Sources close to the situation have informed us that former UFC heavyweight champion Andrei Arlovski is set to announce his signing with Golden Boy Promotions and that win, lose or draw against Fedor Emelianenko on January 24th, his next fight will take place inside of a boxing ring. "If Andrei wins against Fedor on the 24th, I would put him right into a title fight with Nikolai Valuev right away. It would be Belarus vs. Russia and that's huge marketing for PPV and Andrei has a huge crowd in that area. He will cross over into boxing though; that is a definite! His next fight after Fedor will be a boxing match," stated world-class trainer Freddie Roach, who's been working with Arlovski for his last few fights.
Earlier this year, several sources, including Dan Rafael of ESPN.com, reported that Arlovski was set to make his boxing debut on the undercard of the September 13th Marquez-Casamayor clash. Although that debut never came to fruition, it appears that Arlovski still intends on persuing a career in boxing, a move that could earn him lucrative paydays if he can breathe life into a lackluster heavyweight division that many fans consider to be dead. Judging from WBA heavyweight champion Nikolai Valuev's uninspired performance against 46-year-old future hall-of-famer Evander Holyfield, Arlovski could very well capture a portion of the heavyweight crown in just one fight. Golden Boy Promotions also promotes former undisputed cruiserweight turned heavyweight David Haye, who's scheduled to face WBC heavyweight champion Vitali Klitschko in June, as well as Olympic bronze medalist Deontay Wilder. The addition of Andrei Arlovksi could mean a very bright future for Golden Boy Promotions in the heavyweight division.