Evgeny Gradovich Returns on January 9th in Spain

By Francisco Salazar

Featherweight contender Evgeny Gradovich will return to the ring on January 9, manager Egis Klimas told BoxingScene.com.

Gradovich will fight an opponent to be determined in a stay-busy bout in Valencia, Spain.

In his last bout on October 24, Gradovich (20-1, 9 KOs) won a closer-than-expected eight split decision over Aldimar Silva Santos in Omaha, Neb.

Prior to that bout, Gradovich lost an eight round technical decision to Lee Selby on May 30 in London, losing the IBF title in the process.

Gradovich is originally from Russia, but resides in the boxing hotbed of Oxnard, Calif. He is trained by Robert Garcia.

Gradovich is currently ranked number seven by the IBF.

Francisco A. Salazar has written for Boxingscene.com since October of 2012 and has covered boxing in Southern California and abroad since 2000. Francisco also covers boxing for the Ventura County (CA) Star newspaper, RingTV, and Knockout Nation. He can be reached by email at santio89@yahoo.com or on Twitter at FSalazarBoxing