If you were to Google Murodjon Akhmadaliev, you’re likely to find about a year-and-a-half’s worth of articles about his desire to fight Naoya Inoue and the various hurdles and litigation that ensued in pursuit of that dream.

Roughly a month ago, Akhmadaliev finally inked the deal to face Inoue this September in Tokyo, but even with his name finally on the dotted line, there is one additional obstacle that could send the contract to the shredder. Friday night in Guadalajara, Mexico, Akhmadaliev faces Luis Castillo in the co-feature of a Matchroom event headlined by the rematch between Manuel Gallegos and Khalil Coe.

Castillo is between a 16-1 and 20-1 underdog depending on where you’re sourcing your odds from, but if one were to consider the odds he has overcome to get to this point, a couple dozen zeroes might have to be added to the fraction.

The 29-year-old was born deaf and nonspeaking into a family of meager means in Jiquipilco, Mexico. The Castillo family could not afford formal sign language training, but it could afford to put Castillo into boxing classes, where he met the man who would become his savior, trainer Adalberto Sanchez.

Sanchez noticed that Castillo wasn’t adhering to instructions in classes, before learning of his student’s reality. Although Castillo wasn’t able to communicate verbally, he showed a dogged work ethic and fitness level, one he has maintained training more than 2,600 feet above sea level in his hometown.

Together, Castillo and Sanchez developed a communication system, a blend of self-taught sign language and various cues that Sanchez is able to deliver from the corner. Between rounds is the easy part — Sanchez can signal what he wants from his charge and pantomime the movements he wants Castillo to perform. During the fight, however, Sanchez has to get more creative so as to not distract his fighter and take his vision away from his opponent.

Sometimes, he will shake one of the ropes as an indication of something, or bang on the canvas if Castillo is close enough to the corner to feel the reverberations.

"The kid does have many obstacles to be honest,” Sanchez told talkSPORT in 2021. “He lives alone. His personal life isn't very good. He's up against a lot of adversity and still we're confident that we will win. School was very complicated, he couldn't learn by signing and observing, so it's difficult to have a normal life. He sees boxing as a way of life, as a way to overcome. His motivation is seeing the quality of life some boxers have and he wants that. He wants to break out of the life he's living and live a more comfortable life."

Despite his many obstacles, Castillo (31-6, 20 KOs) represents the most successful deaf and/or nonspeaking fighter in the sport today. Three fights ago, he challenged recent world title challenger Tomoki Kameda, and in 2021, appeared on DAZN in a 10-round decision defeat by Kash Farooq. There is only one known deaf world champion, Mario D’Agata, who won the lineal bantamweight crown in 1956.

A very similar scenario to this bout played out last summer on DAZN when Shohjahon Ergashev faced Julian Smith, known as “The Quiet Storm” in a nod to being deaf himself. Ergashev was in line for a potential rematch against Subriel Matias, or any number of big-name opponents at 140 pounds, but was shockingly upset by Smith, a plus-500 underdog.

Castillo will have to quickly shake off close to 18 months' ring rust if he wants to spoil Akhmadaliev's plans this week, having not fought since December 2023 when he picked up a stay-busy, six-round victory over the 4-4 Brandon Contreras.

"He hasn't been resting. He may not have had official fights, but he's still been working hard and working on his boxing," said Sanchez at the final press conference in Guadalajara.

For his part, Akhmadaliev promised to show "Uzbek power" in the fight, no doubt looking for his third consecutive stoppage victory to stamp his ticket to Tokyo.

"I have no fear," said Castillo through Sanchez. "I have no problem at all facing Akhmadaliev."