The "regular" welterweight world champion of WBA, Alexander Besputin, said he would be ready to make the first defense of his recently captured belt in the middle of spring.
On November 30, Besputin was in action in Monaco, and secured a unanimous decision on points, by defeated compatriot Radjab Butaev and in turn captured the vacant regular title.
For Besputin, this victory was the 14th of his unbeaten career in the professional ranks. The holder of the "super" version of the WBA welterweight belt is Filipino superstar Manny Pacquiao.
The WBA recently ordered Besputin to make mandatory defense against Yordenis Ugas.
Ugas is scheduled to return to the ring on February 1 against Mike Dallas.
Besputin is also planning to stay busy. Eventually Besputin and Ugas will have to collide in the ring.
"They are saying that the next fight will take place in late March or early April. I am ready for these dates. It would be great to have a fight in Krasnoyarsk. I would like to be able to box in my native country for the first time. Before that I had fights in the USA and Monte Carlo. It would be very pleasant to perform in my native land," Besputin told reporters.
"In the past, everyone tried to leave [Russia] to perform abroad. But look at the work of the Russian Boxing Federation, so I think that the opinion of new professionals will change, and everyone will want to perform in our country."
Luke Furman covers boxing for bokser.org.