Shakur Stevenson will officially face Joe Cordina in an undercard fight on October 1. 12 in Riyad gala, the main character of which was the long-awaited clash between Artur Beterbiev and Dmitry Bivol.

Stevenson (22-0, 10 KO) will soon return to the ring after a July 6 decision victory over Artem Harutyunyan, which was his last win in the top division. He has an obligation to win the WBC lightweight title against William Zepeda, but that is currently scheduled for February. Meanwhile, Cordina (17-1, 9 KO) will be looking to return in style after losing her IBF super featherweight title to Anthony Cacace in May.

Also on the card:

• 34-year-old Chris Eubank Jr (33-3, 24 KO) begins his sixth or seventh restart in his career with a fight against Kamil Szeremeta (25-2-2, 8 KO), who had a 10-round draw in February last year in Poland and seems to have never really recovered from back-to-back losses to Gennady Golovkin and Jaime Munguia during the season 2020–2021.
• Fabio Wardley (17-0-1, 16 KO) and Frazer Clarke (8-0-1, 6 KO) will meet again in a rematch for Wardley’s British and Commonwealth titles in a very appropriate setting for the British national belts.
• Jai Opetaia (25-0, 19 KO) will defend his IBF cruiserweight title against Jack Massey (22-2, 12 KO). Massey will likely be the second-best opponent of Opetaa’s career after a mighty win over Isaac Chamberlain in June, but Opetaia will still be the main favorite.
• Ben Whittaker (8-0, 5 KO) will face Liam Cameron (23-6, 10 KO), who gave Lyndon Arthur a good run after his June defeat.
• Skye Nicolson (11-0, 1 KO) will defend her WBC featherweight title against Raven Chapman (9-0, 2 KO). Nicolson will be rightly favored, but this is as good a fight as there is for Skye.

Three-time cruiserweight champion Mairis Briedis announced on Twitter that after almost 15 years in the ring, he calls it a career.

The Latvian had previously spent his first six years as a gigantic fish in a compact pond on the Euro circuit moving up to heavyweight to destroy Mahmoud Charr with one punch. Two years later, he won his first world title by defeating Marco Huck in Germany, thus earning a place in the inaugural WBSS cruiserweight tournament. There he defeated Mike Perez before giving Oleksandr Usyk probably the toughest fight of his professional career, losing by majority decision.

When WBSS got going again, Briedis reached the semi-finals with a controversial decision over Noel Mikaelian, who has since gone on to win the world title. What followed was an ugly, foul-filled fight with Krzysztof Głowacki, which culminated in Briedis Glowacki brutally hitting the bell in the second second and then getting there in the third.

Briedis ultimately relinquished the WBO belt during another 15-month break. Half a year into the pandemic, he finally had the opportunity to finish his run by defeating Yuniel Dorticos for the IBF title.

After defending his djme title against Artur Mann in his hometown of Riga, Briedis put on a show against Jai Opetaia, fighting in the early rounds but in return breaking his jaw and racing down the stretch en route to another narrow defeat. Their second meeting last May was not as competitive as the aging and rusty Briedis did not impose his will but once again gave Opetaia hell.

It was a career to be proud of; Briedis has remained at or near the top for many eras in the cruiserweight divisions, including some of the most talent-heavy periods in recent memory. Good luck with your future work, champ.

Results

• Christian Mbilla UD-10 Sergiy Derevyanchenko (98-92, 99-91, 100-90)
• Guido Vianello TKO-8 Arslanbek Makhmudov (0:01)

Christian Mbilli puts his undefeated record on the line today against tough veteran Sergiy Derevyanchenko in the gala broadcast from Quebec City on ESPN.

Live coverage will begin at 10 p.m. ET on ESPN and ESPN+, with early prelim action beginning at 5 p.m. ET on ESPN+.

Mbilli (27-0, 23 KO) is potentially in prime position to face Canelo Alvarez in 2025, which isn’t a guarantee, but he needs to win today to even stay in that potential lineup. Derevyanchenko (15-5, 10 KO) doesn’t have the best record in the WL, but if you’ve seen him fight, you know he can fight, and he’s only lost to top-class fighters. It’s a test Mbilli may yet pass.

Also on the card: Arslanbek Makhmudov (19-1, 18 KO) will fight Guido Vianello (12-2-1, 10 KO) in heavyweight, and Osleys Iglesias (11-0, 10 KO) will fight Sena in super middleweight Agbeko (28-3, 22 KO) will be for many people the first chance to see Iglesias, a Cuban who started his professional career mainly in Germany, and is currently fighting in Quebec, following consecutive first-round knockouts of Marcelo Coceres and Yevgeny Szwedenko.

Live updates, highlights and results will appear in the stream below: