Abdukakhorov Vs Flores off, Abdukakhorov to face Crowley in April instead!

It's fair to say the last year or so has been a frustrating one for fans of unbeaten Uzbek contender Kudratillo Abdukakhorov (17-0, 9) [Қудратилло Абдуқаҳҳоровдан]. Last year visa issues cost him an IBF "interim" world title fight and yesterday a planned bout against 34 year old Puerto Rican fighter Javier Flores (15-2, 13), set for March 10th, was cancelled due to Flores testing positive for Covid19.

Thankfully it appears that Abdukakhorov's wait to return to the ring won't be extended too long, despite Flores' medical issues.

Instead of facing Flores on March 10th Abdukakhorov will instead face the unbeaten Cody Crowley (19-0, 9) on April 10th, as reported below by our good friend Jalol Akhmedov.

On paper this is a much better bout than the one with Flores.  Crowley is an unbeaten 27 year old with ambition of his own and decent win against the likes of Michi Munoz, Stuart McLellan and Mian Hussain in recent years. He's an active fighter who will be going in to the bout with the knowledge that a win would change his career, whilst we get the feeling Flores would be there expecting to lose.

Notably this will be Abdukakhorov's first fight since leaving Top Rank Promotions last year, and later signing with Sampson Boxing. Given the fact this is his first fight as a Sampson fighter, credit should go to his team for facing a genuinely live opponent, albeit one he should be strongly favoured against.