The undercard of Albert Batyrgaziev’s interim title defense will feature an unbeaten junior welterweight prospect in one bout, and a two-time Olympic gold medalist in another.
Batyrgaziev holds the WBA’s interim belt at 130lbs and is the mandatory challenger to primary titleholder Lamont Roach Jnr. Batyrgaziev will headline at the Dynamo Volleyball Arena in Moscow against Neri Romero. The show will stream on Friday, March 7 on the IBA Boxing YouTube page beginning at 9 a.m. Eastern Time, or 2 a.m. GMT.
In the co-feature, Pavel Federov will take on Georgii Chelokhsaev.
Federov is a 28-year-old junior welterweight born in Russia and living in Serbia. He is 3-0 (1 KO), or 8-0 (1 KO) if you include his IBA Pro bouts, which BoxRec lists separately. In Federov’s last fight, he shut out the 16-0 Faisal Abubakari in June.
Chelokhsaev, 24-2-1 (16 KOs), is a 31-year-old from Russia. He’s won five straight since dropping a split decision to the 3-0 Yauheni Dauhaliavets in 2020. Chelokhsaev is coming off a sixth-round TKO of the 18-7-1 Loren Japhet in November.
Roniel Iglesias, who has three Olympic medals, two of them gold, will take on fellow junior middleweight Yury Osipov.
Iglesias is 4-0 (3 KOs), or 6-2 (3 KOs) if you include his previous IBA Pro bouts. Last April he was stopped in six rounds by Marco Verde, who earned a silver medal in the 2024 Olympics. Iglesias then bounced back in August with a split decision over Gurgen Madoyan.
The 36-year-old Iglesias excelled in the amateur ranks for Cuba. He picked up a bronze medal in the 2008 Olympics at light welterweight, won gold in the 2012 Olympics at light welterweight (defeating Denys Berinchyk in the finale), was dispatched in the quarterfinals of the 2016 Olympics by eventual welterweight silver medalist Shakhram Giyasov, and then won gold at welterweight in the 2020/2021 Olympics.
Osipov is 4-0, or 4-1 if you include his previous IBA Pro bout. That IBA Pro bout, a decision loss to Farukh Tokhtasunov in April 2024, was the 24-year-old’s last appearance in the ring.
Also scheduled for the show:
A heavyweight fight between the debuting Ramazan Karnukaev and Davlat Boltaev, 5-0 (2 KOs).
A middleweight/super middleweight fight between Vadim Tukov, 15-0 (6 KOs), and Adam Belalia, 9-0 (5 KOs).
A light heavyweight fight between Yusufu Changarawe, 1-0 (0 KOs) and Cheerav Ashalaev (1-0, 0 KOs).
A junior lightweight/lightweight fight between the debuting Arshak Tovmasyan and Abduvali Buriboev, 11-0 (9 KOs).
And a junior middleweight fight between Aminu Quarshie, 6-0-2 (5 KOs) and Shokhabbos Shukurov, 6-1 (2 KOs).
David Greisman, who has covered boxing since 2004, is on Twitter @FightingWords2. David’s book, “Fighting Words: The Heart and Heartbreak of Boxing,” is available on Amazon.