Samuel Clarkson takes on Ryad Merhy in Belgium on Saturday

Uprising Promotions looks to close out the year in significant fashion on Saturday, as Samuel “Main Event” Clarkson (21-4, 14 KOs) takes on Ryad Merhy (26-1, 21 KOs) at the Spiroudome Arena in Charleroi, Belgium. Hardware will be on the line in the contest, as Clarkson looks to bring home the WBA International Cruiserweight Title.

“I truly feel amazing right now,” Clarkson said after today’s weigh-in. “We had an incredible camp for this fight. We did a lot of running, lifting weights and had some great sparring. Overall, I am really excited to show the world what’s up and let them know that the Bivol fight will not define me. My life has been refocused on God, and I am letting Him handle everything now. We are going to do whatever it takes on Saturday to make sure this belt comes back with us to Texas.”

Clarkson has recorded two consecutive stoppage wins since a small setback in a ShoBox main event against Dmitry Bivol in 2017, which ended a nine-fight winning streak. Relatively unknown when Clarkson stepped up to fight him, Bivol has since won the WBA Light Heavyweight Title and successfully defended it three times.

“We are really excited for this opportunity,” said Samuel Clarkson, Sr., who is the head trainer for his son. “A win on Saturday puts us right back where we want to be, and we have been striving to get onto this stage again ever since we fought Bivol. We had an outstanding camp for this fight, and now it is finally time for us to put all of that work into action.”

Clarkson, 28, is a man who has always been willing to take on any opponent, even if it means that he has to travel across the world to Belgium to do so. Throughout his career, he has also continually proven that counting him out is a bad decision. During his previous nine-bout winning streak from 2014 to 2017, he entered the ring as the “b-side” fighter and emerged victorious against the likes of former world title challenger Cedric Agnew (decision win), as well as then once-beaten Jerry Odom (TKO-3) and Lavarn Harvell (TKO-2) on ShoBox: The New Generation.