Albert Batyrgaziev Will Defend His WBA Interim Title Against Jazza Dickens On July 2nd

Press Release:

Russia's 2020 Olympic champion Albert Batyrgaziev (12-0, 8 KOs) will defend his IBA.PRO title and the interim WBA super featherweight belt against experienced British boxer James Dickens (35-5, 14 KOs) on July 2 in Istanbul. The 12-round bout headlines the Betcity IBA.PRO 7 Champion’s Night event.

The 26-year-old Batyrgaziev last fought in March at the "IBA.PRO 1" event in Moscow, where he secured a unanimous decision victory over Argentina's Neri Romero in an exciting match. Batyrgaziev is currently ranked among the top five super featherweights globally by BoxRec and was recently included in the top 10 rankings by the prestigious The Ring magazine. This bout marks Batyrgaziev's first professional fight outside Russia.

The 34-year-old Dickens ranks in BoxRec’s top 50 super featherweights and holds the fifth position in the WBA rankings and eleventh in the IBF rankings. Throughout his career, Dickens has held IBO, IBF European, and WBO European titles and previously contested for the IBF world title. His latest victory came in February 2025 in Manchester, where he won the vacant WBA International belt by unanimous decision against Zelfa Barrett.

In the co-main event in Istanbul, 2020 Olympic bronze medalist, four-time World Championships medalist, 2019 European Games gold medalist, and two-time European champion, Armenia’s Hovhannes Bachkov (7-0, 6 KOs) will face Uzbekistan's Shohjahon Ergashev (25-2, 22 KOs) in an IBA.PRO-rated bout at 63.5 kg.

Additionally, the Betcity IBA.PRO 7 card will feature bare-knuckle boxing bouts under the IBA Bare Knuckle banner. Russia’s Mikhail Tarabrin will participate in one such fight, with his opponent to be announced soon.

The event on July 2 is organized by promotional companies SOYUZ and IB Challenger with support from the International Boxing Association. Betcity serves as the general partner for the fight night in Istanbul.