Serhii Bohachuk will enter the ring with the full support of his originally intended opponent.

Israil Madrimov made a point to address his canceled plans to face Bohachuk on Saturday. Plans for the attractive matchup between The Ring-rated junior middleweights were thwarted when Madrimov (10-1-1, 7 KOs) was diagnosed with acute bronchitis earlier this month and forced to temporarily shut down training camp.

“I wish nothing but the best to Serhii this week,” Madrimov said in a social media post. “I’m gutted I couldn’t make it but I couldn’t afford going (into the) fight not having time to recover to show my best.”

The two were due to meet on the undercard of the Oleksandr Usyk-Tyson Fury Ring heavyweight championship rematch at Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

Uzbekistan’s Madrimov is The Ring No. 2 junior middleweight. Ukraine’s Bohachuk, No. 6, will instead face England’s Ishmael Davis (13-1, 6 KOs) in a scheduled 12-round contest.

Meanwhile, Madrimov will move on to face Vergil Ortiz (22-0, 21 KOs) on Feb. 22, also in Riyadh. Ortiz will risk his interim WBC junior middleweight title versus Madrimov, who previously held the full version of the WBA belt.

It was originally announced that Madrimov would face both Bohachuk and Ortiz. Ironically, the decision to proceed with the latter bout came with the urgency of announcing the entire show as a whole, and not having “TBA” placed as Ortiz’s opponent.

The Feb. 22 show is headlined by the Artur Beterbiev-Dmitry Bivol Ring/undisputed light heavyweight championship rematch.

Given the 50/50 nature of a Madrimov-Bohachuk, there was natural concern that Madrimov—even with a clean win—could return for another grueling matchup just two months later.

The matter is now a point, although the former titleholder insists that he was fully committed to going through with both fights.

“No matter what people say, I was 100% focused on this fight,” stated Madrimov. “From what I know, Serhii [is] a good man, true warrior, happy for him getting a good fight.

“Allah always has a plan for all of us. And whatever happens in my life Alhamdulillah. I greatly appreciate the opportunity from His Excellency Turki Alalshikh and Riyadh Season.”