Boxing fans are officially one sleep away from the dawning of a new era in the bridgerweight division.

Lukasz Rozanski and Alen Babic both made weight for their globally anticipated vacant WBC bridgerweight title fight, which takes place Saturday on Sky Sports from G2A Arena in Rzeszow, Poland. The locally based Rozanski was 222 ¼ pounds, while Croatia’s Babic tipped the scales at a trim and fit 210 ¾ pounds.

Both were well under the 224-pound maximum limit for the WBC-exclusive weight division.

The winner will claim the belt left behind by Oscar Rivas, the inaugural WBC bridgerweight champion. The belt was made available when Rivas was forced to relinquish due to an eye injury which prevented him from properly honoring his mandatory title defense obligations versus Rozanski.

Both boxers are coming off the longest layoff of their respective careers.

KnockOut Promotions, Poland’s leading promotional outfit, won a purse bid to claim the rights to the fight, which means another home game for its fighter.

Rozanski (14-0, 11KOs) fights in his true hometown for his first career title bout, having fought exclusively in Poland since his October 2015 pro debut. However, he has not fought since a first-round knockout of countryman Artur Szpilka in May 2021. The quick hit plus the delayed and eventually canceled pursuit of Rivas leaves Rozanski with just 125 seconds worth of ring action in the past 31 months as he prepares to take on a wicked force of nature.

Babic (11-0, 10KOs) has quickly emerged as a cult favorite since hitting the pro ranks in July 2019. Two of his first three bouts took place in Italy before being introduced to a wider audience through Eddie Hearn’s Matchroom Boxing on Sky Sports and later exclusively on DAZN.

The gloriously bearded 32-year-old from Zagreb, Croatia moved into title contention following a ten-round decision over Warsaw’s Adam Balski. Planet Earth was nearly knocked off its axis when Babic was floored in the opening round of their May 2022 clash at The O2 in London. Proper order was restored when the unbeaten contender rose from the canvas to eventually outpoint Balski.

Boxing fans have been deprived of an in-ring Babic sighting since that night. He enters his first career title bid following an eleven-month absence, surpassing the ten-month stretch from October 2019 to August 2020 when everyone In the sport—including ‘The Savage’—was shut down due to the global coronavirus pandemic.

The bridgerweight division officially launched with its first set of rankings in December 2020. The weight class was named after Bridger Walker—who was six years old at the time of a heroic bid to rescue his then four-year-old sister from a stray dog attack in July 2020.

Rivas won the newly created title in a twelve-round points win over Ryan Rozicki in their terrific October 2021 scrap. His reign was delayed due to a promotional issue canceling a planned homecoming in his native Colombia last summer, before an eye injury forced him to withdraw from a planned non-title fight versus Efe Ajagba in January. Rivas subsequently gave up the title but denied rumors that he was retiring from the sport.

Jake Donovan is a senior writer for krikya360.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox