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World Boxing Council President Jose Sulaiman said Monday the WBC has sanctioned an Aug. 13 Ricardo Mayorga-Michele Piccirillo bout at the United Center as a super-welterweight title fight.
Sulaiman also told the Tribune in a phone interview that the sanctioning body hopes to decide by Friday whether WBC heavyweight champion Vitali Klitschko must make his next title defense against the winner of the Hasim Rahman-Monte Barrett bout, also slated on that Aug. 13 card.
“Our 36-member board of governors, voting by fax or e-mail from around the world, will decide a request from Klitschko’s camp seeking to make his next bout a title defense against someone else, and letters from Rahman’s and Barrett’s side opposing that,” Sulaiman said. “We hope to have a decision by Friday.”
A simple majority is required, and Sulaiman would vote only if there is a tie.
The WBC declared Mayorga-Piccirillo a title fight despite a recent opinion by the Association of Boxing Commissions, the sport’s only national overseeing body, that Mayorga had done nothing to merit being ranked higher than Fernando Vargas. In so doing, the association sided with Main Events, Vargas’ promoters.
One week after Mayorga faces Piccirillo, ranked No. 2 and No. 3 by the WBC, respectively, No. 4-ranked Vargas is matched against Javier Castillejo, who was stripped of his WBC super-welterweight (154-pound) title for opting not to fight Mayorga.
Sulaiman said the WBC “will authorize that the winner of Vargas-Castillejo is the mandatory challenger” and will next fight the winner of Mayorga-Piccirillo, “who will not be permitted to fight any other interim bouts.”
The Klitschko-Rahman issue is a war of words between rivals Shelly Finkel, who manages Klitschko, and promoter Don King, who holds the contracts of the three other heavyweight champions–Chris Byrd, John Ruiz and Lamon Brewster–as well as those of Rahman and Barrett.
At issue is who is responsible for the Klitschko-Rahman matchup not being made.
A spokesman for King said Klitschko, who underwent back surgery last spring, is ducking Rahman, has not fought a mandatory challenger since he won the title 15 months ago, and should not be permitted to fight a second consecutive “optional” opponent because he beat one, Danny Williams, on Dec. 11.
Finkel contends Klitschko wants to fight Sept. 24 and already has WBC approval to do so. He wants to face Calvin Brock because the Rahman-Barrett fight Aug. 13 does not leave enough time “to make a fight, to promote a fight telecast, between Vitali and the Rahman-Barrett winner by Sept. 24,” Finkel said.
If Klitschko beats Brock, “Vitali is ready to fight Rahman, or whoever wins that fight, as his next opponent,” Finkel said.
