By Francisco Salazar
Light heavyweight Sullivan Barrera will fight Hakim Zoulikha on July 25, Main Events' Kathy Duva confirmed.
The 10 round bout will take place at the Mandalay Bay Resorts and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada. Both fighters will be vying for the vacant USBA light heavyweight title and will top the non-televised Main Events undercard.
Despite having not fought a top-10 fighter in the division, Barrera (15-0, 10 KOs) is already ranked by two of boxing's major governing bodies (number 10 by the WBA and number nine by the IBF).
In his last bout on January 30, Barrera stopped former world title holder Jeff Lacy in the fourth round.
Barrera, who was born in Cuba and now resides in Miami, is trained by Abel Sanchez in Big Bear Lake, Calif. Barrera trains alongside Gennady Golovkin and Nadjib Mohammedi.
Zoulikha (21-7, 10 KOs), who is from Villeurbanne, Rhone, France, has lost his last three bouts in a row. In his last bout, Zoulikha lost a close 10 round split decision to Samy Anouche.
Zoulikha's most notable bout was a 12th round stoppage loss at the hands of Robin Krasniqi in January of 2012.
In the main event, Sergey Kovalev will defend his multiple world title belts against Mohammedi. Opening the HBO telecast, Jean Pascal will fight Yunieski Gonzalez in a 10 round light heavyweight bout.
Francisco A. Salazar has written for Boxingscene.com since September 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