So, remember how the WBA officially named Jono Carroll the mandatory challenger for Lamont Raoch Jr’s super featherweight title earlier this year, only to turn around and allow Roach to fight the hapless Feargal McCrory in a couple weeks? It turns out that they’ve altered the deal further, as Carroll will now face Tokyo gold medalist Albert Batyrgaziev for the interim title on a July 12th IBA Champions’ Night in Serpukhov, Russia.
The event will presumably be viewable via their official live stream. It may or may not show up on their BoxRec pages, like what happened with Eduardo Nunez’s knockout of Shavkat Rakhimov.
Batyrgaziev (10-0, 7 KO), then 3-0 as a pro, ran the Olympic featherweight table with notable wins over multi-time medalist Lazaro Alvarez and future rising contenders Duke Ragan and Erdenebat Tsendbaatar. He’s been matched reasonably tough as a prospect, overcoming familiar names like Ricardo Nunez and Jezreel Corrales alongside a pair of unbeaten fighters in his last two bouts.
Carroll (24-2-1, 7 KO) hasn’t seen action since outclassing the faded Miguel Marriaga in June of last year. He’s 8-1 since an unsuccessful title bid against Tevin Farmer, highlighted by a stoppage win over Scott Quigg and an upset loss to Maxi Hughes that’s age quite well.
Solid crossroads bout in my book, worlds more interesting than the actual title fight a month prior. Does beg the question of what happens with Otar Eranosyan, though, as he was supposed to have immediate dibs after Roach faced Carroll.