Golden Boy Promotions is pitting its top super middleweight contenders against each other to identify who they’ll push further.

Darius Fulghum (14-0, 12 KOs) and Bektemir Melikuziev (15-1, 10 KOs) are expected to square off in a 12-round WBA world title eliminator on May 30 in a main event matchup at the Virgin Hotels in Las Vegas.

“It’s a fight that we wanted and a fight that made the most sense, and now, the time is here,” Fulghum told The Ring in an interview. “We’re both Golden Boy guys and it was an easy fight to make. It will really show who is Golden Boy’s top guy in a stacked 168-pound division, and give them the full reins to push the winner. There are a lot of big fights to be made in the division.”

The Ring has also learned that middleweight contender Eric Priest (15-0, 8 KOs) is set to be showcased on the Fulghum-Melikuziev card, which hasn’t been formally announced yet.

Melikuziev is ranked third by the WBA and Fulghum is rated fourth. The winner would inch closer to challenging current Ring, WBA, WBC, and WBO 168-pound champion Canelo Alvarez, who faces IBF title holder William Skull in an undisputed title fight on May 4 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

The matchup between Fulghum and Melikuziev comes one day before WBA interim champion Caleb Plant headlines a show against Jose Armando Resendiz at the Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas. Jermall Charlo will fight Thomas LaManna in the co-main event, and if Plant and Charlo both win, the expectation is for them to fight each other later this year.

Fulghum – who holds a nursing degree from Prairie View A&M University – said he plans on being ringside for the PBC show the day after his fight to study his potential next opponents.

Fulghum, a 28-year-old from Houston, last fought in February and scored a fourth-round stoppage win against Winfred Harris Jr. Fulghum, a 2018 National Golden Gloves winner and a participant of the 2020 United States Olympic Team Trials, turned professional in 2021. Fulghum put the super middleweight division on notice with an active 2024 campaign, beating Alantez Fox, Cristian Olivas, Vaughn Alexander, and Christopher Pearson.

Melikuziev, a 29-year-old southpaw and 2016 Olympics silver medalist from Uzbekistan, is coming off a nail-biting split decision win against David Stevens in November. Melikuziev's lone career loss came against Gabriel Rosado courtesy of a shocking one-punch knockout in 2021. “Bek The Bully” avenged the defeat with a dominant decision win in 2023 against Rosado and is riding an eight-fight winning streak.