It’s official. The new KOK World Middleweight Champion will be determined on the 17th of May as KOK visits Helsinki, Finland for a KOK World Series event.

Battling for the vacant crown will be the number one and number two ranked contenders, Raimonds Aukstikalnis and Daniel Forsberg.

Raimond Aukstikalnis of Latvia is the top ranked fighter in the middleweight category (85 kg). Aukstikalnis is coming off an exciting win over British upstart Reon “The Beast” Wong at the KOK World Series event in Riga last month.

The less-experienced Wong battled on even terms with the Latvian firefighter early, but Aukstikalnis started to find his distance in round two and scored an eight-count in the third en route to a decision victory.

Forsberg hasn’t fought on the last couple of KOK events, but the Finnish fighter faces tough Lithuanian Tomas Steponkevicius at KOK 69 on 16 March in Vilnius.

Forsberg and Aukstikalnis aren’t exactly strangers-Forsberg defeated Aukstikalnis by split decision in a tough battle at KOK 61 in Riga last October.

This time, the fight is scheduled for the championship distance of five rounds. Forsberg, not Aukstikalnis, will have home advantage, while the young Latvian has the opportunity to avenge his previous loss and ruin the party for Forsberg.