By Ben Jacobs

After a frustrating year in which he has only fought once, Luis Carlos Abregú heads back to the ring on November 8 on the Bernard Hopkins - Sergey Kovalev card screened by HBO, in what he considers a vitally important fight in his career.

Since stopping talented prospect, Thomas Dulorme, injury and difficulty in securing opponents has prevented him from building momentum which should have been developed after he beat the Puerto Rican.  Nevertheless, Sadam Ali will provide a stiff test of Abregú's skills before potentially huge bouts in 2015.  'El Potro' has already been in the United States for a few weeks and has been training in California.

"It's not the first time that I've flown in early, I did it when I fought Timothy Bradley and Thomas Dulorme," he explained to BoxingScene.

"I like to arrive early to get used to things, the country and the sparring.  I sparred both Shane Mosley Sr and Shane Mosley Jr. Shane Sr is still strong and quick, and Jr has a lot of hunger and drive, he's also a strong boxer.  I don't remember their names but I also sparred with some guys who are in Gilberto Ramirez's team, in Carson."

While Ali might not be considered a puncher, he does have a skill set which could pose problems for a hard hitter such as Abregú. The 30-year-old has studied more of his opponent since the fight was announced.

"He's good, we're studying him.  He's a fast guy, has a  good left hand and he moves a lot so we're working on cutting the distance and counter-punching him hard.  I think he'll come out and run, he'll try to make it his fight and he won't want to go toe-to-toe with me.

"I spoke to Bob Arum, he said next year there'll be huge fights for me.  Obviously I have to beat Sadam Ali first.  It's also important that Golden Boy and Top Rank are working together now, it gives all us boxers more options.

"This is going to be on HBO and everyone will be able to see it.  Hopkins is a guy who attracts viewers and this gives me an opportunity to show the promoter what I can do and they can get big fights for me."

As reported by BoxingScene's Ryan Burton yesterday, Ruslan Provodnikov has challenged Abregú for a fight on November 28 in Russia, despite reports that the former WBO 140lbs champion is set to take on faded Mexican, José Luis Castillo.  Abregú had this to say:

"Provodnikov is taking on an easy fight, Castillo has been out of the ring for a while and he won't do anything in there.  He was a great champion, in his time, but he's old now, so Provodnikov is taking advantage of that.  If it's true that he wants to fight me, well, I also want to fight him.  It would be a joy to fight Provodnikov."