Tomorrow night, the vacant WBA light welterweight championship will be on the line when two undefeated fighters meet in the main event at the BB&T Center in Sunrise, Florida. Dominican born Brooklynite Joan Guzman (33-0-1, 1 NC, 20 KO’s) will meet Russian IBO light welterweight champion Khabib Allakhverdiev (17-0, 8 KO’s) in the main event of “Beatdown 2012”, an event featuring a full boxing card to be followed by a live hip hop concert featuring artists Flo Rida and Fat Joe, among others. 
Guzman, who turned pro in 1997, has an outstanding amateur background; winning 310 of 320 bouts as well as the gold medal at the 1995 Pan Am Games and a trip to the 1996 Olympics. The current holder of the interim NABA light welterweight title, he has also held the WBO’s super bantamweight and super featherweight world titles, among other regional belts. After struggling to make weight in the lower divisions, Guzman finally settled in the junior welterweight class in 2010 with the move up appearing to have helped his power; he ran up a streak of 10 full distance bouts (and a two round no contest), before scoring KO stoppages in all of his last three fights. His last outing was a first round blow out of Jorge Pimental in July when he won the interim NABA light welterweight title, which won’t be on the line come fight night.
There isn’t much information available about Allakhverdiev as far as his amateur credentials, other than his bronze medal win at the 2005 World Amateur Boxing Championships before turning pro in 2007. The Russian born boxer has fought in the junior welterweight class the full run of his five and a half year pro career and has split his professional ring experience between Russia and the United States. He’s not known as a power puncher, but has scored stoppages in his last two outings, the last being a fourth round knockout of Kaizer Mabuza that won him the IBO light welterweight title. Like Guzman’s NABO belt, that title isn’t up for grabs, though Allakhverdiev will lose it should he lose tomorrow’s bout. If Guzman wins, he’ll win the WBA title, and the IBO title will become vacant.
Television coverage of the card, being promoted by Aquinity Sports, is set to begin at 7:30 EST, and will be aired on Pursuit Channel and Bounce TV. Pursuit Channel is available on both DirecTV on channel 604 (PRST) and DISH on channel 240 (PRST).
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