NEW YORK — Former featherweight titleholder Yuriorkis Gamboa will face Colombia’s Darley Perez in a clash of unbeatens on June 8 from Bell Centre in Montreal on HBO, according to Gary Shaw, Perez’s co-promoter with Thompson Boxing.

In the co-feature, RING and WBC 175-pound champion Chad Dawson will face hammer-fisted super middleweight contender Adonis “Superman” Stevenson in a clash of southpaws that is being co-promoted by Shaw and Groupe Yvon Michel (GYM), who handles Stevenson.

In his last fight in December on the undercard of Juan Manuel Marquez’s sixth-round knockout of Manny Pacquiao in Las Vegas, Gamboa, 31, rose from a ninth-round knockdown after scoring one each in the second and seventh to secure a unanimous decision for the WBA’s interim junior lightweight belt over Michael Farenas.

The victory had Gamboa (22-0, 16 knockouts) in the ring for the first time since September of 2011, when he he decisioned current WBC featherweight beltholder Daniel Ponce de Leon.

Gamboa, whose rapper-turned-promoter is Curtis Jackson, aka 50 Cent, is expected to sign to complete the deal to fight the 29-year-old Perez (28-0, 19 KOs) as early as next week, according to Shaw.

“Gamboa’s fighting Darley Perez, and I think that it’s the type of fight that, being back on HBO, Gamboa just needs to make a statement,” said Sean Gibbons, matchmaker for 50 Cent.

“If he makes a good statement, then he puts himself right back into the mix with everybody. But the best thing is that 50 Cent has been putting him in there, and he’s been up against a lot of walls, but he keeps knocking them down. So we’ll start making things happen on June 8.”

Dawson (31-2, 17 knockouts) is coming off September’s 10th-round stoppage loss to RING super middleweight champ Andre Ward, who floored Dawson three times.

Stevenson (20-1, 17 KOs) is coming off last month’s sixth-round stoppage of Darnell Boone, with his seventh straight knockout win avenging his second-round stoppage loss to Boone in April of 2010.

PAULIE MALIGNAGGI: ADRIEN BRONER WON’T BE A TOUGH FIGHT

WBA welterweight titleholder Paulie Malignaggi (32-4, 7 KOs) said his next opponent, rising WBC lightweight beltholder Adrien “The Problem” Broner (26-0, 22 KOs), whom he will face on June 22 on Showtime.

“I can’t believe it. Usually, you know, when I know that I am going to have a tough fight, I know it’s going to be a tough fight and I’ll say that it’s going to be a tough fight. But in all sincerity, man, I don’t think that this is going to be a tough fight for me,” said Malignaggi, 32.

“Not that I think that Broner is a bad fighter, I mean, he’s shown the talent that he has, but I usually know what I’m up against, and I don’t think that they really realize what they’re up against. I don’t think that they really realize what they have put Broner up against.”

A 23-year-old who will be after his seventh straight stoppage victory, Broner is facing a former IBF junior welterweight titleholder in Malignaggi.

Malignaggi made his comments at Thursday night’s Boxing Writers’ Association of America dinner at The Capitale in New York, where RING junior featherweight champion Nonito Donaire was named Fighter of The Year, his trainer, Robert Garcia, Trainer of The Year, and Pacquiao and Juan Manuel Marquez were honored for the Fight of The Year.

Also in attendance was WBO welterweight beltholder Tim Bradley (30-0, 12 KOs), who rose from a 12th-round knockdown for last month’s unanimous decision victory over Ruslan Provodnikov (22-2, 15 KOs) in defense of the title he won by disputed split-decision in June over Pacquiao.

“I think that it would be a nice fight between me and Bradley,” said Malignaggi. “Bradley put on a great performance the other week against Provodnikov. It was a fun fight. It was a fan-friendly fight.”

In the meantime, Malignaggi is focused on Broner.

“I’m really looking forward to it, man. I love the whole, ‘Is Malignaggi going to win’ thing, and, ‘How is Malignaggi going to win?,'” said Malignaggi.

“I love that. I get up for that, I’m hungry for that, because I know that I can get up for those kinds of fights. I know that I’m good enough to compete with anybody, so when you start to doubt me, it’s getting my adrenalin going.”

GENNADY GOLOVKIN MEETS MICHAEL JORDAN, PATRICK EWING

During a Saturday afternoon promotional press conference at Gallagher’s Steak House in New York, Hall of Fame ring announcer Michael Buffer shared a story about how WBA middleweight titleholder Gennady Golovkin (26-0, 23 KOs) met former NBA stars Michael Jordan and Patrick Ewing at a restaurant on Friday night.

“This was just last night. We were at the restaurant, Catch, down in the meat-packing district, and it’s a great restaurant with a lot of celebrities,” said Buffer, who was with Golovkin, his promoter, Tom Loeffler, and publicist Bernie Bahrmasel.

“I have known Michael and Patrick for years. So, then, as we were leaving, I went over and said hello. I told them I was with Gennady Golovkin and that he was 26-0. They both said, ‘Oh yeah, we’ve see him on HBO.’ So his profile is really really rising, and they’re both big fight fans.”

“Gennady knew who they were, but he was so humble that he did not come over with me at first. But then they were like, ‘Can we meet him?'” said Buffer.

“They were just really impressed with him. You could see how humble Gennady was, and he was just overwhelmed to see two guys of that athletic stature.”

Golovkin will pursue his 14th straight stoppage victory against ruggged Matthew Macklin (29-4, 20 KOs) on June 29 in Mashantucket, Conn., in a matchup to be televised on HBO and promoted by K2 and DiBella Entertainment.

The Kazakhstan-born Golovkin is coming off last month’s third-round knockout of Nobuhiro Ishida, who was stopped for the first time in his career.

The win over Ishida followed Golovkin’s bloody, seventh-round stoppage of Gabriel Rosado at New York’s Madison Square Garden in January.

Macklin, who turns 31 in May, was last in the ring for September’s first-round stoppage of ex-titleholder Joachim Alcine that helped him to rebound from consecutive setbacks against Sergio Martinez and Felix Sturm.

Photo by Al Bello, Gettyimages

Lem Satterfield can be reached at [email protected]