The WBC will crown its first bridgerweight champion when Colombia’s Oscar Rivas faces Philadelphia’s Bryant Jennings in a card tentatively scheduled for June 18 in Canada, sources confirmed to ESPN KNOCKOUT on Friday. The Athletic’s Lance Pugmire was first to report the fight.
The bridgerweight division will have a weight limit of 200-224 pounds. The WBC is the only organization that offers that division and ranks Rivas No. 1 and Jennings No. 3.
The WBC created this division in November due to a stark difference between the cruiserweights (up to 200 pounds) and the heavyweights (no limit in weight). The division was named after 6-year-old Bridger Walker, who saved his younger sister from a brutal dog attack in July. Bridger needed 90 stitches in his face to repair the injuries.
Rivas (27-1, 19 KOs), 33, defeated Jennings by 12th-round TKO in 2018. He then lost to Dillian White by unanimous decision in his next fight in September 2019 while challenging for the WBC interim heavyweight title.
Jennings (24-4, 14 KOs), 36, has only weighed under 230 pounds in his last four fights, two of them against opponents who were over 250 pounds: a TKO victory over Alexander Dimitrenko in 2018 and a unanimous decision loss to Joe Joyce in 2019.
This would be the 18th boxing division recognized by the WBC.