Story & Photos By Boxing Bob Newman
The ratings meeting kicked things off this morning on the third and final day of meetings at the WBO convention. Title defenses and mandatories were also blended in to these discussions.
In the cases of rankings movements, as well as elimination matches, managers and promoters lobbied through each weight class for their respective fighters. All suggestions were requested to be submitted via e-mail to the ratings committee for analysis.
President Olivieri also stressed that being ranked #1 doesn’t automatically mean that fighter is the mandatory challenger for the title. Merit must be achieved, often in an eliminator fight between the top two “available” fighters.
Starting at mini flyweight, unified champion (WBO/WBA) Oscar Collazo is looking to do a unification either with the WBC champion- Melvin Jerusalem, already defeated in the past by Collazo, or IBF champion Pedro Taduran. President Olivieri agreed that unifications take precedent over regular defenses.
Female unified champion Sarah Bormann is also looking for a second unification after just winning the WBA title a couple weeks ago.
At Jr. Fly, unification opportunities are also being looked by team Santiago, the WBO champ.
WBO flyweight champ- Anthony Olascuaga has no mandatory requirements. President Olivieri promoted the unification option, as well as voluntary options among the top 15 ranked fighters.
WBC/WBO Jr. Bantam champ Jesse Rodriguez will be unifying with WBA champ Fernando Martinez on November 22 in Ryadh.
Bantamweight champ Christian Medina just won his title in September and is exploring his options.
Undisputed Super Bantam champ Naoya Inoue is scheduled to defend against Alan Picasso Romero in December 27th in Riyadh. Junto Nakatani is ranked #1.
Female champ Ellie Scotney is being recommended by the WBO to make her mandatory defense as one is long overdue.
Featherweight champ Rafael Espinoza makes a voluntary defense against Arnold Khegai in November as he is not due for a mandatory.
Female champ Amanda Serrano is scheduled to rematch with Erika Cruz, but she is overdue for her mandatory.
At super featherweight, Emanuel Navarrete is mandated to rematch with Charly Suarez. His manager Alejandro Brito is hoping for a unification with IBF champion Eduardo Nunez, which was verified by Top Rank’s Carl Moretti. There are also negotiations in place to satisfy Charly Suarez (ie. step aside money). Navarrete himself took the microphone and expressed his wish to finally get an opportunity at a unification. It looks like things will go that way.
The lightweight title is vacant and will be contested between Sam Noakes and Abdullah Mason in Riyadh on November 22nd. The winner will have 180 days to make a mandatory defense.
At Jr. Welterweight, champ Teofimo Lopez is possibly negotiating for a mega fight with WBC lightweight champ Shakur Stevenson in the new year. Lopez made his mandatory when he defeated Arnold Barboza, Jr., so that cycle has time before another mandatory is due.
At welterweight, champion Brian Norman is defending against #1 ranked Devin Haney on the big November 22nd show in Riyadh. The WBO board passed that Norman-Haney satisfies the mandatory defense.
Newly minted Jr. middleweight champ Xander Zayas has 180 days to make a mandatory.
Middleweight champ Zhanibek Alimkhanuly is set to unify his WBO/IBF belts with WBA champ Erislandy Lara in December. However, he hasn’t made a mandatory defense.
Desley Robinson recently defended her WBO/IBF titles against #1 rates Logan Holler via TKO2.
Terence Crawford has 18 months to make a mandatory if he decides to stay at this weight.
Unified light heavyweight champ Dimitrii Bivol is injured. There are rumors of interim WBO champ Callum Smith defending against David Morrell.
At Jr. Heavyweight (Cruiserweight), champion Gilberto Ramirez is injured. An interim title was ordered between Chris Billiam-Smith and Roman Fress. Negotiations broke down and Billiam-Smith is out. #4 Umar Salamov was mentioned, but due to the political situation with Salamov being Russian, there’s a snag there too. Now, #5 Robin Sirwan Safar is being looked at to go against Fress and the board ratified that decision. In the meantime, when Ramirez is healthy again and if he wants to unify against IBF champ Jai Opetaia, he has that right.
At heavyweight, undisputed champ Oleksander Usyk is due a mandatory with the WBO, which is next in the rotation. That mandatory was Joseph Parker, but Fabio Wardley inherited that status last weekend with the TKO victory over Parker. Usyk is still recovering from an undisclosed injury as well.
With that, the last order of official WBO business came to an end. Tonight is the closing awards banquet.
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