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The flyweight division has quietly grown hotter and hotter these past few years thanks to dangerous young champions like Julio Cesar Martinez, Junto Nakatani, and most recently Dunny Edwards. There’s been one name missing from the bunch, however: WBA champion Artem Dalakian, who’s been content to munch on unknown opposition in Ukraine since beating Brian Viloria for the belt. While his next fight won’t come against an elite, it’ll at least be against someone we recognize, as the sanctioning body has ordered him to face interim champion Luis Concepcion.
The pair have until September 18th to come to terms.
Despite absorbing huge amounts of damage from “Tyson” Marquez in their pair of 2011 wars, “El Nica” Concepcion (39-8, 28 KO) put together a strong 12-1 run that saw him defeat Kohei Kono for the WBA super flyweight belt. It was all downhill from there, as he missed eight before a rout from Kal Yafai that kicked off a 2-3 skid.
He’s breathed some life back into his career of late, though, claiming the interim belt in February 2020 with a come-from-behind knockout of Rober Barrera. He’ll be a huge underdog here, but at least it’ll take a belt off the table and get Dalakian back in the ring.