Unified women's middleweight champion Desley Robinson will put her WBO and IBF titles on the line against Tamm Thibeault in the co-main event of MVPW-05 on Aug. 8, Most Valuable Promotions announced Thursday.
The 10-round title fight will take place at Caribe Royale Resort in Orlando, Florida, and will be broadcast live on ESPN. The card is headlined by Cherneka Johnson's undisputed bantamweight title defense against Dina Thorslund.
Fighting out of Australia, Robinson (12-3, 4 KOs) is looking to make her fourth successful title defense. She is coming off a wide unanimous decision win over Mary Spencer last month. But her next title defense may be her toughest against Canada's Thibeault (4-0, 3 KOs).
"This is the best fight that can be made in the middleweight division right now," Robinson said in a statement. "Tamm Thibeault is a two-time Olympian, an amateur world champion, and the number one contender for a reason. I've been waiting for a challenge like this. The best should fight the best."
Thibeault was scheduled to face Nadja Jesus Santos on the undercard of Alycia Baumgardner's junior lightweight title defense against Bo Mi Re Shin on April 17. However, the fight was scrapped when Santos faced visa issues.
Hoping to secure another opponent, Thibeault will instead be rewarded with an opportunity to become a unified world champion.
"I've been waiting for this moment for a long time, but more than anything, I feel ready. I'm so grateful to MVP for giving me this opportunity on my fifth fight to show what I'm truly capable of, and to become a unified world champion," Thibeault said. "I'm preparing mentally and physically for a tough, experienced opponent, someone who knows what championship boxing looks like. I'm ready to go to war if that's what it takes. This is not an opportunity I will let slip away."
Also added to the card is former IBF bantamweight titleholder Shurretta Metcalf (15-5-1, 2 KOs) facing former unified bantamweight champion Amanda Galle (12-1-1, 1 KO) in an eight-round junior bantamweight fight. Both are back in action in a lower weight class after suffering losses to Johnson in the past year.
"Desley Robinson vs. Tamm Thibeault is one of the most compelling championship fights that can be made anywhere in the sport today, matching a unified world champion with a two-time Olympian and amateur world champion who has accomplished something almost unheard of by rising to become the number one contender across multiple sanctioning bodies from just four professional fights," said Jake Paul and Nakisa Bidarian, co-founders of Most Valuable Promotions. "This is a true best-versus-best matchup between two world-class athletes in their prime.
"Shurretta Metcalf and Amanda Galle are both coming off challenges for the undisputed bantamweight championship and looking to prove they deserve another shot at a title, this time at 115lbs, adding another high-stakes matchup to the card. Combined with Cherneka Johnson vs. Dina Thorslund in the main event, MVPW-05 delivers three elite fights with major championship stakes and implications."
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