Oleksandr Usyk vs Rico Verhoeven may have its first undercard bout, as Declan Warrington and Dan Rafael report that Shakhram Giyasov will face Jack Catterall for the WBA “world” welterweight title on May 23rd.
Giyasov (17-0, 10 KO), mandatory challenger since 2023, was in talks to face Raul Curiel for the interim belt on May 2nd. The “world” title isn’t functionally any different, guaranteeing
a title shot if and only if the WBA leadership arbitrarily decides it does. I did enough complaining on the Curiel post, so all I’ll say is that Giyasov better have been paid handsomely for this.
Catterall (32-2, 14 KO) enjoyed a long and fruitful run at 140 before dropping a unanimous decision to Arnold Barboza Jr last year. He’s shown no signs of slippage at 147, taking a technical decision over Harlem Eubank before knocking out Ekow Essuman four months later.
