Matchroom Boxing has won the rights to promote the world junior featherweight title elimination bout between Murodjon Akhmadaliev and Kevin Gonzalez, the World Boxing Association announced Monday afternoon.

Matchroom Boxing was the only promotional company to submit a bid, which was for $120,000.

Akhmadaliev and Gonzalez are ranked No. 1 and 2, respectively, by the WBA. Akhmadaliev is currently rated at No. 4 by The Ring.

The WBA also announced the fight could take place on three different dates; December 9 at the Chase Center in San Francisco, December 16 at the Desert Diamond Arena in Glendale, Arizona, or in Abu Dhabi, which is the capital city of the United Arab Emirates. Matchroom Boxing will promote fight cards on any of those three dates.

Akhmadaliev (11-1, 8 knockouts), who is originally from Chust, Uzbekistan and now lives and trains in Indio, California, has not fought since losing by split decision to Marlon Tapales on April 8. With the loss, Akhmadaliev lost the IBF and WBA world title belts.

The 28-year-old Akhmadaliev made three successful defenses of the world title belts since defeating Danny Roman by split decision in January 2020.

Akhmadaliev is promoted by Eddie Hearn and managed by Vadim Kornilov. He is trained by Joel Diaz.

Gonzalez (26-0-1, 13 KOs), who resides in Culiacan, Mexico, defeated Jose Sanmartin by unanimous decision in his last bout on March 25. In his previous fight on May 14 of last year, Gonzalez defeated Emanuel Rivera Nieves by unanimous decision.

Other notable wins for Gonzalez were knockout victories over once-beaten Alexander Mejia and Antonio Guzman in 2021.

The 25-year-old Gonzalez is promoted by Juan Ian Orengo and managed by Jacob Najar.

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 at [email protected]

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