By Igor Lazorin, tass

Russian boxer Magomed Kurbanov is scheduled to return to the ring on May 5 in Yekaterinburg, Russia.

And the potential opponent in the other corner is none other than former world champion Antonio Margarito of Mexico, according to the director of the promotional company RCC Boxing Promotion Alexei Titov.

"On May 5, for the opening of the Academy, we are preparing a big event and we're trying to negotiate with Margarito [for a fight against Kurbanov]," Titov said.

Kurbanov owns the international title of the World Boxing Organization (WBO) at junior middleweight - and has a record of 13 wins (10 by knockout) and no defeat.

Margarito, 39 years old, resumed his career in 2016 after a five-year hiatus. At various times, he owned the WBO titles, the World Boxing Association (WBA) and the International Boxing Federation (IBF) at welterweight. All in all, he has 41 wins (27 by KO) and eight defeats.

Kurbanov was in action three times last year, with three solid wins and two of them by knockout.

For much of the year, his promoters were trying to finalize a fight with three division world champion "Sugar" Shane Mosley. The fight was finalized and even a press conference was held in Russia with Mosley in attendance, but the contest never came off as Mosley was plagued by injuries in training camp and underwent surgery that may have ended his career.

As far as Margarito, he only saw action once in 2017, when he won a controversial seven round technical decision over veteran Carson Jones on a September date in Mexico.

The fight was very close and Jones appeared to be on the verge of a stoppage in the seventh, with Margarito running out of gas.

But Margarito indicated after the seventh, that he was unable to see from his right eye - which was cut from an earlier clash of heads - and the fight went to the scorecards - which had the Mexican brawler up by two points on two cards and four on the third.