By this time, Kyrone Davis is fully aware his pursuit of boxing justice is something he’ll need to use his own fists to gavel home, but that cause looks to be inching onward.
Seven months after upsetting top-ranked middleweight contender Elijah Garcia by split decision in Las Vegas, Davis, 19-3-1 (6 KOs), is moving to a February 4 purse bid with IBF No. 2-ranked middleweight Etinosa Oliha, 21-0 (9 KOs), of Italy, to see who will be the sanctioning body’s first in line to fight IBF and WBO titleholder Janibek Alimkhanuly, 16-0 (11 KOs).
The IBF has ordered Oliha-Davis as a middleweight title eliminator for its No. 1 spot, which currently sits vacant. Davis is No. 5 in the IBF rankings.
His No. 12 spot in the WBA rankings is more startling, considering he defeated Phoenix’s Garcia when Garcia was on the brink of an apparent title shot at Cuba’s veteran WBA belt holder Erislandy Lara.
It was astounding slotting, but that hard path is one the New Jersey-born Davis, 30, is used to.
His position under Alimkhanuly is intriguing because Alimkhanuly has maintained laser focus on other opponents, particularly WBC titleholder Carlos Adames and his February 22 opponent, top-ranked Hamzah Sheeraz.
Additionally, Alimkhanuly had trouble cutting weight for a summer title defense, postponing that bout, and there has been speculation he might ultimately leave the division if continually deprived of the more high-profile fights he seeks.
Oliha, 26, has fought his five most recent bouts in Germany after building his career on Italian fight cards. The 6ft 1in Oliha is coming off a third-round TKO of Alexander Pavlov on September 14.
The IBF this week additionally scheduled January 30 purse bids for eliminators for the No. 1 heavyweight spot between Martin Bakole and Efe Ajagba – Daniel Dubois is the IBF titlist – and the No. 1 super middleweight spot between Christian Mbilli and Kevin Lele Sadjo.
William Scull is the new IBF super middleweight belt holder.
Lance Pugmire is BoxingScene’s senior U.S. writer and an assistant producer for ProBox TV. Pugmire has covered boxing since the early 2000s, first at the Los Angeles Times and then at The Athletic and USA Today. He won the Boxing Writers’ Association of America’s Nat Fleischer Award in 2022 for career excellence.
Read the full article here
