SAN ANTONIO – It goes without saying that Murodjon Akhmadaliev would love to become undisputed champion.
The reigning unified WBA/IBF junior featherweight titlist has literally applied that logic to his latest fight, which is all he prefers to talk about and focus on through this weekend.
Many view his mandatory title defense versus IBF number-one contender Marlon Tapales as the first step towards full unification in the 122-pound division. Unified WBC/WBO junior featherweight titlist Stephen Fulton (21-0, 8KOs) is set to face three-division champ Naoya Inoue (24-0, 21KOs) on July 25, more than three months after this weekend’s Akhmadaliev-Tapales title fight. The hope is for the winners to meet to crown a single divisional king.
Of course, there’s still the matter of getting through this weekend.
“I honestly don’t have any thoughts right now about Fulton-Inoue or anything other than my fight right now," Akhmadaliev noted to BoxingScene.com. "I’m not thinking about Fulton, Inoue or anyone else. Of course I want to be the undisputed champion.
"But right now, my focus is on Marlon Tapales. That is who I’ve given all my attention ever since [the IBF] informed us this fight would be next.”
The title fight serves as the DAZN co-feature this Saturday from Boeing Center at Tech Port in San Antonio, Texas. Local hero Jesse Rodriguez (17-0, 11KOs) faces Mexico’s Cristian Gonzalez (15-1, 6KOs) for the vacant WBO flyweight title in the main event, a fight that is viewed as the launching point for an unofficial flyweight tournament.
The theme for both title fights on this weekend’s card is to establish a starting point to build toward undisputed champions at both weights.
With a win on Saturday, Akhmadaliev (11-0, 8KOs) has the clearer path—simply wait out Fulton-Inoue and challenge the winner. It’s understandable why he would choose to proceed with caution, though.
The Uzbek southpaw—a Bronze medalist during the 2016 Rio Olympics—has seen his title reign of more than three years slowed by the pandemic, illness and injuries. The gaps between fights has left him to make one mandatory defense after another, as he enters Saturday having not fought since a 12th round knockout of WBA number-one contender Ronny Rios last June 25 in this very location.
The win came at a cost, as Akhmadaliev suffered a broken hand which left him on the shelf for the remainder of 2022. A full month of straight conditioning without contact preceded a twelve-week training camp where he was able to punch at full speed but still conscious of protecting his hand.
During that time, Inoue announced his decision to abdicate the undisputed bantamweight throne to compete in the junior featherweight division. A deal was reached relatively quickly to face Philadelphia’s Fulton, though the bout was pushed back by more than two months when a training camp injury by inoue forced event handlers to shut down the May 7 event in his Yokohama hometown.
The near three-month delay will leave a tight window for the winners of the two unified title fights to meet later this year. At least two sanctioning bodies will be on the prowl to enforce another mandatory title defense, though they will be incentivized to stand down—within reason—if there are existing talks of further unification in play.
Akhmadaliev will be prepared to enter that conversation at the appropriate time—just not any sooner than after Saturday’s fight.
“I take every fight and every challenge seriously,” Akhmadaliev explained. “We took every precaution to make sure I am fully healthy for this fight. Once we are done with this fight and I emerge victorious, I will be more than happy to talk about any other fight that can be next. It is just not on my mind right now.”
Jake Donovan is a senior writer for BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox