Matchroom Boxing promoter Eddie Hearn will kick off his 2019 slate of American-based cards for sports streaming service DAZN on Jan. 18 at the Hulu Theater at Madison Square Garden in New York with middleweight world titleholder Demetrius Andrade in the main event, he made official on Friday.
Andrade (26-0, 16 KOs), 30, of Providence, Rhode Island, who won a vacant title by scoring four knockdowns and winning a lopsided decision against Walter Kautondokwa on Oct. 20 in Boston, will make his first defense against Artur Akavov (19-2, 8 KOs), 33, of Russia.
“I couldn’t be more excited about this opportunity,” Andrade said. “Fighting at Madison Square Garden, where so many great fighters have fought is a true honor, and something I have dreamt about my entire life.
“People might not know much about Akavov, but this is a guy who went overseas and gave Billy Joe Saunders absolute hell. Most people thought that he should have won the fight. This is an optional defense, so I could have fought anyone I wanted, but we chose to fight a guy that we know is going to bring it all night long and a guy who in many people’s eyes beat Saunders.”
In December 2016, Akavov lost a decision to Saunders in a title challenge but indeed gave him a very tough fight.
Andrade was supposed to challenge Saunders in the Oct. 20 fight but Saunders vacated the belt after testing positive for a banned substance knowing he would be stripped.
“I know that I have an extremely tough task in front of me, but that’s what this game is all about,” Andrade said. “I want all the top guys, all the belts.”
Akavov has won all three of his fight since the loss to Saunders.
“After the fight with Saunders, I was hoping for a rematch because that fight left a lot of unanswered questions,” he said. “I believe that Andrade is a better fighter than Saunders and this is my chance to answer those questions. I understand the weight of the responsibility that is on my shoulders and will give it 100 percent.”
The card will also include six-division women’s world titleholder and reigning junior welterweight titlist Amanda Serrano (35-1-1 26 KOs), 30, of Brooklyn, New York, who will drop all the way down to junior bantamweight looking to win a title in a seventh weight class and break her women’s record for titles in the most divisions. She will challenge titlist Eva Voraberger (24-5, 11 KOs), 28, of Austria.
“I’m super excited to be able to make history,” said Serrano, who expected to move back up to lightweight later in 2019 for a showdown with unified titlist Katie Taylor.
The card will also include two fighters aiming to line up 2019 title fights with junior welterweight titlist Maurice Hooker: former three-division titlist Jorge Linares and former junior welterweight titlist Chris Algieri.
Linares (45-4, 28 KOs), 33, a Venezuela native fighting out of Las Vegas, is on the card thanks to the good working relationship between his promoter, Golden Boy, and Hearn. In a 12-round bout, Linares will face fellow Golden Boy fighter Pablo Cesar Cano (31-7-1, 21 KOs), 29, of Mexico, who upset unbeaten up-and-comer Ruslan Madiev on Sept. 13.
Linares is seeking a second straight win since losing his lightweight world title by 10th-round knockout to pound-for-pound king Vasiliy Lomachenko in May.
“My next goal is to become the first four-division world champion from Venezuela,” Linares said. “I accomplished what I needed to accomplish at 135 pounds, and in my last fight with Abner Cotto (a third-round knockout in September) I showed that I can take my speed and power to this new division.
“We’ve been going back to the basics with my old trainer Jorge Zerpa, and I know I can earn another world title in this new weight class. But first I have a tough fight against Pablo Cesar Cano.”
Cano is aiming for a second upset win in a row.
“This is a great opportunity that I will not fail to take advantage of,” he said.
Algieri (22-3, 8 KOs), 34, of Huntington, New York, who returned from a 2½ layoff for a win Nov. 30, will face Danny Gonzalez (17-1-1, 7 KOs), 28, of Woodhaven, New York, in a scheduled 10-round fight.
“Both Algieri and Gonzalez jumped at the chance of fighting each other,” said Star Boxing’s Joe DeGuardia, who promotes them both and works closely with Hearn. “Although they know each other well and are Star Boxing stablemates, they both recognize the enormous opportunity this fight provides.”
If Algieri wins and comes away unscathed he could be back as soon as soon as late February or March to challenge Hooker with Linares potentially getting a title shot as soon as June.
“We are delighted to welcome Jorge Linares to the card. Jorge has boxed on many of our shows in the U.K. and is a pound-for-pound quality fighter,” Hearn said. “I love the Maurice Hooker fight in the summer.”