David Nyika will have the benefit of a full training camp for his next outing.
The 2020 Olympic bronze medalist is set to return to the ring on July 16, six months following his first world title challenge. Nyika, 10-1 (9 KOs) will engage in an all-New Zealander showdown versus Nikolas Charalampous on a Sky Arena Pay-Per-View event from Qudos Bank Arena in Sydney, Australia.
Their scheduled eight-round cruiserweight contest comes in supporting capacity to the Sonny Boy Williams-Paul Gallen heavyweight grudge match atop the show.
Nyika fights for the first time since his valiant-in-defeat fourth-round knockout to lineal and IBF cruiserweight champion Jai Opetaia, 27-0 (21 KOs). Nyika replaced injured mandatory challenger Huseyin Cinkara on barely three weeks’ notice but was floored twice en route to the violent knockout defeat.
“I’m ready,” said Nyika. “My journey restarts here. Fair play to Jai, he was the better fighter on the night.
“But true champions get back up again when they get knocked down – and I have no doubt I am going to be world champion.”
The 6’6” contender – now based in Queensland, Australia – was coming off seven consecutive victories prior to that fight.
Charalampous, 23-6-2 (11 KOs) fought at heavyweight in each of his past four starts, though he is generally a career cruiserweight. He’d fought to a draw in two straight outings before a second-round knockout of Agoe Ashong, a 48-year-old boxer from Ghana, on May 3 in Orewa, New Zealand.
The bout versus Nyika is a step up in class from recent competition. However, he did face and lose to Opetaia via ten-round, unanimous decision in July 2019, three years before Opetaia became the lineal cruiserweight champion.
Duco Events confirmed the show will include Penrith-based rookie heavyweight Tyson Pedro, 1-0 (1 KO) will face Melbourne’s Kris Terzievski, 13-1-2 (10 KOs) in a scheduled ten-round contest.
Alex Leapai Jnr, 4-0-1 (3 KOs) – the 19-year-old rising heavyweight from New South Wales – will also appear in an undercard slot versus a writer to be determined.