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Unbeaten cruiserweight Roman Fress is set to face TBA earlier in the evening.
The 28-year-old Kabayel (20-0, 13 KO) has been treading water since a 2017 decision over Dereck Chisora in the first defense of his European title. He would ultimately vacate that belt before signing with Top Rank in 2019 and kicking off the partnership with a win over Evgenios Lazaridis this past July. He was supposed to return to world-level competition against Tyson Fury in December, but Deontay Wilder’s legal team put a stop to that.
Johnson (35-17-1, 19 KO) actually has more momentum at the moment than he has in years, as he took a break from his usual punching bag ways to demolish Yoan Pablo Hernandez in August. That was probably an outlier, but at least there’s the narrow possibility of entertainment this time.