Highly world-ranked and heavy-handed Ryad Merhy (28-1, 23 KOs) of Belgium faced off with unbeaten Imre Szello (24-0, 16 KOs) of Hungary Wednesday. The pair will square off for real October 19 at the Spiroudome Arena, in Charleroi, Belgium with the vacant WBA interim cruiserweight world title.
Accompanying the fighters were the event and Merhy’s promoter Alain Vanackere and the promoter of Szello, Felix Racz.
Merhy came up short in his previous attempt at this same title last year vs unbeaten Arsen Goulamirian of France in France but is confident it will be different this time around fighting at home.
“This is an opportunity for me to show I am much improved since my fight with Goulamirian. This time the fight will be at home and that will be a small but still a psychological advantage.”
Szello has his own plans for victory.
“I do not want to miss out on this opportunity. I have already been preparing 5 weeks for this fight. It will be a very special fight in my career,” said Szello.
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The co-feature will have unbeaten world ranked Mikalai Vesialou (10-0-1, 5 KOs) of Belarus defending his World Boxing Association Continental middleweight title vs Abdul Khattab(18-2-1, 5 KOs) of Denmark.
Rounding out the undercard:
Abraham Nova (16-0, 12 KOs), Herve Hubeaux (31-3, 14 KOs), Timur Nikarkhoev (21-3, 14 KOs), Kamel Kouaouch (8-0, 0 KOs), Antoine Vanackere (11-1, 6 KOs), Miko Khatchatryan (8-0, 4 KOs), and Hovhannes Martirosyan (7-0, 5 KOs) all in separate bouts.
Tickets can be purchased at ticketmaster.be
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Highly ranked? Merhy is barely in the top 25. He lost badly to Goulamirian, who is ranked #15.
Szello is ranked around #150 – he hasn’t fought anyone known yet.
One can only hope that Merhy has improved since his TKO loss. If he wins this fight, he could become a top 10 contender. If Szello can pull off the upset, he could have a potentially great cruiser weight future.
Its really hard to get to the top and its financially tough to stay mediocre.