Kerikeri cruiserweight Mohamed Azzaoui will head to Moscow at the end of the month for the fight of his life, with a win the next step toward achieving his ambitions of winning a world title.
Boxing promoter Mick Watson was behind getting the former Algerian amateur champion onto the undercard of
the WBO World Heavyweight title bout between Evander Holyfield and Sultan Ibragimov on October 13.
Azzaoui, the Pan Asian and Pan African cruiserweight champion, will fight Nicaraguan cruiserweight Henry Saenz in what Azzaoui's trainer Anthony Warren describes as an "eliminator" bout.
The winner of the fight is expected to line up against the winner of the WBA World Cruiserweight bout between American champion Virgil Hill and challenger Firat Arslan of Germany, for the WBA title at a later date.
Warren said the fight will be the biggest of Azzaoui's professional career in terms of the worldwide television audience.
"All of the fights on the card will be broadcast to millions of people around the world - it's going to be huge," Warren said.
"Apparently it's going to be the biggest boxing event ever held in Russia."
A second Kiwi fighter, former Warrior rugby league star Monty Betham, will also be included on the card and will probably be the first fight on the night's card at the Khodynka Arena in Moscow.
Warren said Azzaoui's training has already started for the event and while it will be a shorter period than desirable, the agreement of Shane Cameron and Peter Kariuki to spar with Azzaoui will help fast-track his preparation.
"Using New Zealand's best, Shane Cameron, will toughen up Mohamed quickly, and the speed of Peter (Kariuki) will sharpen him up - we're lucky to have them both," Warren said.
"It took a lot of work for Mick Watson and Johnny Crozier to pull this off and we couldn't have done it without the backing of (Mainfreight Transport founder) Bruce Plested and also our local sponsors ASB Gymfit, Mary Hewitt and the whanau at Mt Pokaka Timber company."
Azzaoui will leave on September 30 and spend 10 days in London to complete his preparation for the bout.
