WBO Makes Several Rulings Regarding Mandatory Challengers At Annual Convention
The WBO has given an update on several world champions’ status regarding their upcoming mandatory fights.
Aside from creating an interim WBO cruiserweight title and approving Donnie Nietes vs. Kazuto Ioka for the vacant WBO super flyweight title, the governing body made several other rulings during its annual convention.
Firstly, the WBO super bantamweight title fight between titleholder Isaac Dogboe and Emanuel Navarrete (No. 2 in WBO rankings) taking place on December 8 on ESPN is a mandatory title defense. The fight will be the co-feature bout to the WBA and WBO lightweight title unification between Vasiliy Lomachenko and Jose Pedraza. Undefeated contender Diego De La Hoya, the top-ranked WBO fighter at 122 pounds, is said to have been fine with the title fight being a mandatory defense.
As for WBO junior middleweight champion Jaime Munguia, he now has a mandatory challenger in Dennis Hogan. The WBO approved Hogan, the No. 1 junior middleweight in the WBO rankings, as the mandatory challenger to the title, but there is a condition to that announcement being officially true. Hogan’s status is contingent on him winning his next scheduled fight in Australia against Jaime Weetch on December 15 with the IBF Pan Pacific and WBO Intercontinental 154-pound titles on the line.
Finally, WBO minimumweight champion Vic Saludar is still without a mandatory challenger but that will change in about a month. Saludar, who won the title back in July, will know who his mandatory challenger will be on December 7 when Wilfredo Méndez faces Robert Paradero in a title eliminator.
