Junior lightweight Muhammadkhuja Yaqubov, from Isfara, Tajikistan, has inked a managerial contract with Australia-based manager / agent Jim Kambosos and a long-term promotional deal with Sampson Lewkowicz's Sampson Boxing. Additionally, on Thursday December 12th, Yaqubov (21-1, 11 KOs) will return from a year of inactivity to face countryman Zafar Parpiev (13-2, 5 KOs) over eight rounds, on a card presented by Shamo Boxing. Kambosos and Lewkowicz say the intention is to keep Yaqubov active and relocate him to the United States to live and train, with the goal of guiding the talented southpaw to a world championship rematch with current WBC champion O'Shaquie Foster.

In his nearly nine-year professional career, the 29-year-old’s only loss came in a WBC title eliminator against current WBC champion O'Shaquie Foster in March 2022, by close unanimous decision. Yaqubov has rebounded with three victories, the latest coming in a WBC mandatory elimination bout against then 23-1 contender Pablo Vicente by unanimous decision last November.

Although Yaqubov had earned his shot, promotional problems forced the southpaw to miss his scheduled title-shot rematch in July of this year and kept him on the shelf for the past year. Yaqubov says he’s eager to return to the States and resume his pursuit of a rematch with Foster for the world championship.

“I want to be able to realize my dream in America,” said Yaqubov, who prepared for his fight against Vicente working with Freddie Roach at his Wild Card Boxing Gym in Los Angeles. “I want to be a world champion, and I want to do it in America. I’m excited to be working with this great team and I can’t wait to get in the ring next week and get back into the mix of the super featherweight division.”

Manager Kambosos says he’ll be looking to follow the same successful blueprint with Yaqubov that he did while taking his son George from a virtual unknown to the unified lightweight championship of the world in 2021.

“He wants to get his career back online,” said Kambosos of Yaqubov. “He was supposed to rematch Foster last July but missed it because of his promotional disputes. He’s going to stay active and get his visas done and train in the States and get into hard training camps with top fighters. The immediate goal is to get him the Foster rematch he earned by beating Vicente.”

The other key, according to Kambosos is having the right people in place to help his eager fighter.

“Signing Yaqubov with Sampson is a blessing,” he explained. “Sampson has led many fighters to world championships, and he sees tremendous potential in Yaqubov. That means a lot. The first thing we’re going to do is get him back in the ring and back on track.”

Promoter Lewkowicz, famous for spotting unrefined talent all over the world, says he’s happy to join the team and help Yaqubov reach his professional goals.

“Muhammadkhuja Yaqubov is a very talented fighter from Central Asia who just needs to find top training in the United States to become the fighter he can be,” said Lewkowicz. “I’m happy to be working with a gentleman like Jim Kambosos on the career of this highly dedicated fighter. We are optimistic that Yaqubov will regain the number one WBC mandatory position soon and be granted the shot he earned by beating Pablo Vicente.”