INDIO, California – Recently elevated to a top-five rankings spot by the World Boxing Association, super middleweight Bektemir Melikuziev will return to the ring Aug. 10 on the main undercard portion of the Vergil Ortiz Jr.-Serhii Bohachuk junior middleweight main event being targeted for Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas, the fighter told BoxingScene.
Melikuziev (14-1, 10 KOs) is hopeful he’ll land a top-10 opponent to aid his rise toward a spot closer to challenge champion Saul “Canelo” Alvarez or to fight for the WBA’s secondary belt. His opponent has yet to be finalized.
“To me, it doesn’t make any difference who I fight,” Melikuziev said of the DAZN card. “I’m very happy to be back. Whoever’s the opponent, I’ll be ready. As long as I’m getting opportunities on big shows and getting on TV, that’s all I need to get to that title.
“It makes no difference who’s in front of me – tall, skinny, fat. If I’m in good shape, I’m going to do what I do.”
Melikuziev has won seven consecutive fights since his surprise knockout loss to veteran Gabriel Rosado in 2021. He avenged the Rosado loss by unanimous decision last year.
“That was a very good thing that happened to me – the best thing,” he said. “Because for 10 years, I was destroying every person put in front of me, from amateurs to heavyweights. I wasn’t worrying about anything. I wasn’t living an athlete’s life. Messing around. Eating the wrong stuff.
“That thing that happened to me made me think about everything and get better physically and mentally. Now, I’m a different type of fighter.”
Returning to training this week beside WBA junior middleweight champion Israil Madrimov and former junior featherweight Murodjon “M.J.” Akhmadaliev in Indio, Melikuziev was working out at home with the Uzbekistan Olympic team.
The seven members of the country’s 2016 team, including Botirzhon Akhmedov and Shakhram Giyasov, vowed to become world champions, and all seven currently reside in a top-10 position.
Melikuziev, nicknamed “Bully,” said he’s appreciative of the support he receives from his promoter Oscar De La Hoya to complement the daily training by veteran cornerman Joel Diaz. He feels it has made him one of the division’s most avoided opponents, noting how former title challenger Sergiy Derevyanchenko and Steven Nelson withdrew from talks to fight – Nelson for a spot on the Aug. 3 card in Los Angeles headlined by the fighters’ best-known teammates, Madrimov and Terence Crawford.
“We want the bigger names if possible,” Melikuziev said. “The reality is most of them won’t fight me. We were supposed to fight Derevyanchenko [and] Nelson. The fights never happened. We were supposed to fight for the mandatory position against [David] Morrell. No one wants to fight him? I did.”
Melikuziev would consider a move to light heavyweight but another teammate, WBA titleholder Dmitry Bivol, is one of Melikuziev’s best friends, and they’ve promised to never fight. Bivol may own all four belts at 175 if he can defeat three-belt champion Artur Beterbiev Oct. 12 in Saudi Arabia.
“I was a cruiserweight in the amateurs,” Melikuziev said. “I was always shorter, smaller, undersized, but it never was an issue. My power was always an equalizer. With all of the belts held hostage by Canelo and none of the sanctioning bodies pushing him to fight, it doesn’t make any difference to go to 175.”
At 28, he is content to patiently allow the process to play out alongside his former childhood boxing friends, who for years lived together in one home.
In Indio, now they live between two homes.
“It’s unbelievable – where we all started, and where we’re at. To compare it, it’s like seeing your twin brother achieve something. You’re happy for them. Someone you’ve been with all your life becoming successful, you’re thrilled,” Melikuziev said.
“We were all kids staying in one room 15 years ago, and now M.J.’s been a champion, Israil is a champion, and we’re on our way. People don’t realize how close we are and what we went through to get here. We’re still getting better, and the goal is for all of us on the 2016 Olympic team to be champions. That’ll be something. That’s never been achieved.”
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