By Elisinio Castillo
Earlier this month, World Boxing Council President Mauricio Sulaiman explained that his organization had mapped out a plan to get the light heavyweight division in order.
The organization had already sanctioned a world title fight between WBC light heavyweight champion Adonis Stevenson (29-1, 24 KOs) and once-beaten challenger Badou Jack (22-1-2, 13 KOs), who moved up from super middleweight last year.
That contest, according to the WBC, is going to take place on a date in March.
There was also a final eliminator ordered, between undefeated contenders Eleider Alvarez and Oleksandr Gvozdyk.
Sulaiman states that their teams have been unable to reach an agreement, at least as of now, and the WBC has set down a purse bid for Friday, January 12th.
Gvozdyk is promoted by Bob Arum of Top Rank, while Alvarez is handled by Yvon Michel and advised by Al Haymon. The winner of the purse bid will determine which television network will carry the fight. Top Rank is aligned with ESPN and Michel/Haymon are with Showtime.
Jack, who previously held the WBC super middleweight title, moved up to 175 last August when he knocked out Nathan Cleverly to capture the WBA world title at light heavyweight.
He vacated that belt not long after, to pursue the fight with Stevenson.
Stevenson was under an order to fight Alvarez, but managed to work out a deal with the sanctioning body to face Jack.
Alvarez (23-0, 11 KOs) has been the mandatory challenger to Stevenson for the last two years and went through at least three final eliminators. He was paid a handsome step-aside fee to allow Stevenson-Jack to go forward. In 2017 he packed in wins over former world champions Jean Pascal and Lucian Bute.
On the other, Gvozdyk (14-0, 12 KOs) is a rising force in the division, but Alvarez will by far be his biggest step up in class.
Gvozdyk got in big knockout wins over Craig Baker, Isaac Chilemba and Yunieski Gonzalez in his last three fights.
2023-10-20 07:22:48
