It was a memorable 30th birthday celebration for Carlos Adames.
The long-overdue promotion to the WBC middleweight division is coming with a scheduled fight. Adames is set to make a voluntary defense against Terrell Gausha. WBC officials have confirmed that the fight will take place on June 15 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.
The fight will work in support of the WBA lightweight title fight between Gervonta Davis-Frank Martin. It has not been confirmed whether it will be part of PBC's Pay-Per-View on Prime.
Adames (23-1, 18 knockouts), The Ring's The number 2 middleweight, previously held the interim version of the WBC title. The 30-year-old Dominican campaigned heavily for a shot at Jermall Charlo (33-0, 22 KOs), who held the belt for nearly three years.
A decision was finally made to strip Charlo of the title after he was arrested earlier this week. Charlo has not defended the title since June 2021.
Adames wasn't exactly a career ball even with a major championship effort. He claimed the interim belt in October 2022 and made one defense. The ninth round of former junior middleweight champion Julian Williams ended on June 24 in Minneapolis.
Most of the time has been spent chasing Charlo and joint IBF/WBO titleholder Janibek Alimkhanuly.
The two began to disagree earlier this week. Kazkahstan's Alimkhanuly (15-0, 10 KOs), No. 1 at 160, even reached Adames if the WBC made its decision.
“Carlos Adames, welcome to my club. Congratulations,” Alimkhanuly sent to X. “Now you are the world champion, let's fight. We did not fight this war. We are ready! 4 belts! WBC, IBF, WBO and The Ring.”
Those plans have changed, much to the dismay of the undefeated title holder.
“When he was not the champion, he wanted to fight me,” Alimkhanuly noted. “When he became the champion, he disappeared. Carlos Adams, I told you I'm your nightmare now.”
When he wasn't the champion, He wanted to fight me. And when he became the champion, he disappeared. Carlos Adames, I told you I'm your nightmare now. @BroncoAdames pic.twitter.com/OoXOShunbG
– Janibek Alimkhanuly (@qazaqstyle) May 10, 2024
Instead, it's Cleveland's Gausha (24-3-1, 12 KOs) who gets the call.
The 2012 US Olympian will attempt her second bid at a major title. He came up short in an October 2017 decision over then-WBA 154-pound champion Erislandy Lara, who now holds the WBA 160-pound title.
Gausha has won three of his last four fights. The only loss during that time was to unbeaten Tim Tszyu in March 2022. Gausha dropped the second-generation boxer in the opening round before dropping a twelve-round decision.
Jake Donovan is a senior writer for The Ring and vice president of the Boxing Writers Association of America.
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