By Ray Wheatley — World of Boxing

Australian super middleweight Bilal Akkawy (15-0-0) will clash with Rogerio Damasco (16-7-1) over eight rounds on Friday at Club Punchbowl, Sydney, NSW, Australia.

Promoter Paul Nasari said, “Bilal Akkawy has been impressive in sparring sessions which I witnessed last week with former WBA super middleweight champion Anthony Mundine who is also in good shape for his scheduled contest in January. Bilal was in the WBA world ratings in 2016 after defeating world class Kerry Hope of Wales in what was regarded as one of the best fights in Australia that year.

“Hall of Fame trainer Johnny Lewis is on Bilal’s training team and there has been a noticeable improvement in his technique. The management of Bilal are after big name opponents and have made offers to top American super middleweights Brian Vera and Peter Manfredo but the offers were unfortunately rejected.

“Rogerio Damasco has a good record and has come to fight so Akkawy should be tested on Friday.”