South African Azinga Fuzile will face Kenichi Ogawa for the vacant IBF junior lightweight title on November 27, Eddie Hearn announced on social media Friday evening.

The 12-round bout will take place at The Hulu Theatre inside Madison Square Garden and will precede the lightweight clash between Ring Magazine champion Teofimo Lopez and IBF mandatory challenger George Kambosos Jr.

Both fights will stream live on DAZN.

Fuzile, who is rated No. 9 by The Ring at 130 pounds, last fought on May 29, when he dropped Martin Ward twice en route to a seventh-round knockout. That victory took place 20 months after he’d suffered a knockout defeat at the hands of Shavkatdzhon Rakhimov.

Colin Nathan, who manages Fuzile, filed a protest with the IBF, accusing Rakhimov’s corner of using smelling salts, which is prohibited under South Africa rules. After an investigation, the New Jersey-based sanctioning body found no wrongdoing and upheld the outcome of the fight.

Fuzile (15-1, 9 KOs) was recently approved by the IBF to face Ogawa after Rakhimov, who fought to a majority decision draw against Joseph ‘JoJo’ Diaz on February 13, withdrew from the fight due to an injury suffered during training camp.

Ogawa (25-1-1, 18 KOs), who resides in Tokyo, defeated Kazuhiro Nishitani by unanimous decision in his last bout on October 2 of last year.

The clash against Fuzile marks Ogawa’s second IBF title shot. He was originally declared the winner over Tevin Farmer via controversial decision in December 2017, but the outcome was changed to a No Contest after Ogawa tested positive for the banned substance androstanediol.

Francisco A. Salazar can be reached by email at [email protected] or on Twitter @FSalazarBoxing

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