hopes of big things to come in light of the multitude of PBC shows on various networks these days.

“This is the best thing that has ever happened to me in my career,” insists Zlaticanin (20-0, 13KOs). “He offered the best deal for me at this time. I accepted (the terms) because now with Al Haymon I can make my dreams come true and become a world champion.”

Zlaticanin rose from obscurity following an upset decision win over dethroned lightweight titlist Ricky Burns on the road in Scotland last summer. The 30-year old also boasts a win over Petr Petrov, in fact the last to beat the Russian boxer prior to his going on to win the 2014 ESPN2 Boxcino lightweight tournament.

Despite the upset victory over Burns, big fights have yet to follow. So goes life when you win a fight for which you were supposed to serve as the opponent. Just one fight has come since his breakout performance, scoring a stay-busy win over Alex Bone last October.

The past several months have been spent calling out several fighters, including Omar Figueroa and Jorge Linares. His challenges falling on deaf ears, Zlaticanin opted to arm himself with the most powerful figure in the sport today.

Already being discussed is a possible showdown with a fellow Haymon client, one that should lead to a coveted title shot.

“I expect a WBC final elimination fight against Ivan Redkach (an unbeaten lightweight, who is also advised by Haymon), probably in the end of May.”

Redkach (18-0, 14KOs) is currently slated to headline an April 10 ShoBox card, though an opponent has yet to be secured. Zlaticanin and Redkach are the two highest-rated contenders to the alphabet title held by Linares, who next defends May 30 versus mandatory challenger Kevin Mitchell.

“I hope after I beat Redkach, I will fight against the winner of Linares vs. Mitchell for the title,” wishes Zlaticanin.

Jake Donovan is the Managing Editor of BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox