Akhmadaliev KO's Espinoza in 3rd round to claim interim 122 belt
Then, along with promoter Eddie Hearn, gives hard call out to undisputed champion Inoue, who owes him a mandatory shot but has declined to face him; undercard results
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Having been ignored by undisputed junior featherweight champion Naoya Inoue — despite being his mandatory challenger and the WBA twice ordering the fight — former unified titlist Murodjon “MJ” Akhmadaliev was left to fight somebody else.
That unfortunate soul was Ricardo Espinoza, against whom Akhmadaliev seemingly took out his frustrations on Saturday.
Akhmadaliev knocked him down three times in a third-round knockout victory to win the vacant WBA interim 122-pound title and remain Inoue’s mandatory challenger in the main event of Matchroom Boxing’s “Monte-Carlo Showdown V” on DAZN at Salle Des Etoiles at Sporting Monte-Carlo in Monaco.
Fighting for the first time almost one year to the day since his last fight and in only his second bout since a heavily disputed split decision loss to Marlon Tapales cost him the unified WBA/IBF titles in April 2023, Akhmadaliev got off to a bit of a slow start against Espinoza, who was fighting for the third time this year.
The first two rounds were close and competitive, but then Akhmadaliev picked up the pace and seemed to have found his rhythm and timing, which was very bad news for Espinoza.
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