(Feb. 15, 2022) — Three former world champions highlight an international fight marathon this Saturday, Feb. 19, live and exclusively on ESPN+. It begins with Breakfast and Boxing from RCC Boxing Academy in Yekaterinburg, Russia, as Zaur Abdullaev defends his WBC Silver lightweight belt in a 12-rounder against three-weight world champion Jorge Linares.
Linares-Abdullaev fight action begins at 9:30 a.m. ET/6:30 a.m. PT, which precedes the highly anticipated grudge match between former world champions Amir Khan and Kell Brook. Coverage of Khan-Brook from AO Arena in Manchester, England, starts at 1 p.m. ET/10 a.m. PT and includes the vacant WBO female junior middleweight world title bout between Natasha Jonas (10-2-1, 7 KOs) and Chris Namus (25-6, 8 KOs), English super middleweight champion Charlie Schofield (17-1, 1 KO) defending his belt in 10-rounder versus Germaine Brown (11-0, 3 KOs), and the heavyweight professional debut of British Olympic bronze medalist Frazer Clarke.
Linares (47-6, 29 KOs) has been a professional for nearly 20 years, winning world titles at featherweight, junior lightweight and lightweight. During his lightweight run, he’s defeated the likes of Anthony Crolla and Kevin Mitchell while giving pound-for-pound great Vasiliy Lomachenko a stern test before being knocked out in the 10th round of their May 2018 matchup. Linares is coming off last May’s competitive decision defeat to rising star Devin Haney. Abdullaev (14-1, 8 KOs), who has won three fights since a TKO loss to Haney, earned the WBC Silver title last September with a unanimous decision over former world champion Dejan Zlaticanin.
ESPN+-streamed undercard action from Russia includes a 12-round WBA 130-pound title eliminator between Mark Uranov (20-2-1, 10 KOs) and Angel Rodriguez (19-1, 10 KOs), and Russian junior welterweight standout Ivan Kozlovsky (4-0, 2 KOs) in a 10-round test against Zoravor Petrosian (12-1, 5 KOs).
