Unbeaten Olajide to Fight Burton for Vacant Title

Unbeaten Michael Olajide will fight Richard Burton for the vacant Continental Americas middleweight title Thursday at Madison Square Garden’s Felt Forum.

Olajide, 20-0 with 14 knockouts, is ranked fourth by the International Boxing Federation and sixth by the World Boxing Council and World Boxing Association. Burton is 13-3 with 11 knockouts.

Both fighters live in New York. The bout is scheduled for 12 rounds.

In scheduled 10-round bouts, junior lightweight Jackie Beard will meet Dennis Cruz and light heavyweight Chris Reid will fight Jerome Clouden. Maurizio Stecca will fight Cleo Garcia in an eight-round bantamweight fight.

Beard, of Knoxville, Tenn., is 28-2 with 17 knockouts and ranked sixth by the WBC. Cruz, of New York, is 21-2 with 19 knockouts. Reid, of Little Silver, N.J., is 15-0-1 with 13 knockouts and ranked ninth by the WBA. Clouden, of New Orleans, is 21-16 with 14 knockouts, 11 in the first round.

Stecca, the 1984 Olympic bantamweight champion from Italy, is 20-0 with nine knockouts. Garcia, a native of Nicaragua living in Miami, Fla., is 23-16-2.