Ashton "H2O" Sylve can finally turn the page and continue his promising career following a devastating knockout loss against
Lucas Bahdi in July last year.
Sylve (11-1, 9 KOs) is set to face former lightweight titleholder Richard Commey (31-5-1, 28 KOs) on Oct. 18, Swift Promotions announced. The matchup will provide chief support to
Danny Garcia’s fight against Daniel Gonzalez at Barclays Center in Brooklyn.
Sylve, a 21-year-old prospect from Long Beach, California, has been stuck on the sidelines since a shocking sixth-round knockout loss to Bahdi in a fight he was comfortably controlling.
Sylve was supposed to return to the ring in April, but he pulled out of his scheduled main event on fight night due to illness. Complicating career matters even more was a nasty contractual dispute and
split from Jake Paul’s Most Valuable Promotions.
Now, Sylve can focus on the task at hand against the hard-hitting Commey, a 38-year-old from Accra, Ghana.
Commey is 2-3-1 in his last six fights, a difficult stretch that started with his second-round knockout loss to Teofimo Lopez in 2019. The defeat marked the end to Commey’s IBF lightweight title reign. Commey had won the vacant crown earlier that year by knocking out Isa Chaniev and successfully defended the belt, stopping Raymundo Beltran, before facing Lopez.
In recent years, Commey has lost to Vasiliy Lomachenko (UD12) and Jose Ramirez (KO11), fought Jose Pedraza to a split draw, knocked out Jackson Marinez (KO6) and in August defeated William Jackson (TKO2).
Manouk Akopyan is The Ring’s lead writer. Follow him on X and Instagram: @ManoukAkopyan