Russian light heavyweight contender Maxim Vlasov will step in the ring against Dominican contender Felix Valera on December 25 in Sochi, according to information provided by Vlasov's manager, Oleg Bogdanov, to Tass.

Initially, the fight between Vlasov and Valera was scheduled for November 27 in Samara, but it was later canceled, as the Russian boxer signed a contract to fight unbeaten British contender Joshua Buatsi in Manchester on December 18.

However, the fight on December 18 was canceled when Buats withdrew with injury.

Vlasov, 35 years old, has a record of 45 victories (26 by knockout) in his professional career and four defeats.

In April 2021, Vlasov lost a very close decision to Joe Smith Jr. in their showdown for the vacant World Boxing Organization (WBO) light heavyweight title. There were some observers who felt Vlasov had done enough to get the win. The scores were 114-114 for the draw and tallies of 115-113, 115-112 for Smith.

Valera, 33, is a former interim-World Boxing Association (WBA) light heavyweight champion. In total, he has 18 wins (15 by knockout) and three defeats.

In two of his last three fights, Valera was defeated by Vyacheslav Shabranskyy (by DQ in a close fight) and Bryan Castillo (by decision). He snapped that two-fight losing streak in May, with a three round stoppage of Reinaldo Gonzalez. 

This will be the third fight in Russia for Valera. In 2015 he picked up a close decision win over Stanislav Kashtanov. The following year he returned to Russia and lost a decision to future world champion Dmitry Bivol.