Murodjon Kakharovich Akhmadaliev vs. José Luis Velásquez Cárdenas

By rights, this ought to be the main event of DAZN's show on the 19th of November at Southern New Hampshire University. Both the IBF and WBA super bantamweight titles will be at stake, the second defense of each by Akhmadaliev. "El Pancora" Velásquez is unranked by either org - nor any in the 122lbs division - but is WBO #11 down at 118lbs.

Not an ideal challenger for the unbeaten young powerful Uzbek southpaw champion, no - but at least this is for a partially-unified two belts. The de jure headlining act of this card is Demetrius César Andrade vs. Jason Robert Quigley for the WBO middleweight title, in Boo-Boo Andrade's fifth defense. You can argue that "El Animal" Quigley is a worthier contender and p4p better fighter than Velásquez, but a) this is still just one belt, and b) the lowly WBO no less, against the combined relative prestige of the IBF and WBA, even for all their respective faults, and c) literally nobody likes watching Boo-Boo! He's the most boring MW titlist in years (maybe reaching further back than Felix Sturm!) and isn't even well loved or a big draw here locally in New England where he's from, let alone nationwide. So then why on earth would you bend over backwards to put his face on the marquee, over an exciting rising star like MJ?

 

Oh, and

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I would agree in terms of it being the best match-up and highest combined skill level between participants, all other things being equal (like if MJ had just the IBF or WBA) but again, I feel like a single belt should never trump even a partially-unified title bout. Just IMO.