By Joe Koizumi

IBF interim 122-pound champ Ryosuke Iwasa (27-3, 17 KOs), a Japanese southpaw, will go and fight Murodjon Akhmadaliev (8-0, 6 KOs) in quest of his full WBA and IBF belts in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, on April 3. It was announced here by Celes Kobayashi Gym yesterday (Tuesday).

2016 Olympic bronze medalist Akhmadaliev, 26, captured both belts by a hairline split decision (all 115-113; two to one) over Daniel Roman in Miami in January of the previous year.

Iwasa, five years his senior at 31, acquired the IBF interim belt by halting Filipino lefty Marlon Tapales in eleven lopsided rounds in Brooklyn NY in December 2019, and hasn’t fought since due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

It will be a competitive combat of the lefthanders as Iwasa is a more experienced boxer and Akhmadaliev (whose amateur mark is reportedly 300-20, 80 stoppages on BoxRec) is a very aggressive puncher.