Unbeaten junior welterweight prospect Mazlum Akdenis will face Juan Antonio Rodriguez on June 2, promoter Yvon Michel announced Monday night.

The 10-round bout will take place at the Cabaret inside the Montreal Casino in Akdenis’ hometown of Montreal, Canada. 

Akdenis (16-0, 8 knockouts) was originally scheduled to fight on May 5, but following the withdrawal of former world light heavyweight titleholder Eleider Alvarez from the card, Akdenis was upgraded to headlining the card. Alvarez was to headline the card and Akdenis reportedly wanted more time to prepare for his fight against Rodriguez. 

The 24-year-old southpaw defeated Erick Encinia of Monterrey, Mexico by split-decision in his last bout on February 24. The win over Encinia took place over two months after Akdeniz stopped Arturo Bustamante in the fourth round.

Rodrgiuez (32-8, 28 KOs), who resides in Puebla, Mexico, has not fought since March 2020, stopping Jose Andrade Periban in the eighth round. He has won his last two bouts since losing by technical decision to Romero Duno of the Philippines in May 2019.

The hard-hitting Rodriguez has had high-profile fights with mixed results, losing to then-unbeaten Pedro Campa and former junior lightweight contender Jezzrel Corrales. Rodriguez does have a win over former world lightweight title challenger Mercito Gesta, which took place in March 2019.

In the co-feature, fringe junior welterweight contender Mathieu Germain (20-2-1, 9 KOs) of nearby Mascouche will square off against Mexico’s Eduardo Rodriguez (9-2-1, 4 KOs) in a 10-round bout.

Germain has won three of his last four bouts with the lone loss coming at the hands of Yves Ulysses, Jr. in November 2020.

Light heavyweight Dieudonne Wilfred Seyi (9-0, 4 KOs), a 2016 and 2020 Olympian, will face David Benitez (8-5, 2 KOs) of Buenos Aires, Argentina in an eight-round bout.

The June 2 card will be a co-promotion between Groupe Yvon Michel (GYM) and Probellum.

Francisco A. Salazar has written for The Ring since October 2013 and has covered boxing in Southern California and abroad since 2000. Francisco also covers boxing for the Ventura County (California) Star newspaper. He can be reached by email at [email protected] or on Twitter at FSalazarBoxing