Jack Catterall and Shakhram Giyasov have agreed terms to fight for the vacant WBA “regular” welterweight title on the undercard of Oleksandr Usyk-Rico Verhoeven on May 23.
Usyk’s divisive next contest will take place at the Pyramids of Giza in Egypt and will be supported by the match-up of two of the world’s leading welterweight contenders.
Uzbekistan’s Giyasov has remained inactive since stopping Franco Maximiliano Ocampo in four rounds on the undercard of Jaron Ennis-Eimantas Stanionis in April 2025, when he was pursuing a fight for the WBA title then held by Stanionis, won that night by Ennis, and later secured by Rolando “Rolly” Romero in victory over Ryan Garcia after it became vacant when Ennis moved up to 154lbs. He proceeded with the fight against Ocampo despite the then-recent death of his baby daughter.
Catterall – of England, and at 32 the same age as Giyasov – in November won the lightly regarded WBO “global” title when stopping in 11 his compatriot Ekow Essuman. He has made little secret of his desire to fight the WBO champion Devin Haney, and had previously been on course for a contest with Jose Ramirez in the US.
He will instead travel to Africa for a considerably more competitive match-up than represents the main event at heavyweight between the decorated Usyk and the kickboxer-turned-1-and-0-professional boxer Verhoeven.
Perhaps significant is the involvement in Usyk-Verhoeven of the same Saudi Arabian financiers who oversaw the most recent contests in the careers of Romero and Haney.
That both Catterall and Giyasov are promoted by Matchroom may also yet give an indication of how much of the remainder of the undercard that night could be formed.
