One of the top prospects in world boxing, Israil Madrimov, a heavy-handed junior middleweight, will fight seasoned veteran Alejandro Barrera on the undercard of Gennadiy Golovkin-Sergiy Derevyanchenko in a scheduled 10-round bout that will be broadcast on DAZN from Madison Square Garden, New York this Saturday (7:00 p.m. ET/10:00 p.m. PT).

Madrimov (3-0, 3 knockouts) has impressed everyone with the ruthless manner in which he’s stopped all three opponents to date. The 24-year-old former amateur standout is expecting another tough test against the teak-tough Mexican.

“I think he brings his experience, durability, he will try to take me into deep water, I hope he’ll be able to, I want him to,” Madrimov told The Ring through Alik Frolov. “He is a rugged man who knows how to make things difficult as all solid Mexican fighters, but I love to fight so much more than he can imagine. So I’m looking forward to a good fight. We’ll see how it goes.”

The opportunity to fight on such a big card is one the Uzbekistan-born fighter was only too happy to accept.

“Golovkin is my favorite fighter, and I admire him as someone special,” he said. “(He’s a) great man and humble human being, my type of person all the way. So it is a big honor for me to fight on his card. They are good people, and our teams are very friendly. It’s a pleasure to be part of an event of this magnitude.”

Barrera stepped in to replace the once-beaten Mark DeLuca, when the Massachusetts native was unable to fight.

“(DeLuca) got injured, or something happened, and my team started looking for another option,” Madrimov explained. “Obviously we tried to get the best opponent and challenge. I don’t deal with it. My team does. I don’t care who I’m fighting, it only matters to my coach, to work on the game plan.”

Madrimov has been a professional for a year and feels at home after fighting at the elite-level of the amateurs.

“It is the fourth pro bout and I’m starting to feel more comfortable in preparation,” he said. “(I’m) trying to get better every day, working with my coaches, Joel and Antonio Diaz, with my nutrition specialist, physical conditioning coach, so it’s all good.

“I honestly can’t judge myself how I did in my first year, but looking at what people and specialists have to say about me, I’m OK with it. But, there is no limit. We’ll get better, stronger and smarter every day in camp.”

Vadim Kornilov, his manager, famed for his work with Dmitry Bivol, Ruslan Provodnikov and Viktor Postol, among others, believes his fighter has a bright future.

“Israil is showing a lot of improvements with the Diaz brothers,” Kornilov said. “Working in Indio, it’s really giving him a lot of new knowledge in the pro ranks and in the pro style. I really believe that’s going to show more and more with each fight. He’s only getting better.

“He’s already fighting opponents in his first fights that other top stars have only fought after they had 15-20 fights. Barrera fought Spence when he was 18-0. He went five rounds and was TKO’d. He fought Carlos Adames, when he was 13-0. He went the distance with Adames. These are top fighters, top prospects.

“Israil is going to make an impression every fight. We’re not in a big rush, but I do believe in about a year he’ll be fighting an eliminator or for a world title.”

Barrera (29-5, 18 KOs) turned professional in 2007. He won his first 20 fights, before tasting defeat for the first time. Since then, his form has dropped off, going 9-5, including losing three of his last four. However, the 33-year-old is a solid test for anyone and has only been stopped once, by Spence.

Questions and/or comments can be sent to Anson at [email protected] and you can follow him on Twitter @AnsonWainwright

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