Souleymane Cissokho and Egidijus Kavaliauskas have a new date and venue after last December’s bout collapsed due to a fractured hand suffered by the French champion. Promoters confirmed the pair will square off Saturday, May 10, at the ocean‑front Sipopo Conference Center in Malabo, Equatorial Guinea, with Cissokho’s WBC Silver welterweight belt on the line.
Cissokho (17‑0, 9 KOs) claimed the secondary title in 2022 by edging South Africa’s Tulani Mbenge and has made one successful defence, a unanimous decision over Thulani Mbenge’s compatriot Sboniso Gonya last April. The 2016 Olympic bronze medallist now takes his first fight in Africa and says the extra five months of rehab have left the once‑broken right hand “100 percent.”
Lithuania’s Kavaliauskas (24‑2‑1, 19 KOs) is best remembered for pushing Terence Crawford seven hard rounds in 2019 and for a competitive loss to Vergil Ortiz Jr. in 2021. “Mean Machine” returned in August with a third‑round knockout of Mykal Fox and views the Silver strap as a springboard back into the world‑title mix.
Local organisers are touting the fight as Equatorial Guinea’s biggest boxing event to date, with DAZN Africa expected to stream. The winner will move inside the WBC’s top five at 147 lbs and position himself for a final eliminator later in the year.
Fight card:
▪️Souleymane Cissokho vs. Egidijus Kavaliauskas, welterweight
