Aleem-Hovhannisyan: Golden Boy Wins Purse Bid For WBA Title Eliminator
BY
JAKE DONOVAN
Published Fri Nov 12, 2021, 04:38 PM EST
Ra’eese Aleem is on the clock to make a decision as it relates to his immediate future as a rising contender.
Golden Boy Promotions has secured the rights to the ordered World Boxing Association (WBA) junior featherweight title eliminator between the unbeaten Aleem and streaking contender Azat ‘Crazy A’ Hovhannisyan. A purse bid hearing held Friday morning via Zoom saw Golden Boy submit a bid of $80,001 as the session’s lone participant and will now have 20 days to produce final contracts along with a set date and location for the contest.
Golden Boy—whose bid was $1 above the required minimum—have submitted working dates of December 18 in San Antonio and January 22 in Las Vegas or Los Angeles. Aleem and Hovhannisan will each earn $40,000.50 for such a fight—if it moves forward.
Aleem (18-0, 12KOs) is already scheduled to next face Mexicali’s Eduardo Baez as part of a Showtime-televised tripleheader on November 27 from Park MGM in Las Vegas. Should the unbeaten contender proceed with the fight, the WBA will declare Hovhannisyan as the mandatory challenger by default, putting him in line as the number-one contender currently held by WBA “Super” and IBF champion Murodjon Akhmadaliev (9-0, 7KOs).
If Aleem abandons those plans and proceeds with the fight versus Hovhannisyan (20-3, 16KOs), the Muskegon, Michigan native—now based out of Las Vegas—will position himself to guarantee a title shot in 2022 with a win. It was an opportunity he hoped for during his previous interim title status. The sanctioning body removed the belts from circulation in August, installing its claimants as mandatory contenders where applicable. The logjam at junior featherweight left Aleem to enter a title eliminator, since Ronny Rios was already installed as the mandatory challenger and due to face Akhmadaliev on November 19 at SNHU Arena in Manchester, New Hampshire.
Aleem is now on the verge of losing his favorable placement with the WBA, as is the case with another fighter on the November 27 Showtime card.
Brandon Figueroa (22-0-1, 17KOs) is due to defend his WBC junior featherweight title versus WBO titlist Stephen Fulton (19-0, 8KOs) in a highly anticipated title unification bout. Figueroa also holds the WBA “World” junior featherweight title, though not recognized by the WBC or WBO in terms of unification bouts and with the November 27 clash not sanctioned by the WBA.
As previously announced, the WBA plans to declare the title vacant the moment Figueroa enters the ring. The move assists its current mission to reduce its number of recognized titlists, with the goal to eliminate all secondary belts.
Aleem-Rios was first ordered August 27, at the time with Aleem due to face Baez on September 18. The WBA agreed to suspend negotiations until after Aleem-Baez was completed. However, the September 18 date was scrapped and the show was postponed by more than two months due to Figueroa testing positive for Covid-19.
Marshall Kauffman, Aleem’s promoter petitioned the WBA to reconsider its stance on reordering the fight given the untimely delay, though the sanctioning body sided with Hovhannisyan and Golden Boy who rejected the request.
Aleem has not fought since January 23, enjoying a breakout performance in a one-sided 11th round knockout of unbeaten Vic Pasillas to win the WBA interim junior featherweight title. The reign lasted until August 25, when the WBA removed the belts from circulation in its continued effort to reduce its number of recognized titlists.
Hovhannisyan (20-3, 16KOs) has won six fights in a row since a failed title bid versus then-WBC champ Rey Vargas in May 2018. The 33-year-old Los Angeles-based Armenian—who knocked out Rios in the sixth-round of their March 2018 fight to earn the title shot—has fought twice in 2021, most recently in a ten-round decision win over Jose Santos Gonzalez this past July 9 at Banc of California Stadium in Los Angeles.
His next move could come as mandatory challenger by default, absent Aleem and his team showing a change of heart in light of Friday’s purse bid results.
“In the event Aleem participates in a bout other than the eliminator against [Hovhannisyan], his recognition will be revoked and [Hovhanisyan] will be certified as the mandatory challenger,” the WBA previously declared.
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