Former two-weight world title holder Timothy Bradley is being lined up to top the bill in Dubai as the date and venue for a proposed major boxing event in the UAE emerged on Monday night.
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M Akbar Muhammad who, in association with US promoters Top Rank, is behind the ambitious plan, will today submit a formal proposal to book the Hamdan Sports Complex for the night of Saturday, November 21.
That development follows Top Rank CEO Bob Arum last week telling ESPN he was “working on a super duper card in Dubai in November”.
Muhammad says he has the full backing of the Dubai Sports Council and while declining to reveal details of exactly how the event would be financed, insisted there was “not a question” the money was in place.
As for the card, the main event would feature former two-time light welterweight title holder and ex-WBO welterweight champion Bradley taking on Sadam Ali, a New Yorker with Yemeni heritage, at 147lbs.
Chief support would come from a unification bout in the featherweight division between rising Ukrainian star Vasyl Lomachenko and Jamaica’s Nicholas Walters, who are both signed to Top Rank.
Major fight night at @HamdanSC in November! #Bradley, #Lomachenko and #Donaire among names being considered.@Sport360 pic.twitter.com/wVFTd37pAY
— HamdanSportsComplex (@HamdanSC) June 16, 2015
Muhammad, who runs his own promotional company Akbar Productions LLC and is working on the UAE side of the deal, said: “There was an interview last week (with Bob Arum) on ESPN and what he was talking about is what we are trying to do here.
“Top Rank are 100 per cent set, I don’t even need to think about that. The main event would definitely be Bradley and Sadam, who has Yemeni roots.
“We would also hopefully have another championship bout (in the super-bantamweight division) between (Nonito) Donaire, who is the second most popular Filipino fight behind Manny Pacquiao, against the Brit (Scott) Quigg.
“We would also have super middleweights, (Arthur) Abrahams and (Gilberto) Ramirez first, then the two smaller weights and then the welterweights.”
Kiriakos Giannopoulos, the Managing Director of the Hamdan Complex confirmed they had been approached and added: “If you ask me the Hamdan Complex is the best venue around and we could certainly stage an event of this size.”
