Friday at the Palm in Dubai. The vacant WBA intercontinental cruiserweight title will be on the line. Pérez, a Cuban southpaw based in Cork, Ireland for the duration of his professional career, will be returning to action for the first time in nearly three full years. He is 3-1 in his campaign so far at cruiser, after finding himself frequently outsized and finally giving up on HW. Before losing to Mairis Briedis in the WBSS quarterfinals he previously had a 25 month layoff. Some would argue his desire has been iffy since the Abdusalamov incident. Salam, a London-based fellow southpaw originally hailing from Nigeria, is taking his biggest step up in class to date. He was knocked out by Courtney Fry in 2008 and then lost a SD to Chamunorwa "Sting" Gonorenda of Zimbabwe for the WBF 200lb African title a decade later (with a several year stint in jail in between, for kidnapping his own wife) and then avenged the loss by knocking Gonorenda out just two months later.
