The November 18 purse bid ceremony set to be held between representatives of WBA welterweight champion Eimantas Stanionis and mandatory challenger Shakhram Giyasov have been cancelled after the WBA received news of both parties having reached an agreement. With Stanionis presumably still a free agent, Giyasov’s promoter Matchroom is now tipped be staging the upcoming bout in early 2025.
While a date and venue have yet to be determined, Lithuanian WBA welterweight (147 lbs) champion Eimantas Stanionis (15-0, 9 KO’s) and Uzbek contender Shakhram Giyasov (16-0, 9 KO’s) are poised to meet in the most pivotal battle of their careers .
The jury is still out on who will promote the upcoming fight, though Matchroom’s status as one of the biggest promotions in the world makes the UK-based promotion a prime candidate to stage the bout on global streaming service DAZN. Additionally, there is also the possibility of the welterweight title bout being picked for a Riyadh Season card due to the fight’s magnitude.
Characterizing the title bout will be the unbeaten records and abilities of both fighters which has made them regarded as top 10 welterweights in the world according to the Transnational Boxing Rankings Board (TBRB).
Stanionis, 30, last fought in April of this year where he recorded a dominant win over Venezuelan contender Gabriel Maestre (6-1-1, 5 KO’s) after an absence of the ring for almost two years. The fight would be the last time Stanionis defended his WBA “regular” title as the WBA elevated him to full world champion in August after Terence Crawford (41-0, 31 KO’s) relinquished his WBA “super” welterweight belt.
31-year old Shakhram Giyasov will be competing in his maiden world title bout against Eimantas Stanionis. Best known for his Olympic silver medal run in the 2016 Olympics, Giyasov’s professional career has been devoid of any notable fight that made him regarded as a serious contender. Giyasov became the WBA mandatory challenger at 147 lbs after defeating Mexican fighter Pablo Cesar Cano (35-9-1, 25 KO’s) in a final eliminator11 earlier this year in February.
Giyasov’s last match occurred in July and saw the Uzbek contender struggle heavily against unranked Mexican contender Miguel Parra (22-5-1, 14 KO’s) who he narrowly defeated by split-decision (SD) in a non-title bout held at super welterweight (154) lbs.
Despite his prior difficulties, Giyasov remains Stanionis’ most difficult challenge since the Lithuanian champion defeated Russian fighter Radzhab Butaev (15-1, 12 KO’s) by SD in 2022―a victory that would culminate in Stanionis claiming Butaev’s WBA “regular” belt to become the WBA “regular” champion at 147 lbs.
- A final eliminator in boxing is a high-stakes bout between two fighters, with the winner earning the right to challenge the current champion for a world title―often culminating in them becoming a “mandatory challenger”. It’s often organized by a sanctioning body (like the WBA, WBC, WBO or IBF) between the two highest-ranked contenders. ↩︎
