By Yuri Tarantin

Former featherweight world champion Evgeny Gradovich  (21-2-1, 9KOs) of Russia, 30 years old, is ready to return to the ring. The boxer is scheduled to fight again on September 9 in Chelyabinsk, according to local promoter Alexey Titov. The opponent for Gradovich has not been determined. 

Gradovich has been out of the ring since suffering a bruising fourth round knockout at the hands of Oscar Valdez in April. The fight was part of the Manny Pacquiao vs. Timothy Bradley card at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. Valdez captured the WBO championship last month.

Gradovich is moving up in weight to the super featherweight limit and looking at the September fight as a starting point.

Gradovich has had a tough run in recent years - going 2-2-1 in his last five fights.

He went to a controversial split draw with Jayson Velez in 2014, and then lost his IBF world title by way of an eight round technical decision to Lee Selby in May of 2015. The fight was stopped early after a clash of heads created a cut on Gradovich.

He returned that October and got a split decision win over Aldimar Santos and then a majority decision win over Jesus Garcia in January of this year. Because of his performances in those bouts against a lower level of opponent, he was a very large underdog when he entered the ring against Valdez.   

Yuri Tarantin covers boxing for Allboxing.ru