Ryad Merhy was born on 28 November 1992 and is an Ivorian-born Belgian professional boxer who held the WBA cruiserweight title from 2021 to 2022.
18 Facts About Ryad Merhy
1.
2.
Ryad Merhy faced Sylvera Louis for the vacant WBC Silver International cruiserweight title on 19 December 2015, at the RTL Spiroudome in Charleroi, Belgium.
3.
Ryad Merhy challenged Williams Ocando for the WBA Inter-Continental cruiserweight title on 21 May 2016.
4.
Ryad Merhy beat the over-matched Tevdorashvili by a sixth-round technical knockout.
5.
Ryad Merhy made his first WBA Inter-Continental title defense against Max Alexander on 17 December 2016.
6.
Ryad Merhy made his second title defense against Mitch Williams on 20 May 2017, at the same venue and location as his previous two title fights.
7.
Ryad Merhy made his third title defense against Nick Kisner on 16 December 2017, and was broadcast by RTL from the RTL Spiroudome.
8.
Ryad Merhy was scheduled to face Soso Abuladze on 29 June 2018.
9.
Ryad Merhy successfully bounced back from his first professional loss with a sixth-round knockout victory.
10.
Ryad Merhy was scheduled to fight Imre Szello for the vacant WBA interim cruiserweight title on 19 October 2019.
11.
Ryad Merhy captured the interim title with a seventh-round knockout of Szello.
12.
Accordingly, interim titleholder Ryad Merhy was then promoted to world status, while the current world champion Arsen Goulamirian was promoted to "Super" champion status.
13.
However, as Dorticos failed to respond to an offer to fight in Belgium, the WBA allowed Ryad Merhy to make a voluntary title defense against the IBO cruiserweight champion Kevin Lerena.
14.
Ryad Merhy dropped Zhang with a heavy left hook midway through the round, and although Zhang managed to get up, referee Oliver Brien deemed him unable to continue fighting.
15.
On February 3,2022, it was announced that Ryad Merhy would make his second WBA world title defense against the 2016 Olympics gold medalist Evgeny Tishchenko.
16.
Ryad Merhy was instead booked to face the WBC champion Ilunga Makabu in a title unification bout on September 30,2022, at the Stade des Martyrs in Kinshasa, Congo.
17.
On July 19,2022, Ryad Merhy was ordered by the WBA to face their "Super" cruiserweight champion Arsen Goulamirian in a title consolidation bout.
18.
Ryad Merhy was given 24 hours to accept the fight, and 30 days to organize it should he accept.