Bilal Akkawy has received the opportunity of a lifetime, with the Peakhurst boxer to fight for the interim WBA super middleweight title in Las Vegas next month.
Akkawy scored himself the world title bout against Englishman John Ryder at the T-Mobile Arena on May 5 (AEST) after former IBF middleweight champion David Lemieux withdrew because of a hand injury last week.
The 25-year-old was scheduled to fight Adrian Luna Flores over 10 rounds on May 2.
But instead, he will now step up to the biggest fight of his career so far on the undercard to the Saul 'Canelo' Alvarez-Danny Jacobs main event.
Akkawy is trained by Alvarez's head coach Eddy Reynoso and has established himself as the multiple world champion's main sparring partner.
Akkawy confirmed the news on social media on Tuesday.
Akkawy, fourth in the WBA rankings, is undefeated in his professional career so far and has won all three of his fights overseas.
He improved his record to 20-0-1 with a win over Cristian Olivas in his US debut at the Hard Rock Hotel in Las Vegas in September.
Akkawy then beat Victor Fonseca at Madison Square Garden in New York before his victory over Hugo Medina Perez in Mexico last month.
He is known as one of the hardest body punchers in the game and has been training under Reynoso's guidance in Guadalajara and San Diego for a number of months.
The 12-round bout against Ryder will be a step up in class for Akkawy. It was just four fights ago in February last year that he was winning the WBA Oceania super middleweight title at Club Punchbowl.
Ryder has a 27-4 record and is the mandatory challenger to Callum Smith's WBA super middleweight title. Smith is scheduled to fight on the undercard to Anthony Joshua's US debut at Madison Square Garden in June.
But if Akkawy were to upset Ryder, the St George fighter could be on track to challenge Smith for the full WBA title.
