By Ryan Burton

Egis Klimas, manager of unbeaten welterweight Dmitry Mikhaylenko (20-0) and several other fighters such as Sergey Kovalev, has advised BoxingScene.com that veteran contender Karim Mayfield (19-2-1) is the frontrunner to face his unbeaten prospect on the undercard to the Sergey Kovalev-Jean Pascal rematch, which takes place on January 30th from the Bell Centre in Montreal, Canada.

The fight between Dmitry Mikhaylenko and Mayfield, if finalized, will open up the HBO televised doubleheader.

Mikhaylenko was originally slated to face Ray Robinson (20-2) who had to pull out of the fight because of injuries suffered in a car accident. Robinson and his promoter notified Mikhaylenko's promoter Main Events three weeks before the scheduled bout, which left them scrambling to find an opponent that HBO would approve to keep the card a doubleheader.

Mayfield last fought in November, 2014, when he won an unanimous over Michael Balasi to snap a two-fight losing streak to Emmanuel Taylor and Thomas Dulorme.  Mikhaylenko was last in action back in August, when he knocked out veteran Johan Perez in eight rounds at Fantasy Springs Casino in Indio, California.
 
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