The Riyadh Season team is well aware—more so than anyone else—of Israil Madrimov’s current schedule.

It was never meant as a slight to Serhii Bohachuk to reveal Madrimov as the challenger for Vergil Ortiz’s interim WBC junior middleweight title next February. Turki Alalshikh, chairman of Saudi Arabia’s General Entertainment Authority, revealed Ortiz-Madrimov as part of the blockbuster Feb. 22 event in Riyadh.

Uzbekistan’s Madrimov (10-1-1, 7 knockouts) first must get past Bohachuk (24-2, 23 KOs) on Dec. 21 in Riyadh. Their bout is on the undercard of the Oleksandr Usyk-Tyson Fury RING heavyweight championship.

For now, Madrimov represents a placeholder for Ortiz’s promised slot on the card.

“I cannot put the poster with question mark as a face,” Alalshikh explained to hosts Ariel Helwani and Ade Oladipo on DAZN’s Ariel x Ade show. “I gave [Ortiz] my word. The timing is important for the fighters. We tried to put [Ortiz] on the card in December. He wasn’t ready. After that, he could fight in February. We have a contract with him for one fight. These are the options, he cannot wait.”

As such, Madrimov was chosen as the failsafe to preserve Ortiz’s fight date.

The Ring No. 2-rated junior middleweight entered the equation after the trio of WBA 154-pound titlist Terence Crawford (41-0, 31 KOs), IBF welterweight titleholder Jaron Ennis (33-0, 29 KOs) and WBC/WBO junior middleweight titlist Sebastian Fundora (21-1-1, 13 KOs) were all unavailable.

Crawford, No. 1 at 154 by The Ring and a four-division champ, is overcoming an undisclosed injury which will leave him out until at least May. Ennis, The Ring No. 1-rated welterweight, was in the mix until representatives from his team insisted that the fight take place at 147.

Alalshikh insisted his conversation with Fundora’s team revealed that The Ring No. 4-rated junior middleweight will next face Errol Spence, though the fight is not yet finalized.

That left Madrimov, who was swayed by Alalshikh’s motivational speech on the greater activity rate enjoyed by the sport’s prior generations. An injury-free performance in December will position Madrimov to fight four times in eleven months, all on the Riyadh Season circuit.

“I called him and said to him that people like Mike Tyson, Muhammad Ali—they’re big and they fought four, five times a year,” noted Alalshikh. “I’m ready to get him the fight against Ortiz and have [the] chance to win a world title. He said to me, “If I am not injured, and nothing happens in the fight I am ready.” I told him, win or lose I want him to fight Ortiz.”

A daunting task remains ahead for Madrimov, the former WBA 154-pound titlist.

Bohachuk—The Ring No. 6-rated junior middleweight—came up just short versus Ortiz in their Aug. 10 Fight of the Year contender in Las Vegas. Ukraine’s Bohachuk—now based in Southern California—twice floored Ortiz, The Ring No. 5-rated 154-pound boxer, but was dealt a majority decision defeat to end his interim WBC junior middleweight title reign.

Monday’s announcement caught many off guard, with the common take that Madrimov-Bohachuk is a 50-50 matchup.

“We don’t disrespect [Bohachuk] that he faces in December,” insisted Alalshikh. “I had a long call with Israil, about a half-hour. I support him. He’s clean, he works hard. He gave me a great performance versus [Terence] Crawford in L.A. I had a little bit of guilt pushing him to take the fight versus Crawford. He loses in the beginning of his career, just ten fights. I want to support him.”