Frank Warren confirmed earlier reporting that the WBC has ordered a lightweight title consolidation between reigning champion William Zepeda and interim champion Jadier Herrera, giving the pair until October 20th to come to terms.
With Shakur Stevenson rising in weight to challenge Teofimo Lopez for super lightweight gold, Herrera (18-0, 16 KO) got the green light to battle Ricardo Nunez for interim gold and made the most of it by hammering the aging veteran into submission. The WBC wound up stripping
Stevenson over (justifiably) unpaid sanctioning fees, but rather than take either of the obvious routes by upgrading Herrera or tossing him into a vacant title fight, they instead allowed “Camaron” Zepeda (34-1, 27 KO) to punch his way past Lamont Roach Jr with the real hardware on the line this past August.
Zepeda is a tall order for anyone in the post-Stevenson lightweight division, let alone a 24-year-old whose best victory came against a designated victim on the heels of a DQ loss to Jon Fernandez. That said, he wants it and Warren wants it, so who are we to say no? Unless Zepeda can rustle up a unification with Abdullah Mason or elects to follow the latest hot trend and ditch the title, all signs point to Herrera getting his shot.
