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Philippines, 30 May 2025 |
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Super middleweight division to open up, Darius Fulghum plans to make his move PhilBoxing.com Thu, 29 May 2025  Friday night vs. Bektemir Melikuziev Streaming live on DAZN from Las Vegas LOS ANGELES (May 28, 2025) – So much is on the line Friday night when undefeated Darius “DFG” Fulgham (14-0, 12 KOs) takes on Bektemir “Bully” Melikuziev (15-1, 10 KOs) in what amounts to a World Boxing Association (WBA) super middleweight world title eliminator at Virgin Hotels Las Vegas. “There is going to be separation in the super middleweight division,” Fulghum explained. “(WBA Interim Champion Caleb) Plant fights the day after my fight in Las Vegas, but ‘Canelo’ (Alvarez) holds all the cards.” The key question, however, is how long Alvarez will maintain complete control of the division? Undisputed Super Middleweight World Champion Saul “Canelo” Alvarez (69-22, 39 KOs) rules the 168-pound division and the 34-year-old, who has been a professional boxer since 2005, now only fights twice a year to celebrate Cinco de Mayo (May) and Mexican Independence Day (September) weekends. Boxing’s ultimate rainmaker reportedly signed a four-fight agreement with Riyadh Season, which kicked off May 4 with a dominant 12-round unanimous decision over previously undefeated William Scull (23-1, 9 KOs). Canelo has a mega-fight set versus another future Hall of Famer, Terence Crawford (41-0, 31 KOs), on September 12 in Las Vegas. If “Canelo” completes his Riyadh Season deal, the Mexican will only be left with two more required fights in 2025. Even if he doesn’t retire after the Crawford fight, “Canelo” will still have four mandatory defenses to make or be stripped of his titles. The winner of Fulghum vs. Melikuziev will position himself as a leading WBA world contender, if not its mandatory challenger. The only super middleweights rated higher by the WBA than No. 3 Melikuziev and No. 4 Fulghum are Plant (23-2, 14 KOs), No. 1 Christian Mbilli (27-0, 23 KOs), and No. 2 Lester Martinez (19-0, 18 KOs), of Guatemala. Plant is fighting WBA No. 15 Jose Armando Resendiz (15-2, 11 KOs) the day after Melikuziev vs. Fulghum, also in Las Vegas, on the same card as former world champion Jermall Charlo (33-0, 22 KOs) vs. Thomas LaManna (39-5-1, 18 KOs). Plant vs. Charlo, assuming both are victorious, are rumored to be on a collision course for their next fights. Mbilli, a French Olympian living in Canada, will be dropped from his No. 1 WBA ranking when he faces World Boxing Council (WBA) Interim Super Middleweight Champion Maciej Sulecki (33-3, 13 KOs) on June 27th, in their title fight for the vacant WBC Super Middleweight Championship in Quebec City. “This eliminator sets-up everything for me and I’m all business,” Fulghum said. “I won’t make it anything more than it is because each fight I’ve had was extra important; I wouldn’t be here if I had lost any of my fights. There’s no added pressure because this is an eliminator and there will be a lot more to come after this Friday night.” The 28-year-old Fulghum, fighting out of Houston, has his fight against Melikuziev, the 2016 Olympic silver medalist from Uzbekistan, in its proper perspective. “This eliminator sets-up everything for me and I’m all business,” Fulghum said. “But I won’t make it anything more than it is because each fight I’ve had were extra important; I wouldn’t be here if I had lost any of my fights. There’s no added pressure because this is an eliminator because there will be a lot more to come after this Friday night.” Fulghum was a decorated amateur boxer who was ranked No. 1 in the USA as a heavyweight, but as a professional he’s fought strictly as a super middleweight. He was the 2018 National Golden Gloves Tournament Champion, and he also won the 2020 U.S. Olympic Team Trials. Somehow, he accomplished this while he was earning a nursing degree from Prairie View A & M University during COVID-19. Fulghum is working with 3 Point Management (3 PM), which has a growing stable of gifted boxers including WBA & WBO Cruiserweight World Champion Gilberto “Zurdo” Ramirez (47-1, 30 KOs), WBO No. 1/WBA No. 2-rated world super flyweight title challenger John “Scrappy” Ramirez (14-1, 9 KOs), former world heavyweight champion/WBC No. 4-rated Oleksandr “Nails” Gvozdyk (21-2, 17 KOs), former WBA Inter-Continental Light Heavyweight Champion Kareem “Supreme” Hackett (12-1, 6 KOs) and German junior welterweight Simon “Saucy” Vollmer (6-0, 2 KOs). INFORMATION: Instagram/X//LinkedIn: @DariusFulghum  |
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