Kiwi middleweight boxer Andrei Mikhailovich, robbed of a chance to fight for the IBF world championship in Las Vegas after his opponent Janibek Alimkhanuly pulled out the day before with “severe dehydration”, will get another chance next month.
It will come against the same opponent in Sydney on October 4.
“We’ve had to scramble to organise Andrei’s camp on such short notice,” said Peach Boxing head coach Isaac Peach.
“But Andrei has stayed in the gym since the disappointment in July, still training. It feels like a movie - crazy. I’ve got one of the best fighters in the world, forced to take a world title fight with just a few weeks' notice.
"It’s laughable, but that’s why Peach Boxing is always ready. We stay ready because we are at a major disadvantage being all the way down here in New Zealand.”
Team Mikhailovich asked the IBF to strip Kazakh Alimkhanuly of his title, but to no avail.
After the controversy, caused by weight cutting, Alimkhanuly’s team put out a statement saying: “He will remain at middleweight, but at this level we need to take it more seriously and we will hire a nutritionist."
Mikhailovich’s promoter No Limit Boxing won the purse bid for the fight over Top Rank.
Peach Boxing will have two boxers fighting for world titles next month, with Mea Motu challenging for the unified super bantamweight world title in Manchester on October 26.
A Peach Boxing statement said the pair will be travelling to Brisbane for sparring before Mikhailovich, a 26-year-old with an undefeated 21-0 professional record, travels to Sydney for the fight week.
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