The WBA Championships Committee has ordered a mandatory fight between its super featherweight champion, Lamont Roach Jr., and its interim title holder, Albert Batyrgaziev. The parties have thirty days to negotiate, a period that will end on August 22nd. If no deal is reached, WBA rules call for a purse bid. Eariler this month, in Serpukhov, Russia, the WBA interim super featherweight title was claimed by Batyrgaziev (10-0), the Russian Olympic champion who survived some rough moments early on to stop Ireland's Jono Carroll (24-2-1) in round nine. Carroll had won his last six fights following a loss to Maxi Hughes but with both eyes swelling, he went down twice in round nine. On the second knockdown, the referee stopped the fight without a count.

Last November,  Roach wrested away Héctor García’s WBA super featherweight title in his second attempt at a belt. Roach dropped García in the twelfth round and wound up winning a split decision by scores of 116-111, 114-113 and 113-114 in a technical and strategic fight. [The result is controversial as Roach appeared to knock Garcia down with an improper blow to the back of the head]. The knockdown caused the WBA title to change hands as it allowed Roach to avoid a split-draw. The punch in question was a the left hook that landed with 1:20 left in the fight and drove García into the canvas for the second time in his career.