The WBO took care of several pieces of business at its annual convention, which ended on Friday in Panama City, Panama.
The sanctioning body ordered some mandatory title bouts as well as title elimination fights meant to produce mandatory world title challengers. Here’s a look at the moves that were made:
The fight between former cruiserweight world titlist Krzysztof Glowacki (30-1, 19 KOs), 32, of Poland, and Maksim Vlasov (42-2, 25 KOs), 32, of Russia, who are scheduled to fight on Nov. 7 at the UIC Pavilion in Chicago in the quarterfinals of the cruiserweight World Boxing Super Series tournament, was approved to be for the organization’s interim world title.
At junior middleweight, Dennis Hogan (27-1-1, 7 KOs), 33, of Australia, was declared as the mandatory challenger for world titlist Jaime Munguia (31-0, 26 KOs), 22, of Mexico, though that probably won’t be Munguia’s next fight. He is penciled in for a January return, while Hogan is scheduled for a fight in Australia on Dec. 15.
Junior featherweight world titlist Isaac Dogboe (20-0, 14 KOs), 24, of Ghana, is scheduled to defend his belt against No. 2-ranked Emanuel Navarrete (25-1, 22 KOs), 23, of Mexico, on ESPN on Dec. 8 at the Hulu Theater at Madison Square Garden in New York, but per a WBO ruling the fight will count as Dogboe’s mandatory defense. That will give promoter Top Rank and Dogboe latitude through most of 2018 to plan his schedule, assuming he wins, without having to make a mandatory defense.
At junior bantamweight, the Philippines’ Aston Palicte (24-2-1, 20 KOs), 27, and countryman Donnie Nietes (41-1-5, 23 KOs), 36, who was bidding for a world title in a fourth weight division, battled to a draw for the vacant belt on Dec. 8 at The Forum in Inglewood, California. However, Palicte was denied his request for an immediate rematch, perhaps because prevailing opinion was that Nietes deserved the victory. So the WBO instead approved Nietes to face three-division world titlist Kazuto Ioka (23-1, 13 KOs), 29, of Japan, who also will be seeking a world title belt in a fourth division, for the vacant belt. Ioka made his debut in the 115-pound division with a 10-round decision win on the same “Superfly 3” card as the Nietes-Palicte draw. Palicte can take some solace, as a fight between him and Jose Martinez (20-0-2, 13 KOs), 26, of Puerto Rico, was approved as a final eliminator, with the winner to become the mandatory challenger for the winner of the Nietes-Ioka fight, which is close to being finalized.
A strawweight fight between Puerto Rico’s Wilfredo Mendez (11-1, 4 KOs), 21, and the Philippines’ Robert Paradero (17-0, 11 KOs), 22, which is scheduled for Dec. 7 in Puerto Rico, was sanctioned as an official eliminator. That means the winner will become the mandatory challenger for world titlist Vic Saludar (18-3, 10 KOs), 27, of the Philippines, who won the belt in July and has yet to defend.