Boxing’s most action-packed single-elimination tournament — The Golden Contract — returns Saturday from the Brentwood Centre in Brentwood, England, with the quarterfinals of the light heavyweight tournament.
The action begins at 3 p.m. ET/12 p.m. PT live on ESPN+, the leading multi-sport streaming service. The semifinal and championship bouts of the three Golden Contract tournaments (featherweight, super lightweight and light heavyweight) will stream on ESPN+ in 2020.
The eight fighters in the light heavyweight bracket are as follows: former British champion Hosea “The Hammer” Burton (24-1, 11 KOs), former British and Commonwealth champion Bob “Lionheart” Ajisafe (19-3, 9 KOs), Steven “The Quiet Man” Ward (12-0, 4 KOs), Liam Conroy (17-5-1, 9 KOs), Serge “Bavarian Sniper” Michel (9-1, 7 KOs), Latvian veteran Ricards Bolotniks (15-5-1, 6 KOs), Andre Sterling (10-1, 4 KOs) and Scottish prospect Tommy Philbin (13-0, 4 KOs).
The quarterfinal draw was set Wednesday afternoon and will feature the following bouts: Sterling vs. Conroy, Ward vs. Bolotniks, Philbin vs. Michel and Burton vs. Ajisafe.
#MTKFightNight Comes to Kazakhstan
Monday, 10 a.m. ET/7 a.m. PT
Many of Kazakhstan’s top prospects will fight in a highly anticipated homecoming celebration from Baluan Sholak Sports Palace in Almaty, Kazakhstan. In the main-event, WBC International lightweight champion Viktor Kotochigov (10-0, 4 KOs) will face former South American lightweight champion Javier Jose Clavero (27-5, 5 KOs) in a 10-rounder.
Kotochigov, who signed with MTK Global earlier this year, has already fought in seven nations during his career. The world traveler returns home for the third time in the paid ranks for his fourth outing of 2019. A former amateur standout, Kotochigov has fought at lightweight and super lightweight as a pro, most recently defeating Jairo Lopez over 10 rounds to win the WBC International lightweight belt. Clavero, from Cordoba, Argentina, has won five of his last six and will be making only his third ring appearance away from his home country.
In other action on the ESPN+ stream:
- Kazakh prospect Iskander Kharsan (7-0, 6 KOs), who is coming off an impressive TKO victory over Isidro Ochoa on the Tyson Fury-Otto-Wallin card in Las Vegas, will face Cameroonian veteran Thomas Essomba (9-5, 3 KOs) in an eight-round bantamweight clash.
- Sultan Zaurbek (8-0, 6 KOs), a former Kazakh amateur sensation, will fight for the sixth time this year against Chinese veteran Leshan Li (16-3-2, 9 KOs) in an eight-round junior lightweight tilt. In the unpaid ranks, Zaurbek defeated the likes of 2016 Brazilian Olympic gold medalist Robson Conceicao.
- 2016 Olympic gold medalist Fazliddin Gaibnazarov (7-1, 4 KOs) will make his return against Jose Guadalupe Rosales (38-22, 20 KOs) in an eight-round junior welterweight bout.
- In a six-round middleweight fight, Kazakh prospect Abay Tolesh (4-0, 3 KOs) will face Czech veteran Tomas Bezvoda (8-10, 5 KOs).
Use the hashtag #MTKFightNight to join the conversation on social media.