Josh Padley will fight for the vacant European junior lightweight title at the end of this month. Matchroom Boxing announced on Monday that Padley will face Jaouad Belmehdi of France for the belt on January 31st. The fight will be on the undercard of the show headlined by the 154-pound world title contest defense of Bakhram Murtazaliev agasinst Josh Kelly at the Utilita Arena in Newcastle, live on DAZN. [The title was last held by undefeated Ryan Garner of the United Kingdom].

 

Padley (17-1, 5 KOs) was signed by Matchroom following his gutsy effort as a late replacement when stopped by Shakur Stevenson in nine rounds in February last year. Since then, the Yorkshireman has beaten Marko Cvetanovic (TKO5) and Reece Bellotti (UD) to set up a shot at the European title. Belmehdi (23-2-3, 11 KOs) is coming off the back of a unanimous decision loss to former world champion Can Xu in Beijing last summer. The Frenchman has primarily fought in his native country and may be better known to British fans for being stopped by Gary Cully in less than a minute at the Wembley Arena back in October 2022.