Let’s take a moment and recap what all’s happening at 168 following Terence Crawford’s exit, organized by belt.
WBC
The WBC belt was the first to go after Crawford, in an extremely funny move, declined to pay the sanctioning fee and sent Mauricio Sulaiman spiraling into a tantrum. Sulaiman immediately ordered Hamzah Sheeraz to face Christian Mbilli for the belt despite previously ordering Mbilli to rematch Lester Martinez after their punishing draw in September
.Luckily for Martinez, Lance Pugmire reports
that Sheeraz will instead commit to facing Diego Pacheco for the WBO title. Canelo Alvarez technically sits between Mbilli and Martinez in the rankings, but Alvarez already turned down an IBF title shot, citing his ongoing recovery from elbow surgery. Obviously, Sulaiman is detached from any concepts of regulation or accountability, but I think the odds are decent that we see a proper twelve-round rematch with hardware on the line.
WBO
Sheeraz (Queensberry) and Pacheco (Matchroom) are presently set for a purse bid on January 19th.
IBF
Everyone’s favorite rules lawyers are having a doozy of a time trying to get a vacant title fight together. Top contender Osleys Iglesias has said “yes” to every offer thus far, but Canelo (injury), Jaime Munguia (declined), and Sheeraz (went WBO route) all said “no.” The latest setback came yesterday, when no. 6 Troy Williamson got roped into a rematch with Callum Simpson after publicly agreeing to fight Iglesias.
Next in the queue is Pavel Silyagin.
WBA
Earlier this month, Mendoza and co. elevated secondary titlist Jose Armando Resendiz to full champion and reportedly ordered him to defend his belt against top contender Bektemir Melikuziev. This seemed like a rare moment of professionalism from these unlovable losers, especially as it preempted a proposed bout between Resendiz and Edgar Berlanga, but it seems I may have been prematurely complimentary.
Per Jake Donovan, Resendiz’s team is negotiating a potential showdown with Jaime Munguia, last seen defeating Bruno Surace in their rematch and subsequently failing a drug test. I’m not saying that wouldn’t be an entertaining fight, but Melikuziev won his eliminator a full seven months ago. I’m sick of this tactic, previously employed by Sulaiman to let Canelo duck David Benavidez for years, of just not declaring the top contender a mandatory challenger to get around their regulations. Get “Bek the Bully” in there first.
