Sergiy Derevyanchenko will return to the site of two of his most memorable bouts to test a young prospect hopeful of re-establishing the momentum he once had.
The Ring has learned Derevyanchenko will battle Jalil Hackett in a 10-round middleweight match July 26 at Madison Square Garden’s Infosys Theater in New York. The bout between Ukraine’s Derevyanchenko (16-6, 11 KOs) and Washington, D.C.’s Hackett (12-1, 9 KOs) will open the main, three-fight portion of Zuffa Boxing 09 . Paramount+ will stream Derevyanchenko versus Hackett just before the two bouts Zuffa Boxing announced Tuesday, which will feature Brooklyn natives Edgar Berlanga and Richardson Hitchins . Berlanga (23-2, 18 KOs), a super middleweight contender, is set to face Canada’s Steven Butler (38-5-1, 32 KOs) in the 10-round main event. Hitchins (20-0, 8 KOs), a former IBF junior welterweight champ, will make his welterweight debut against Mexico’s Ricardo Salas (24-2-2, 18 KOs) in the 12-round co-feature . Derevyanchenko, 40, has fought only once since his 10-round, unanimous-decision defeat to Christian Mbilli (29-0-1, 23 KOs) in August 2024. The battled-tested Derevyanchenko will drop back down to the 160-pound division after four fights at the super middleweight limit of 168. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MsJBw4G2xJs The gritty Derevyanchenko did his best work at middleweight. He lost a split decision to Daniel Jacobs in their highly competitive fight for the then-vacant IBF middleweight title in October 2018 at Madison Square Garden’s Theater. Derevyanchenko later gave Gennadiy Golovkin one of his most difficult fights, but he narrowly lost that brutal battle by unanimous decision in October 2019 at Madison Square Garden. Hackett, 23, was touted as a can’t-miss prospect when Floyd Mayweather’s company promoted him. Weight issues hindered him when he competed at 147 pounds, however, and he surprisingly lost a 10-round split decision to Jose Roman in December 2024 . Hackett has won three straight fights since suffering that defeat, including a 10-round, majority-decision victory over Roberto Cruz Jr. (11-2, 7 KOs) in his Zuffa debut February 1 in Las Vegas. Keith Idec is a senior writer and columnist for The Ring. He can be reached on X @idecboxing. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BM709XrCrJg
