Less than two weeks before fight night, Matchroom has added a pair of world title fights to their Anthony Joshua vs Kristaps Prenga in Jeddah.
Hamzah Sheeraz (23-0-1, 19 KO), last seen mauling Alem Begic in May for the vacant WBO super middleweight belt left behind by Terence Crawford, will make his inaugural defense against no. 7 Simon Zachenhuber (29-1, 18 KO). Despite the pretty record, Zachenhuber is just three months removed from dropping a six-rounder to Pawel August, who also appears on the undercard
opposite undefeated Jacob Bank.
Why they didn’t just have Sheeraz fight Bank, who sits at no. 2 in the rankings behind Canelo Alvarez, is beyond me. Perhaps they’re letting it marinate.
In a matchup that figures to be at least marginally more competitive, Josh Kelly (18-1-1, 9 KO) puts his IBF super welterweight title on the line against Caoimhin Agyarko (18-0, 7 KO). Kelly upset reigning champion Bakhram Murtazaliev in January, finally reaching the projected heights of his pre-Avanesyan career, while Ireland’s Agyarko survived some gnarly swelling to edge out Ishmael Davis last September.
Other fighters of note include top super featherweight prospect Reito Tsutsumi alongside Olympians Oleksandr Khyzhniak and Nishant Dev.
