WBC News: The Mandatory Contender

By WBC - 03/07/2017 - Comments

By Mauricio Sulaiman: What a wonderful week it was for boxing and the WBC. Shinsuke Yamanaka defended his WBC bantamweight title for the 12th time with an impressive seventh-round TKO in Japan. Mexican “Churritos” Hernandez traveled to Thailand and won the vacant WBC flyweight title via third-round TKO. WBC cruiserweight champion Tony Bellew knocked out David Haye in a heavyweight fight. Heather Hardy defended her WBC International title, representing women at a major event. Erickson Lubin became a mandatory contender at super welterweight by knocking out Jorge Cota, and Keith Thurman unified the welterweight division with a split decision win over Danny Garcia.

I was in New York and enjoyed a wonderful weekend of activities. I had a very good positive conversation with Angel Garcia. I saw several interesting things that the New York Commission is doing, including the procedure in which the referee does not have to collect the judges’ scorecards, as it is done by the commission staff and the referee can rest and pay 100 percent attention to both fighters. I witnessed the traditional Mecca of Boxing be alive! The Barclays Center is getting to be the new Mecca of Boxing – great cards, great organization, safe, entertaining, and the crowd was simply phenomenal. Over 16,000 fans were at Barclays. The fight was aired on free television by CBS, which is one the greatest things that has happened to boxing in in the United States, as millions of fans tune in to watch great fights.

The WBC has been a supporter of the PBC series since its beginning because boxing belongs to the fans, and bringing these fights to the fans on free television is huge!

I was very impressed with Erickson Lubin. He knocked out tough Mexican prospect Jorge Cota in an impressive way, which has given him the right to challenge for the WBC super welterweight title as mandatory contender. This is precisely the topic of this week´s The 12th Round.

For many years, fighters were ducked by champions as there was no such rule of mandatory contender. Archie Moore had to wait more than five years for a title shot as a No. 1 contender. Mantequilla Napoles had to wait six years as No. 1, and there are many other examples.

The WBC introduced the mandatory contender rule which requires the champion of the world to defend the title mandatorily against the official challenger once a year. The mandatory contender earns his designation through a final elimination bout, and in certain instances, by designation by a vote of the WBC Board of Governors.

Recent years have seen a few cases which were been extremely complicated and have disrupted this process. It is my intention to provide clarity to the public in order to avoid misunderstandings.

Consequently I am hereby listing the mandatory status of each division as of today.

Heavyweight: Deontay Wilder was the mandatory contender and defeated Bermane Stiverne to claim the title. During 2015, the process began to have the next mandatory, and Alexander Povetkin won the final elimination bout. Eventually the mandated fight was scheduled for May, 2016, but was postponed due to doping problems. Povetkin and Stiverne were ordered to fight a final elimination bout to determine the mandatory. The doping incident cancelled the fight and Stiverne became mandatory contender.

Cruiserweight: Mairis Breidis won the final elimination bout. Champion Tony Bellew asked for an exemption to fight at heavyweight, and the WBC ordered an interim title which will happen between Breidis and Marco Huck. Bellew will notify the WBC of his plans to return to cruiserweight or remain at heavyweight.

Light heavyweight: The WBC, in an unprecedented action, agreed to appoint multiple champion Sergey Kovalev to be the mandatory for the WBC champion, forcing the champion to make such a highly anticipated contest. Eventually Kovalev withdrew his position as mandatory contender. Then the process to find a mandatory began again and Eleider Alvarez won a final elimination bout. At the last WBC convention, Alvarez asked for permission to fight Lucian Bute, which was accepted as the final eliminator with the winner fighting champion Adonis Stevenson.

Super middleweight: Badou Jack vacated the title, and Callum Smith will fight Anthony Dirrell for the vacant title. The winner of a vacant title must make two mandatory defences, and Avni Yildirim is the first mandatory.

Middleweight: The division has had many changes in championships, step-aside agreements and decisions by third parties. The WBC will be ordering a final elimination fight to determine a mandatory contender to the champion who holds multiple organizations’ belts.

Super welterweight: Jermell Charlo won a vacant title in May, and has not defended since then. Mandatory contender Charles Hatley will fight him, and the WBC ordered two more final elimination bouts due to the process which has been interrupted. Erickson Lubin defeated Jorge Cota and is one mandatory, and Vanes Martyrosian will fight Ishe Smith for the other mandatory position.

Welterweight: Amir Khan had the mandatory position, but eventually fought at super welterweight and then was injured. The WBC has ordered Andre Berto vs. Shawn Porter as a final elimination fight.

Super lightweight: Terrence Crawford has a voluntary defense pending, and then must face mandatory challenger Amir Imam.

Lightweight: Jorge Linares will fight a rematch with Anthony Crolla, and the winner must fight WBC champion Mikey Garcia.

Super featherweight: New champion Miguel Berchelt must fight mandatory Takashi Miura.

Featherweight: Gary Russell Jr. will next fight interim champion Oscar Escandon, which is mandatory.

Super bantamweight: New champion Rey Vargas won a vacant title and must make two mandatories. Julio Ceja will fight Anselmo Moreno to determine the first one, and the other is yet to be determined with Hugo Ruiz.

Bantamweight: This Saturday, Luis Nery will fight Jesus Martinez in a final elimination bout to earn the mandatory fight against champion Shinsuke Yamanaka.

Super flyweight: Roman “Chocolatito” Gonzalez will fight former champion Srisaket Sor Rungvisai, and the winner must fight Carlos Cuadras.

Flyweight: New champion Juan Hernandez won a vacant title and must make two mandatories. The first is Daigo Higa from Japan .

Light flyweight: Pedro Guevara is waiting to use his signed optional defense, and a final elimination bout will be ordered for next mandatory.

Minimumweight: A final elimination bout has been ordered between Saul Juarez and Leroy Estrada.

There is a provision in the rules that is often used by champions and mandatory challengers, which is the step-aside fee, and provides the opportunity for a champion to make a voluntary defense before the mandatory by virtue of receiving acceptance from the mandatory, who has the right to challenge next.

I hope this information is helpful to illustrate how the rules work. I welcome any comments, ideas, or suggestions at contact@wbcboxing.com.