Above all else, Kudratillo Abdukakhorov was relieved to hear that Errol Spence escaped from his car crash alive and ultimately healthy.

The unbeaten welterweight contender was deep in training camp for his welterweight showdown with Luis Collazo when he got the word that Spence landed in the hospital following a near fatal car crash in downtown Dallas. A win would preserve a mandatory title fight for the Uzbekistan-bred, Malaysia-based boxer although the best news of his week came long before his own hand was raised in victory Friday evening in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

“Once he’s fully healed and ready to return to the ring, I look forward to challenging him for the IBF title.”

Abdukakhorov became the number-one contender following a 12-round win over Keita Obara this past March, which also took place in Philadelphia and on an undercard to an ESPN show headlined by Oleksandr Gvozdyk. The same formula was in place on Friday, only this time with Gvozdyk relinquishing his lineal light heavyweight championship in a 10th round knockout loss to Artur Beterbiev.

The night went considerably better for Abdukakhorov, even if not particularly memorable in settling for a technical decision win. The bout was stopped with roughly one minute to go after a cut over Collazo’s right eye from accidental clash of heads left the former welterweight titlist unable to continue.

Nevertheless, it preserved Abudkakhorov’s place in line for a guaranteed title shot, even if it won’t come next.

“Right now, we have to wait to hear from the IBF.” Vikram Swapragasam, Abdukakhorov’s manager told BoxingScene.com. “We’re thrilled to hear that Errol Spence is healthy and released from the hospital. I guess the next step for the IBF is to determine if he’s fit to defend his title, as that would affect our next fight.”

Prior to the accident, Spence (26-0, 21KOs) was rumored to defend his unified titles versus former two-division titlist Danny Garcia. The bout was reportedly targeted to take place in the 1st quarter of 2020, although Desoto, Texas’ Spence has other matters to tend to—legally and medically—before fully resuming his boxing career.

“He’s who I want to fight for the title,” Abdukakhorov firmly stated. “If our next fight is for the (interim) title, we still want to face Errol Spence. It’s who we planned to face, and why we took this fight with Collazo. We wanted to fight a southpaw and in a high profile fight.

“Once he’s fully recovered and back to training, we look forward to welcoming Errol Spence back to the ring.”

Jake Donovan is a senior writer for BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox