Let’s take a moment and recap what all’s happening at 168 following Terence Crawford’s exit, organized by belt.
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.
Sheeraz (Queensberry) and Pacheco (Matchroom) are presently set for a purse bid on January 19th.
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.
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.
