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Uzbekistan’s Fazliddin Gaibnazarov, who won light welterweight gold at Rio 2016, has signed a deal with Top Rank, according to ESPN.com.
"Top Rank is the best promotional company in the world, and I always want to be with the best," Gaibnazarov said. "Thank you, Top Rank, and especially Bob Arum, for giving me this opportunity and letting me show and prove in the ring my ability to fight as a professional.”
Gaibnazarov, a 25-year-old southpaw, upset Azerbaijan’s Lorenzo Sotomayor, a Cuban transplant who had won gold at the 2015 European Amateur Championships in Baku. Gaibnazarov also made it to the quarterfinals at London 2012.
Gaibnazarov will work his way down to 135 pounds to fight as a lightweight early in his pro career, but Top Rank’s Carl Moretti says he’ll start out about 138 pounds, between lightweight and junior welterweight.
Based on what we saw in Rio, do you see Gaibnazarov as a serious pro prospect who could become a real contender?