World-rated junior lightweight
Muhammad Yaqubov will face former WBO junior featherweight titleholder
Jessie Magdaleno on November 29.
The ProBox show will take place at Save Mart Center, Fresno, California.
Yaqubox, the WBC No. 4-ranked contender, has won his last five since dropping a decision to
O'Shaquie Foster, while Magdaleno is looking to get back into title contention after losing two of his last three fights.
In the co-feature, Erick Badillo (18-0, 8 KOs), who is rated No. 8 by The Ring at junior flyweight, will put his WBC and WBO No. 1 position on the line against former WBO 108-pound ruler Elwin Soto (21-3-1, 13 KOs).
Meanwhile, 2016 Olympian Karlos Balderas (16-2, 14 KOs) will take on a returning Carlos Sanchez (25-3, 19 KOs) at junior welterweight.
Justin Pauldo (19-2, 9 KOs) and Nike Theran (20-1, 14 KOs) will square off at lightweight.
Yaqubox (23-1, 12 KOs) turned professional in Russia a decade ago and won his first 18 fights. He noticeably notched wins over Mark Urvanov (UD 12) in February 2018 and faded former junior bantamweight titlist Tomas Rojas (UD 12) in March 2020.
However, the Tajikistan native saw his unbeaten run come to an end against Foster (UD 12) in March 2022. To his credit, he has returned with wins over the likes of Pablo Vicente (UD 10) and, most recently, William Foster III (MD 10) on August 15.
Magdaleno (30-3, 19 KOs) was a standout amateur before turning professional in 2010. His early career was something of a slow burn, but he came good when he upset Nonito Donaire (UD 12) for the WBO 122-pound title in November 2016.
Instead of becoming a star, in his own right, he surprisingly lost his belt to Isaac Dogboe (KO 11) in his second defense. When he returned, he picked up four wins but wasn't very active and lost to Raymond Ford (UD 12) and was stopped by Brandon Figueroa (KO 9) when they contested the Interim WBC featherweight title last May. He has since got back to winning ways, stopping Luis Coria (TKO 3) on March 22.
Questions/comments can be sent to Anson at elraincoat@live.co.uk and you can follow him on X @AnsonWainwr1ght.