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Arslanbek Makhmudov has secured an opponent for his next fight.
Germany’s Michael Wallisch has agreed to next face the unbeaten Makhmudov, Eye of The Tiger Management (EOTTM) founder and president Camille Estephan confirmed to BoxingScene.com. The revised heavyweight clash comes mere days after Makhmudov was left without an opponent for the main event of a December 16 show from Centre Gervais Auto in Shawinigan, Canada.
Wallisch (23-5, 16KOs) replaces Raphael Akpejiori (14-0, 13KOs), a 6’8” Nigerian bow based out of Miami whose team apparently agreed to another fight in bailing from previously agreed upon plans to face Makhmudov. The 37-year-old from Munich is coming off a confidence-restoring second-round knockout of Toni Thes on May 28 in Hamburg, Germany.
The win served as Wallisch’s only ring appearance since a fourth-round knockout loss to former unified cruiserweight titlist Murat Gassiev last July in Moscow. The well-traveled Wallisch will fight in his sixth different country in a span of nine fights, and just his second in North America. He was also previously stopped by a trio of unbeaten heavyweights in Joe Joyce, Tony Yoka and Efe Ajagba.
Makhmudov (15-0, 14KOs) is coming off a ten-round decision win over former title challenger Carlos Takam on September 10 in Montreal. The feat marked the first distance for the 33-year-old Russian heavyweight now based out of Montreal, who’d previously stopped every opponent he’d faced and none lasting beyond the seventh round.
The rest of the show remains intact, including a heavyweight crossroads bout between Quebec’s Simon Kean (21-1, 20KOs) and former title challenger Eric Molina (29-8, 21KOs).
Fringe middleweight contender Steven Butler (31-3-1, 26KOs) faces Joshua Conley (17-4-1, 11KOs) in a scheduled ten-round bout. A more significant pairing pits unbeaten Mary Spencer (7-0, 5KOs) and former four-time title challenger Femke Hermans (13-4, 5KOs) in a ten-round junior middleweight bout.
Spencer was recently named as the number-one and mandatory contender for the WBC junior middleweight title held by lineal/WBC/IBF/WBO champ Natasha Jonas (13-2-1, 8KOs).
Makhmudov holds the WBC’s Silver title, though EOTTM was unsuccessful in getting him to advance in the rankings. With a win on December 16, he will then have to next face Kazakhstan’s Zhan Kossobutskiy (19-0, 18KOs).
Jake Donovan is a senior writer for BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox