The placement on this Tuesday’s show could not be more ideal for Artem Dalakian.
If nothing else, it will give him an up-close-and-personal view of a potential future opponent.
Unification bouts and greater activity are the must-haves for the long-reigning WBA flyweight titlist in 2024 and beyond. The combination of the pandemic and the ongoing Russo-Ukraine war have slowed his career to a crawl—just four fights in five years—and has been the odd man out when discussion turns to the biggest flyweight fights.
Step one to change that perception is to deliver a memorable performance versus mandatory challenger Seigo Yuri Akui (18-2-1, 11KOs). Their bout takes place Tuesday at EDION Arena in Osaka, Japan. The main event features lineal, WBC and WBA junior flyweight champion Kenshiro Teraji (22-1, 14KOs), who appears to be on borrowed time at the weight. He could be headed to flyweight not too far after his title defense versus Venezuela’s Carlos Canizales (26-1-1, 19KOs).
“Kenshiro is a true world champion and a very good boxer,” Dalakian noted to BoxingScene.com. “If he chooses to come up to my division and wins a world championship, I will be happy to meet him in a unification bout.”
For now, Dalakian (22-0, 15KOs) is focused on the seventh defense of his title reign, spray painted over a six-year period.
The bout comes nearly a full year after his twelve-round, unanimous decision victory over unbeaten mandatory David Jimenez last January 28 at OVO Arena Wembley in London. Prior to that was a November 2021 ninth-round knockout of former titlist Luis ‘Nica’ Concepcion in Kiev, Ukraine, the adopted homeland for the Azerbaijan-born Dalakian who has not fought at home since the war began nearly two years ago.
The 36-year old watched with a bit of disappointment as Jesse ‘Bam’ Rodriguez and Sunny Edwards met in a WBO/IBF unification bout last December. San Antonio’s Rodriguez (19-0, 12KOs) won via stoppage after nine rounds to produce the division’s first unified champion since Juan Francisco Estrada vacated his WBA and WBO titles more than eight years ago to campaign at junior bantamweight, where he is now the lineal/WBC champ.
Rodriguez stated after his career-best win that he plans to return to junior bantamweight, where he previously held the WBC title. Dalakian hopes to fill the void atop a once-again wide-open flyweight division, assuming all goes well on Tuesday.
“I will continue to wait—but push—for my chance to unify the titles,” Dalakian said. “If I could wave a magic wand, I would like to fight Julio Cesar Martinez for two belts, the WBA and WBC.”
Jake Donovan is a senior writer for BoxingScene.com. X (formerly Twitter): @JakeNDaBox