Daniel Roman and Murodjon Akhmadaliev purse bids set for early July
According to central Asian sources the teams of Daniel Roman (27-2-1, 10) and Murodjon Akhmadaliev (6-0, 5) [Ахмадалиев, Муроджон Кахарович] have failed to reach an agreement for their bout, which was ordered by the WBA earlier in the year.
The bout would pit Roman, the current unified WBA and IBF champion, against the fast rising Uzbek challenger, who quickly raced through the rankings. It was was expected a deal would be reached quite easily, especially given the fact there will be an IBF mandatory due in the near future against former champion Ryosuke Iwasa (27-3, 16) [岩佐 亮佑], but instead the teams have struggled to reach an agreement.
At the time of writing it now seems we will end up going to purse bids, split 75/25 in favour of Roman, with July 2nd set as the date for the purse bids, if the teams can't reach a deal before then.
Roman has already delayed this mandatory once, to unify the titles in his recent victory over TJ Doheny. It was known ahead of that bout that Akhmadaliev would be waiting in the wings for the eventual winner, and here he is now actively pursuing his title fight.
Despite the purse bid scenario it seems almost certain the bout will take place, and will do so in the US, no matter who wins the purse bid. Roman is, after all, an American fighter and Akhmadaliev has fought his entire career in the US, though of course promotional rights, finances and control of the fight are all vital for the teams involved in the purse bid process, and we suspect their will be a pretty decent sized winning bid for this much anticipated match up.
The bout would pit Roman, the current unified WBA and IBF champion, against the fast rising Uzbek challenger, who quickly raced through the rankings. It was was expected a deal would be reached quite easily, especially given the fact there will be an IBF mandatory due in the near future against former champion Ryosuke Iwasa (27-3, 16) [岩佐 亮佑], but instead the teams have struggled to reach an agreement.
At the time of writing it now seems we will end up going to purse bids, split 75/25 in favour of Roman, with July 2nd set as the date for the purse bids, if the teams can't reach a deal before then.
Roman has already delayed this mandatory once, to unify the titles in his recent victory over TJ Doheny. It was known ahead of that bout that Akhmadaliev would be waiting in the wings for the eventual winner, and here he is now actively pursuing his title fight.
Despite the purse bid scenario it seems almost certain the bout will take place, and will do so in the US, no matter who wins the purse bid. Roman is, after all, an American fighter and Akhmadaliev has fought his entire career in the US, though of course promotional rights, finances and control of the fight are all vital for the teams involved in the purse bid process, and we suspect their will be a pretty decent sized winning bid for this much anticipated match up.