It’s been a memorable 30th birthday celebration for Carlos Adames.

A long overdue upgrade to full WBC middleweight titlist will now come with a scheduled fight. Adames is set to make a voluntary defense versus Terrell Gausha. WBC officials confirmed that the bout will take place on June 15 at MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.

The bout will serve in supporting capacity to the Gervonta Davis-Frank Martin WBA lightweight title fight. It is not yet confirmed whether it will be part of the Pay-Per-View portion of the PBC on Prime show.

Adames (23-1, 18 knockouts), The Ring’s No. 2-rated middleweight, previously held the interim version of the WBC title. The 30-year-old Dominican heavily campaigned for a shot at Jermall Charlo (33-0, 22 KOs), who held the belt ransom for nearly three years.

A ruling was finally made to strip Charlo of the title after he was arrested earlier this week. Charlo has not defended the title since June 2021.

Adames wasn’t exactly a ball of activity even in an effort to vie for the main title. He claimed the interim belt in October 2022 and made just one defense. It came in a ninth-round stoppage of former unified junior middleweight titlist Julian Williams last June 24 in Minneapolis.

Much of time has been spent chasing after Charlo as well as unified IBF/WBO titlist Janibek Alimkhanuly.

The two reignited their developing feud earlier this week. Kazkahstan’s Alimkhanuly (15-0, 10 KOs), No. 1 at 160, even reached out to Adames once the WBC made their ruling.

“Carlos Adames, welcome to my club. Congratulations,” Alimkhanuly posted on X. “Now you’re world champion, let’s make a fight. Let’s make this fight. We are ready! 4 belts! WBC, IBF, WBO and The Ring.”

Those plans changed, to the dismay of the unbeaten two-belt titleholder.

“When he wasn’t the champion, he wanted to fight me,” noted Alimkhanuly. “And when he became champion, he disappeared. Carlos Adames, I told you I’m your nightmare now.”

When he wasn't the champion, He wanted to fight me. And when he became champion, he disappeared. Carlos Adames, I told you I'm your nightmare now. @BroncoAdames pic.twitter.com/OoXOShunbG

— Janibek Alimkhanuly (@qazaqstyle) May 10, 2024

Instead, it’s Cleveland’s Gausha (24-3-1, 12 KOs) who gets the call.

The 2012 U.S. Olympian will attempt his second bid at a major title. He came up short in an October 2017 decision to then-WBA 154-pound titlist Erislandy Lara, who now holds the WBA 160-pound title.

Gausha has won three of his last four fights. The lone loss in that stretch was to then-unbeaten Tim Tszyu in March 2022. Gausha dropped the second-generation boxer in the opening round before he dropped a twelve-round decision.

Jake Donovan a senior writer for The Ring and vice president of the Boxing Writers Association of America.

Follow @JakeNDaBox

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