Israil Madrimov hopes a big performance in his final eliminator for the WBA super-welterweight championship vs. Eric Walker will help convince promoter Eddie Hearn to put on a megashow in his native Uzbekistan.
Unbeaten prospect Madrimov (5-0, 5 KOs) and Walker (20-2, 9 KOs) do battle on Saturday night when Matchroom stages a card on the literal streets of downtown Tulsa, Oklahoma, live on DAZN.
Boxing is the No. 1 sport in the home country of Madrimov, who has yet to be taken to Round 7 by an opponent. In January, Uzbekistan crowned its first world champion when Murodjon "MJ" Akhmadaliev became the unified super-bantamweight king with a victory over Daniel Roman.
“There have been talks over doing an event in Uzbekistan with Eddie Hearn, and it’s easier to do now with MJ as a champion, it would be a huge event,” said Madrimov.
“Our people are crazy boxing fans and would fill up any venue in the country, we have support from the government, so I am sure that it would be a sold-out stadium success and people would remember it for years.
“MJ made history and we’re happy for him as our friend, brother and teammate, it’s unbelievable what he achieved, unified champion in eight fights — but I still have time to beat him!
“Right now, the focus is Eric on Saturday, not looking past that. As soon as business is taken care of, we move on and we want to fight the champion, whoever that is. [Jeison] Rosario and [Jermell] Charlo are fighting each other, whoever has the belts I’m ready to fight them.
“Every fight for me is very important. I started off with a title fight on debut, and my last fight was an eliminator, so they are all important and they keep getting bigger.
“This is a final eliminator, and that’s big for me because if I win this, the next fight should be for a world title, the champion cannot avoid me then.
“I don’t call people out, I just want to be in a position to fight for titles. I want to build my own legacy and history by becoming world champion and I want to break records.”
In the main event in Tulsa, Cecilia Brækhus (36-0, 9 KOs) goes for history in the 26th consecutive defense of her undisputed welterweight crown against unified super-lightweight champion Jessica McCaskill (8-2 3, KOs).