According to Dan Rafael of ESPN.com, as well as sources close to the situation, former UFC heavyweight champion Andrei Arlovski will be crossing over from MMA to boxing later this year when he makes his debut on the undercard of the September 13th Joel Casamayor-Juan Manuel Marquez clash. Arlovski, who will be fighting Ben Rothwell on the upcoming July 19th "Affliction: Banned" card, has been working on his boxing with world-renowned trainer Freddie Roach for quite some time now. "Arlovski's a good student. He and BJ Penn are the best strikers that I've worked with who are involved in MMA," stated Roach.
Although an opponent has yet to be determined, Arlovski's team was originally approached with a contract to face 6'8" Tye Fields (41-2, 37 KOs), but obviously, after Fields was knocked out in the first round by comebacking heavyweight Monte Barrett last weekend, those plans had to be scrapped. The move to boxing for Arlovski will not be permanent, however, as he plans on continuing with his mixed martial arts career.