Kanat Islam has opponent named for up coming bout!

After weeks of rumours and speculation we can now report that unbeaten Kazakh Kanat Islam (25-0, 20) [Ислам Канат] has now got an opponent set for his long awaited ring return!

The once world ranked Islam, who hasn't for almost 2 years due to injury woes, will return to the ring on July 5th in Almaty, in his native Kazakhstan, to battle against Dominican puncher Julio De Jesus (27-1, 24), a 37 year old who has been out of the ring for just a year himself.

Despite the inactivity of both fighters the bout will actually be for a minor title, with the fighters trading blows for the WBO Inter Continental Middleweight title.

Interestingly the last time we saw Islam was when he fought at 154lbs, against Brandon Cook, and he will be moving up for this fight. Despite Islam moving up, he's only going up a single division, with De Jesus has has spent much of his career at 140lbs, fighting entirely on the Dominican domestic scene. He's skipping all the way up to Middleweight for the bout.

At the moment the full card hasn't been confirmed, but this match up will be the main event, and should be a bout with a lot of interest from fans interested to see Islam return to the ring after such a long lay off.