Murodjon Akhmadaliev will have to wait a few months for his dream fight, but only a few weeks for his next ring appearance.

BoxingScene has confirmed that the former unified junior featherweight titlist is set to return to the ring on May 30. Akhmadaliev, 13-1 (10 KOs) will face Luis Castillo on the DAZN undercard headlined by the Manuel Gallegos-Khalil Coe rematch from Domo Alcalde in Guadalajara, Mexico. 

With a win, next up for the Uzbek southpaw is a September 14 showdown with undisputed junior featherweight champion Naoya Inoue, 29-0 (26 KOs). The meeting is contingent upon victories by both boxers; Inoue defends against San Antonio’s Ramon Cardenas, 26-1 (14 KOs), in his U.S. return this Sunday from T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. 

Placement on the May 30 show is means for Akhmadaliev to remain active ahead of the biggest fight of his career. He has not fought since a third-round knockout of Tijuana’s Ricardo Espinoza, 30-5 (25 KOs), last December 14 in Monte Carlo, Monaco.

The feat came with the interim WBA junior featherweight title. The secondary belt was a consolation prize for Akhmadaliev reluctantly agreeing to allow Inoue to further delay his overdue WBA mandatory title shot. 

Akhmadaliev hadn’t fought in exactly 52 weeks prior to that night, partly because he was ensured that a title shot was in tow. He withdrew from a planned stay-busy fight last summer as a result, but in the end was just left with a year nearly gone to waste. 

The return to the ring later this month is means to avoid history repeating itself. 

Akhmadaliev previously held the WBA and IBF junior featherweight titles. His three-year reign ended in April 2023, when he dropped a highly questionable split decision to Marlon Tapales. Inoue, the unified WBC and WBO titlist at the time, went on to defeat Tapales via tenth-round knockout to become a two-division undisputed champion. 

Akhmadaliev has fought just twice the loss to Tapales. One year prior to the abovementioned win over Espinoza, Akhmadaliev defeated then-unbeaten Kevin Gonzalez via sixth-round knockout in December 2023 to become the WBA mandatory. 

Jake Donovan is an award-winning journalist who served as a senior writer for BoxingScene from 2007-2024, and news editor for the final nine years of his first tour. He was also the lead writer for The Ring before his decision to return home. Follow Jake on X and Instagram.