The elimination bout between lightweight contender Andy Cruz and Hironori Mishiro now has a date and a location.
The IBF-sanctioned contest will serve as the chief support on a June 14 DAZN show from The Theater at Madison Square Garden in New York City, Matchroom Boxing announced Friday.
Headlining the show, Brooklyn’s own Richardson Hitchins, 19-0 (7 KOs) will defend his IBF junior welterweight title against former unified lightweight champion George Kambosos Jnr, 22-3 (10 KOs).
The winner of Cruz-Mishiro will be the mandatory contender for the IBF belt at 135lbs. Presently, the primary IBF titleholder is Vasiliy Lomachenko while the interim belt was recently picked up by Raymond Muratalla.
The IBF granted Lomachenko an injury exception allowing him to recover without being stripped, but Lomachenko must defend against Muratalla by October 8. It is expected that Lomacheneko’s decision could come much sooner.
“We need to get [Cruz] mandatory, ’cause no one’s gonna fight him,” Eddie Hearn of Matchroom Boxing, which promotes Cruz, told BoxingScene’s Declan Warrington last month.
Cruz, 5-0 (2 KOs), is a 29-year-old from Cuba who now lives in the United States. He is ranked third by the IBF at lightweight; the sanctioning body’s top two spots are vacant. Cruz won an Olympic gold medal in 2021, defeating Keyshawn Davis in the tournament finale in Tokyo, Japan.
Davis, who turned pro nearly two and a half years before Cruz did, has since gone on to win the WBO lightweight title. Cruz entered the paid ranks in July 2023 and is coming off a wide decision victory over the 20-1 Omar Salcido in January.
Japan’s Mishiro, 17-1-1 (6 KOs), 30, is ranked fifth by the IBF, one spot below former featherweight titleholder Mark Magsayo.
Mishiro’s blemishes are a draw in 2018 with the 18-1 Masaru Sueyoshi and a cut-shortened technical decision loss to the 14-4-2 Min Ho Jung in April 2023.
Since then, Mishiro has won five in a row, most recently stopping the 14-2-1 Hinata Maruta in December.
Also announced for the Hitchins-Kambosos undercard:
Alexis Barriere, 12-0 (10 KOs), will face Roney Hines, 14-0-1 (8 KOs), in a heavyweight bout.
Ernesto ‘Tito’ Mercado, 17-0 (16 KOs), BoxingScene’s 2023 Prospect of the Year, will face Jonathan Montrel, 19-3 (13 KOs), in a junior welterweight bout.
Zaquin Moses, 3-0 (2 KOs), will face Carl Rogers, 3-2 (0 KOs), in a junior lightweight bout.
Pablo Valdez, 9-0 (8 KOs), will face Cesar Diaz, 9-1 (4 KOs), in a welterweight bout.
Nishant Dev, 1-0 (1 KO), will face Josue Silva, 3-2 (1 KO), in a junior middleweight bout.
And bantamweight Adam Maca will make his professional debut against an opponent still to be announced.
David Greisman, who has covered boxing since 2004, is on Twitter @FightingWords2. David’s book, “Fighting Words: The Heart and Heartbreak of Boxing,” is available on Amazon.