St. Petersburg's Jeff Lacy will defend his IBF super middleweight title against veteran Omar Sheika on Dec. 4 in Las Vegas, it was announced Wednesday.
Lacy's fight will be televised by Showtime and will be on the undercard of the main event, Jose Luis Castillo vs. Joel Casamayor for the WBC lightweight championship.
Sheika, 27, is 26-6 with 17 knockouts and has a win over new light heavyweight titlist Glenn Johnson. Ranked the No. 14 contender by the IBF, he is 0-5 in title fights.
This will be Lacy's first defense of the title he won this month by eighth-round technical knockout over Syd Vanderpool.
Vitali Tsypko, the ninth-rated contender, was supposed to be Lacy's first defense, having been promised the winner of the title fight after he and Lacy fought to a second-round no-decision due to head butt.
But he has opted against a rematch with Lacy and instead will pursue European champion Rudy Markussen for a fight next year.
