On February 20, Moscow will be presented with an event that is about to combine both joyful and sad moments within a single card. The possible top bill of the evening (which will be officially announced later) will be the opportunity to see one of Russia’s top pugilistic operators in action and to say goodbye to his ending boxing career.

“One shouldn’t be surprised with my decision," said retiring former major title challenger Mikhail "Misha" Aloyan to RIA Novosti, a Russia media agency.

“It’s (my) age. So, I decided that I’m done with boxing; it’s time to call it a day. I planned to announce retirement on Nov. 30 of the last year in Kemerovo but that event got cancelled. The whole thing got shifted to February. On Feb. 20, I’ll see action for the one last time – both as an amateur and as a prizefighter. I had a bright career. Now I’m in diligent training mode to win my last bout and to put an impressive finishing touch in it."

Aloyan, 33, had an illustrious amateur career. He captured gold at 2011 Baku and 2013 Almaty world championships. He also won a gold medal at 2010 Euro championship in Moscow. Aloyan’s Olympic dreams, however, were shattered twice. He was defeated (on a single point) in the semifinal of 2012 London Olympics to Tugtsogt Nyambayar. Aloyan did a notch better four years later in Rio – losing in the final to Uzbekistan’s Shakhobiddin Zoirov – but was stripped of his silver medal due to drug test violations.

As an amateur, Aloyan scored a number of wins over future professional standouts, including future champions Nordine Ouabali, Khalid Yafai, Rau’Shee Warren and Amnat Ruenroeng as well as two-time Olympic gold medalist Robeisy Ramirez and Welshman Andrew Selby.

Aloyan made his transition to the pro game in July 2017. He scored four consecutive wins over Nicaraguan opponents before challenging WBO bantamweight champion Zolani Tete in a quarterfinal of the WBSS second season in October 2018. Aloyan lost a close unanimous decision (111-114, 111-114 and 110-115) and fought sporadically after that. His present record is 7-1, with 1 KO, and his opponents have a solid average record of 18-3-0.

“I hope everything will end perfectly but this is boxing – you never know…”, said Aloyan, who started boxing in Novokuznetsk but later relocated to Novosibirsk.

“I’m definitely not here to lose. Certainly, it would have been much better to fight in Siberia – in Kemerovo or in Novosibirsk – but it is what it is, and I’m to fight in Moscow”.

Aloyan’s head coach Eduard Kravtsov revealed that Misha will fight an undisclosed Colombian opponent with a record of 16-1, which indicates it can probably be super flyweight Jose Soto, although his record is 15-1, 6 KOs.

Kravtsov also reported that aspiring young light welterweight Khariton Agrba (7-0, 4 KOs) will also see action on the card. In his finest ring appearance Agrba blitzed 42-6-4 veteran Petr Petrov in just three rounds.