WBC Gives Massive Update On Title Situations

With 2018 already halfway done, the WBC has given an update on all the title situations.

In an extensive post on the official WBC website, the governing body has laid out what is next for each champion and recapped the last nine months for each weight class. Below are the updates for each weight class.

• Heavyweight: Originally, the WBC was going to honor a unification bout between champion Deontay Wilder and unified WBA, WBO and IBF champion Anthony Joshua. The fight is no longer happening in 2018 and the WBC has not announced what to do next regarding Wilder.
• Cruiserweight: Champion Murat Gassiev is facing Oleksandr Usyk on July 21 to unify the WBA, WBO, WBC, IBF and Ring Magazine cruiserweight titles. The mandatory challenger situation will be dealt after July 21.
• Light Heavyweight: Champion Adonis Stevenson and interim champion Oleksandr Gvozdyk will have a purse bid on July 2.
• Super Middleweight: Champion David Benavidez will face mandatory challenger Anthony Dirrell in September.
• Middleweight: Champion Gennady Golovkin will face Canelo Alvarez on September 15 in a rematch from last year’s fight which ended in a draw.
• Junior Middleweight: No new update on what is next for champion Jermell Charlo.
• Welterweight: Danny Garcia and Shawn Porter will fight for the vacant title later this year with former champion Keith Thurman, who vacated the title due to injury, getting the chance to fight for the title whenever he is ready.
• Junior Welterweight: Although champion Jose Ramirez and interim champion Regis Prograis have upcoming title defenses in July, they will likely not fight each other until the end of the second season of the World Boxing Super Series. Ramirez will not participate and it is expected that Prograis will fight in the tournament. Mandatory challenger Josh Taylor is already in the tournament.
• Lightweight: Champion Mikey Garcia will face IBF champion Robert Easter Jr. in a unification bout later on July 28. Luke Campbell and Yvan Mendy will fight in a final eliminator later this year.
• Super Featherweight: Champion Miguel Berchelt will have to face mandatory challenger Miguel Roman after Berchelt fought a couple of voluntary defenses.
• Featherweight: No new update but after champion Gary Russell Jr. defeated mandatory challenger Joseph Diaz, he will likely face WBA champion Leo Santa Cruz, who is also the WBC Diamond titleholder.
• Super Bantamweight: No new update as champion Rey Vargas is currently recovering from injury.
• Bantamweight: Nordine Oubaali and Petch Sor Chitpattana were supposed to fight for the vacant title last month but the fight was delayed. In the meantime, Mark John Yap and Takuma Inoue will fight a final eliminator on September 11 in Tokyo.
• Super Flyweight: After rejecting a spot in the upcoming “Superfly 3” card, champion Srisaket Sor Rungvisai will have a stay-busy non-title fight this month and then make a voluntary title defense in Thailand on October 6.
• Flyweight: Champion Cristofer Rosales will defend his title against Paddy Barnes on August 18 in Belfast, Northern Ireland.
• Light Flyweight: No new update for champion Ken Shiro, who defeated mandatory challenger Ganigan Lopez in May. Even though this is not a title eliminator, Jing Xiang will face Merlito Sabillo for the WBC Silver title on August 18 in China.
• Minimumweight: No new update for champion Wanheng Menayothin after achieving a 50-0 record after beating mandatory challenger Leroy Estrada back in May in Thailand.

The full article can be seen at this link.