By Alexey Sukachev

Rising welterweight talent Sergey Lubkovich (7-0, 6 KOs) is an alternate for the WBC Invitational welterweight tournament, which will be conducted co-jointly by Evander Holyfield’s “The Real Deal Boxing” and by the World Boxing Council on April 27 in Louisville, Kentucky, USA.

Lubkovich, 22, is expected to be a part of the show too.

According to vesnabox.ru, the “World of Boxing” official portal, Lubkovich will be pitted against his toughest opponent to date in fight veteran Karim Mayfield (21-4, 11 KOs).

Mayfield, 37, had some solid wins in the past, including stoppages of Steve Forbes and Ray Serrano, as well as decision wins over Patrick Lopez and Mauricio Herrera. He has never been stopped. Lubkovich is 189-10 as an amateur. As a pro, his biggest win is the eighth-round stoppage of Ukrainian veteran Victor Plotnikov (33-4) last November.

The show will include four more welterweight match-ups as the part of the tourney, which will see: Felix Diaz (19-2, 9 KOs) vs. Francisco Santana (24-6-1, 12 KOs), Chris Van Heerden (25-2-1, 12 KOs) vs. Timo Schwarzkopf (18-1, 10 KOs), Fredrick Lawson (26-1, 21 KOs) vs. Baishanbo Nasiyiwula (13-1-1, 6 KOs), and Brad Solomon (27-1, 9 KOs) vs. Paddy Gallagher (13-3, 8 KOs).

IN OTHER NEWS: The World of Boxing staged a smaller show last week at the Floyd Mayweather Boxing Academy in Zhukovka, a luxury point on the western outskirts of Moscow. There were two fights in the evening.

Featherweight prodigy Evgueny Smirnov (12-0-1, 2 KOs), not blessed with a punching power, worked hard to gut out Brazilian Adeilson Dos Santos (19-4, 15 KOs) over ten, scoring a unanimous decision. Scores were: 97-94, 98-93, and 98-92. Dos Santos has recently challenged WBO Super bantamweight champion Jesse Magdaleno and was stopped in two.

Also, lightweight Gaybatulla Gadzhialiyev (6-0, 2 KOs) stopped Grigoriy Nikolaychuk (4-2, 2 KOs) at 2:45 of the fourth round.

The event was highlighted by the presence of familiar names, including WBA light heavyweight champion Dmitry Bivol and cruiserweight kayo artists Dmitry Kudryashov and Alexey Papin.