On May 16, 1998, the 31-year-old WBA lightweight world champion, Orzubek Nazarov (26-0, 19 KOs), faced Jean-Baptiste Mendy, in a title defense fight.
Nazarov came in to the fight on a 26-fight win streak with a 73% KO rate, and was fighting after a gap of 1 month and 8 days.
Orzubek Nazarov was defending his lightweight WBA titles against Jean-Baptiste Mendy and lost via unanimous decision in the 12-round lightweight fight, and adds an loss to his record at 26-1.