Abraham Nova

Abraham Nova was born on January 14, 1994, in Carolina, Puerto Rico,^[2] to Dominican parents. He moved to the U.S. with his parents and nine siblings when he was an infant, with all twelve family members living in a two-bedroom apartment in Albany, New York. He began boxing at the age of 12, going on to compile an amateur record of 167–11–60KOs before turning professional.^[3]

Nova made his professional debut on April 29, 2016, scoring a first-round technical knockout (TKO) victory over Weusi Johnson at the Trump Taj Mahal in Atlantic City, New Jersey.^[4]

After compiling a record of 12–0 (10 KOs) he faced Sulaiman Segawa for the vacant WBA-NABA super featherweight title on November 18, 2018, at the Royale Nightclub in Boston, Massachusetts. Nova defeated Sulaiman via unanimous decision (UD) to capture his first professional title, with one judge scoring the bout 97–93 and the other two scoring it 96–93.^[5] After two wins in non-title fights – a UD against Brian Pelaez in December 2018^[6] and a TKO against Mario Lozano in May 2019^[7] – he made the first defence of his WBA-NABA title against Luis Castillo on August 23, 2019, at the Encore Boston Harbor in Everett, Massachusetts. With less than 30 seconds remaining in the first round, Nova landed a left-jab right-hand combination to drop Castillo to the canvas. Castillo was unable to make it to his feet before the referee's count of ten, awarding Nova a first-round knockout (KO) victory.^[8]

Nova was booked to face Pedro Navarrete in a non-title bout on January 18, 2020. He won the fight by a fourth-round technical knockout.^[9] Nova faced Avery Sparrow on June 25, 2020.^[10] He won the fight by unanimous decision, with scores of 99–91, 97–93 and 96–94.^[11] Nova was scheduled to face the journeyman Richard Pumicpic on the Joshua Franco vs Andrew Moloney III undercard on August 14, 2021.^[12] He won the fight by unanimous decision, with one judge scoring the fight 78–74 for him, while the remaining two judges scored the fight 79–73 in his favor.^[13] Nova faced Willam Encarnación on January 15, 2022, in the Joe Smith Jr. vs Steve Geffrard WBO co-headliner.^[14] He won the fight by an eight-round technical knockout.^[15]

On February 16, 2024, Nova was scheduled to challenge O'Shaquie Foster for the WBC junior lightweight title at The Theater at Madison Square Garden in New York.^[16] He lost the fight by split decision.^[17][18]

Nova was scheduled to face Andres Cortes in a 10-round junior lightweight bout at Fontainebleau Las Vegas on June 21, 2024.^[19] He lost the fight by unanimous decision.^[20][21]

Nova faced Humberto Galindo at Turning Stone Resort Casino in Verona, New York on November 2, 2024, with the fight ending in a draw.^[22][23]

On 16 August 2025, Nova lost to Raymond Ford by unanimous decision in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on the undercard of the Moses Itauma vs Dillian Whyte fight.^[24][25]