On Saturday the eyes of the country will be fixed on Russia as Mdantsane boxer Zolani Tete begins his World Boxing Super Series (WBSS) quest.
Tete is the only African boxer in the series and as such he will carry the hopes of the entire continent when he tackles Aloyan.
The 30-year-old left-hander had prepared extensively for the fight spending about six weeks in camp with his handlers leaving no stone unturned for him to be in top physical and mental condition.
“We did everything there is to be done, now it is time for action,” said Tete before leaving for Russia this week.
Despite facing a boxer with only four fights and half of them being split decisions, Tete is not taking Aloyan lightly.
“I have prepared like I am fighting Floyd Mayweather. In boxing there is no such thing as easy fights because anything can happen in the ring.”
Tete, who is known for his crippling power, did not rule out the prospect of knocking Aloyan out.
This especially after Japanese Naoya Inoue marked his own WBSS participation with an impressive 72 seconds knockout of Dominican Republican Juan Carlos Payano last weekend.
Tete and Inoue are tipped to go all the way to the finals of the series.
“If Aloyan is not careful the fight might end earlier than he thinks.”
Tete is known for ending fights early with 15 of his victims being blasted in the first round.
He holds the world record for the quickest end of a world championship when he knocked out Siboniso Gonya in 11 seconds in his defence of his WBO bantamweight crown.
However Aloyan is no slouch despite his novice record.
The 30-year-old, who is also a southpaw, has extensive amateur pedigree having won two gold medals at the world championships as well as bronze at the Olympic Games.
He was however stripped of his Olympic medal after failing a dope test.
Among the boxers he has beaten at the amateur ranks are Khalid Yafai, who is unbeaten and holds the WBA junior-bantamweight title, Rau'shee Warren who is a former WBA bantamweight king and Andrew Selby who is also unbeaten in the professional ranks.
But the Russian is yet to transfer his amateur success to the professional ranks.
Interestingly, Aloyan is only rated 10th for the WBO crown held by Tete while he is up in fourth spot in the WBA due to holding sanctioning body’s international title...