By Luke Furman

Former champion Jan Zaveck (32-2, 18KOs) is very happy to land the WBO title eliminator against dangerous Keith Thurman (19-0, 18KOs) on March 9th at Barclays Center in Brooklyn. The fight will be televised in the United States by HBO. Bernard Hopkins will challenge IBF light heavyweight champion Tavoris Cloud in the main event.

At 36-years-old, Zaveck views the opportunity with Thurman as his final chance to get a major world title shot.

"The discussions and the negotiations played out for a very long time. Now everything is official and I'll go to New York on March 9th to fight in a WBO eliminator, and the winner will get the opportunity to fight for the world title, which is currently held by Timothy Bradley. I consider this a new beginning, a new chapter, a new opportunity, I am very pleased and it was worth it to wait," Zavec said.

"[Thurman] is quickly growing on Youtube and I didn't have to look all over the place to find [footage on him]. The mere fact that Golden Boy has taken him under their wing, testifies to his quality. Behind him is a brilliant amateur career, and he has considerable experience. I respect him as a fighter, but this is not the same thing as being in awe. Regardless of his quality, March 9th will be my day and I will be unstoppable."

Zaveck's coach Dirk Dzemski said the following: "We are going to be very well prepared. Keith is a young fighter and hungry for victories, and has a good schooling of boxing behind him. But he's barely been tested against opponents who actually wanted to win."

Luke Furman covers boxing for bokser.org