Oleksandr Gvozdyk vs. Mehdi Amar set for March 17th on ESPN

With Eleider Alvarez having peaced out, Oleksandr Gvozdyk will instead face Mehdi Amar for the interim WBC light heavyweight title and a mandated crack at the winner of Adonis Stevenson vs. Badou Jack. Bob Arum reports that the fight will join the March 17th ESPN card at Madison Square Garden, which already includes Jose Ramirez vs. Amir Imam and multiple Top Rank prospects.

Amar (34-5-2, 16 KO), ranked #11 by the WBC, has just one loss in his last fourteen fights, a unanimous decision defeat to Robert Stieglitz two Novembers ago. He’s only ever been stopped once (via injury against Nadjib Mohammedi), but consistently comes up short against capable opposition and shouldn’t be much of an obstacle for Gvozdyk (14-0, 12 KO).

So yeah, basically Bivol-Broadhurst Part Two.

I’m honestly less intrigued by this fight than by Alvarez’s decision-making. I want to know what’s going through his head in place of Gvozdyk’s fist.