The WBA ordered a pair of necessary defenses at the moment, directing welterweight champion Jaron “Boots” Ennis to fulfill Shakhram Giyasov and tremendous light-weight titlist Gary Antuanne Russell to battle Andy Hiraoka.
Uzbekistan’s Giyasov (17-0, 10 KO) beat Harold Calderon in a June 2023 eliminator and has spent the 22 months since in a holding sample, selecting up a trio of wins over Pablo Cesar Cano, Miguel Parra, and Franco Maximiliano Ocampo. Although just about everybody save Matchroom would like Ennis (34-0, 30 KO) bounce into one other unification bout after smashing Eimantas Stanionis earlier this month, taking good care of his necessary obligation could also be his best choice, as rumors abound of Brian Norman Jr vs Jin Sasaki and Mario Barrios vs Manny Pacquiao.
This order does have some traditional WBA wankery hooked up, nonetheless, as they’ve elected to resurrect their bogus “world” title and provides it to the winner of Ryan Garcia vs Rolly Romero subsequent week. That is regardless of the 2 combining for a staggering zero wins at 147.
Russell’s (18-1, 17 KO) first title bid noticed him battle with the vary and craft of Alberto Puello, however he bounced again final month by outclassing Jose Valenzuela for each the WBA title and his first choice victory. Hiraoka (24-0, 19 KO), for his half, secured high contender standing by battering Ismael Barroso in September. “Da Blade” has knocked out 10 consecutive opponents, together with the aforementioned Sasaki, and will produce an absolute banger with Russell.
