Australia's IBF middleweight boxing world champion Sam Soliman will make his first defence against celebrated fellow veteran Jermain Taylor in early October.
Victorian Soliman, who took the title away from German Felix Sturm earlier this year, will fight former world champion Taylor in a venue to be announced in the east coast of the United States on October 4.
"We came very close to fighting (WBA Super world champion) Gennady Golovkin, but this deal was too good to refuse," Soliman's manager David Stanley told AAP.
Taylor, 36, is one of the most distinguished middleweight champions of the past 15 years.
His record of 32-4-1 (20 KOs) included two wins in 2005 over all-time great middleweight Bernard Hopkins.
But his career appeared in decline after he suffered four losses in five fights from 2007-09, all to unbeaten boxers and men who won world titles.
Taylor's career was also threatened when he was diagnosed with a brain bleed and briefly stopped boxing.
However, he has won his past four fights to be ranked 15th by the IBF.
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