Undefeated vs Unbreakable
ATHENS, Greece, Feb. 5, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Floyd "Money" Mayweather Jr., the most successful and undefeated boxer in history, will step into the ring in Athens, the birthplace of the Olympic Games and the very foundations of global sport.
On June 27, 2026, Mayweather headlines BATTLE OF THE LEGENDS, a global mega-event, facing Mike "Iron" Zambidis, Greece's most iconic combat sports athlete, in a once-in-a-lifetime Super Fight that bridges continents, eras, and fighting cultures.
The American professional boxer with the undefeated record of 50-0 that won 15 major world championships spanning five weight classes from super featherweight to light middleweight and Bronze Olympic Champion. One of the best defensive boxers in the history of the sport with an extraordinary career record defined by dominance, precision and longevity at the highest level. Mayweather is the most accurate puncher among professional boxers.
Standing opposite him is the Greek legend of boxing and kickboxing, Mike "Iron" Zambidis. An 18-time World Champion, Zambidis has competed against the greatest athletes from around the world in breathtaking fights, with an impressive professional record of 180 fights, 158 wins, and 87 knockouts. He is globally renowned for his achievements in international competitions and K-1 events in Japan, and stands out for his exceptional boxing skills, unparalleled technique, and uniquely aggressive fighting style.
The event will take place at the Telekom Center, OAKA Olympic Complex, welcoming thousands of spectators live and millions of viewers worldwide through international broadcasting platforms, and digital media distribution.
Scheduled for 27th of June2026, at Telecom Center, OAKA Arena in Athens, as one of the most globally anticipated sporting spectacles.
"BATTLE of the LEGENDS" is an elite boxing event featuring a Main Event bout with Floyd "Money" Mayweather vs "Iron" Mike Zambidis, while additionally two World Title bouts will take place, featuring world-class athletes, alongside parallel entertainment activities and a live concert.
Ticket sales will be available via Ticketmaster. Further details and the official on-sale announcement will be revealed at a later stage.
BATTLE OF THE LEGENDS is proudly sponsored by SEAJETS the Largest Network of High Speed Vessels, with X-treme Stores the largest fitness chain in Greece & Cyprus as the official supporter of the event.
For all media inquiries, requests related to BATTLE OF THE LEGENDS, please contact the official event representatives:
SO FINE! Communications Management:
Tonia Fouseki
tfouseki@sofine.gr
+30 210 9211011
For official updates and announcements, follow "Iron" Mike Zambidis on social media:
Instagram: @ironmikezambidisofficial
Facebook: Iron Mike Zambidis (Official Page)
TikTok: @ironmikezambidis
www.ironmikezambidis.com
** The press release content is from PR Newswire. Bastille Post is not involved in its creation. **
Floyd Mayweather Faces Greek Icon 'Iron' Mike Zambidis in Athens at BATTLE of the LEGENDS
HANGZHOU, China, April 3, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- A team led by principal investigators Bobo Dang and Ting Zhou at Westlake University/Westlake Laboratory reported in Science a high-throughput platform for engineering fast-acting covalent protein therapeutics. Their work, titled "A high-throughput selection system for fast-acting covalent protein drugs," opens new avenues for next-generation biologics.
Covalent small-molecule drugs have shown great success in cancer therapy by forming irreversible bonds with their targets. This has inspired efforts to extend covalent strategies to protein therapeutics, especially engineered miniproteins. However, their development is limited by a kinetic mismatch: Miniproteins are rapidly cleared in vivo, whereas covalent bond formation is typically slow. In addition, high-throughput platforms for systematically optimizing covalent protein reactivity have been lacking.
To address this challenge, the researchers proposed that precise spatial positioning of chemical warheads within protein scaffolds could enable molecular preorganization, thereby accelerating covalent bond formation without increasing intrinsic reactivity (Fig. 1).
Based on this concept, the team developed a high-throughput platform that combines yeast surface display with chemoselective protein modification to screen diverse crosslinkers and millions of protein variants. By optimizing warhead placement and the local chemical environment, the platform enables rapid and irreversible target engagement.
Using this platform, the researchers developed a covalent antagonist targeting PD-L1, termed IB101. Structural analysis revealed that IB101 forms a defined binding pocket that precisely positions the warhead in a reactive conformation, greatly accelerating covalent bond formation. Functionally, IB101 effectively blocks the PD-1/PD-L1 immune checkpoint pathway and demonstrates strong antitumor activity in mouse models. Notably, despite its short in vivo half-life, IB101 achieves durable target engagement and tumor suppression, outperforming conventional antibody-based therapies under comparable conditions.
The platform was further applied to cytokine engineering, leading to the development of a covalent IL-18 variant, IB201. This engineered cytokine rapidly forms a covalent interaction with its receptor, enhancing signaling strength and duration. In vivo studies showed that IB201 induces potent antitumor immune responses without detectable systemic toxicity. These results highlight the potential of covalent engineering to improve the efficacy and safety of cytokine-based therapies.
Beyond immunotherapy targets, the platform was also applied to develop a covalent inhibitor targeting the receptor-binding domain (RBD) of SARS-CoV-2. This molecule achieves durable viral neutralization, demonstrating the versatility of the approach across different therapeutic modalities.
This study establishes a general strategy for engineering fast-acting covalent protein therapeutics. By enabling covalent bond formation on timescales compatible with rapid in vivo clearance, the platform overcomes a fundamental limitation in the field.
These findings provide a new framework for designing biologics with both rapid kinetics and sustained target engagement, with broad implications for cancer immunotherapy, antiviral therapy, and beyond.
Media Contact:
Chi Zhang
media@westlake.edu.cn
+86-15659837873
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Fast-Acting Covalent Protein Drugs From a New High-Throughput Platform
