WBA And WBC Give Updates On Their Respective 140-Pound Title Situations
A new WBA and WBC junior welterweight champion were crowned, but both governing bodies already have fights lined up for both champions.
Kiryl Relikh, the WBA junior welterweight champion has been ordered by the organization to fight Eduard Troyanovski. Troyanovski, the WBA’s No. 3 junior welterweight, is the highest-ranked available fighter since Relikh, the No. 1 fighter, and Rances Barthelemy, the No. 2 fighter, already fought for the then-vacant title with Relikh coming out on top.
On March 17, the announcement was made and that “Both parties were duly notified and given a period of 30 days to reach an agreement, otherwise the fight will be called to a purse bid.” The title was vacated by Terence Crawford last year and WBA rules dictate that since Relikh won the title when it was vacant, then he must defend the title within 120 days of winning the belt.
As for the WBC belt, WBC President Mauricio Sulaiman wrote on Twitter that newly-crowned champion Jose Ramirez will have to defend his belt against interim champion Regis Prograis.
Ramirez won the title on ESPN when he defeated Amir Imam by unanimous decision while Prograis won the interim title by knocking out Julius Indongo in quick fashion on a Showtime-televised fight on March 9.
As for the world titles at 140 pounds, the WBO title is still vacant but Terry Flanagan and Maurice Hooker will fight for the title on April 14. Mikey Garcia currently has the IBF title, but there’s no word on if he’ll remain at junior welterweight or go back to lightweight and continue defending his WBC lightweight world title.
