The four-fight card for Matchroom’s annual Monaco show is confirmed.
Uzbekistan’s Murodjon Akhmadaliev (12-1, 9 KOs), the former unified super bantamweight champion, faces Mexico’s Ricardo Espinoza Franco (30-4, 25 KOs) for the WBA interim world title in the main event, which takes place Dec. 14 at the Salle Des Étoiles at Sporting Monte-Carlo and streams on DAZN.
Akhmadaliev has been the mandatory challenger for Naoya Inoue for the better part of this year, but Inoue instead chose to defend against TJ Doheny and then fulfill an outstanding IBF mandatory commitment against Sam Goodman, which he will do on Dec. 24 in Tokyo.
According to BoxingScene, Akhmadaliev’s representatives objected to the Inoue-Goodman purse bid and informed the leaders of all four sanctioning bodies that there would be litigation taking place if Inoue’s next fight wasn’t against Akhmadaliev or if Inoue did not vacate his WBA strap.
It now remains to be seen whether the winner of Akhmadaliev-Espinoza is elevated to full WBA champion or if Inoue will face them in his first fight of 2025, which is expected to take place in the U.S.
In the co-feature, British Olympian Cheavon Clarke (10-0, 7 KOs) and France’s Leonardo Mosquea (15-0, 9 KOs) battle for the vacant European cruiserweight championship.
“C4” Clarke is the WBA’s No. 3-ranked cruiserweight and hopes a win on Dec. 14 will set him up for a shot at the world title in 2025. The 33-year-old stopped Ellis Zorro in May to win the British title and edged a majority decision over Efetobor Apochi in his U.S. debut at the end of August.
Lightweight contenders Gary Cully (18-1, 10 KOs) and Maxi Hughes (27-7-2, 6 KOs) vie in a Ireland vs. England clash for Cully’s WBA continental title. The Irishman won a hard-fought decision over Francesco Patera in May, whilst Hughes stopped Efstathios Antonas on a GBM Sports Sheffield show in September.
Brazil’s Beatriz Ferreira (5-0, 2 KOs) makes the maiden defense of her IBF lightweight strap against France’s Licia Boudersa (23-2-2, 4 KOs). Ferreira won Olympic silver at Tokyo 2020 and captured bronze this year in Paris. Both runs were ended by two-time Olympic champion Kellie Harrington.
Ferreira won her IBF crown in April with a technical decision over Yanina del Carmen Lescano in Liverpool. Boudersa previously outpointed Laura Soledad Griffa for the IBO world championship.
Should Ferreira win, she could set up an in-house unification bout with Terri Harper after Harper’s stunning upset over Rhiannon Dixon to claim WBO gold last month.
