WBA orders welterweight mini-tournament

Source: WBA

17/09/2021

WBA orders welterweight mini-tournament

The WBA issued a resolution ordering a box off in the welterweight division to have a single WBA champion. Yordenis Ugas will defend his super championship against Eimantas Stanionis and regular title holder Jamal James will do the same against Radzhab Butaev in the first stage. [The other welterweight champions are Terrence Crawford (WBO) and Errol Spence (WBC and IBF]. Stanionis holds the top ranking and therefore is the mandatory challenger for Ugas, who defeated Manny Pacquiao in his most recent fight on August 21st. The bout must take place within 120 days from the issuance of the resolution on September 15th.
 
For his part, Butaev became mandatory to the title held by Jamal James after the fight against Alexander Besputin in November 2019. On that occasion, Besputin tested positive for banned substances in the A and B samples, so the bout was declared No Decision and Butaev was named mandatory to that belt. The fight between Jamal James and Butaev must take place before November of this year.
 
The winners of both fights will face each other before March to determine the sole WBA welterweight champion. The resolution contemplates possible injuries or situations that may occur along the way, which could alter the deadlines which will be resolved according to the WBA regulations.
 
It is worth mentioning that the interim title was left vacant after the controversial fight between Gabriel Maestre and Mykal Fox. The WBA withdrew the belt and asked the Minnesota commission to declare the bout a No Decision.