According to Dan Rafael of espn.com, newly crowned WBA Super Lightweight champion Khabib Allakhverdiev will make his maiden defense when he takes on hard punching Bredis Prescott on March 30th as the televised co-feature to the anticipated rematch between Brandon Rios and Mike Alvarado on March 30th at the Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas.
“He beat (Joan) Guzman, who’s a very good fighter and (matchmakers) Bruce (Trampler) and Brad (Goodman) think he’s a very good fighter, so we signed him,” said Top Rank Chairman Bob Arum. “We want to make him a big name and then we have fights we can try to make. Maybe he could fight (welterweight titlist) Tim Bradley, or the Rios-Alvarado winner. We can mix and match these guys.”
“It’s a title fight in the 140-pound division on the same card with Rios and Alvarado on top, so the winners and losers from that night, I can see them fighting each other somewhere,” Top Rank vice president Carl Moretti said. “It’s just a natural mix no matter who wins and loses that night.”
“Prescott was the first man to knock out Amir Khan, he had the war with Mike Alvarado and the disputed loss to McCloskey, who’s a southpaw, which shows he can handle that style,” Moretti said. “And Khabib just keeps coming and throwing punches. He doesn’t know any better. Let’s give him some credit. Khabib said to get him a tough guy. He had no problem taking this fight. Some people create their own storms and then complain when it rains, so let’s see what happens with Khabib and Prescott.”
