Cuban WBA “regular” champion David Morrell appears to be following the path of 168 lbs rival David Benavidez as Morrell is expected to move up to light-heavyweight to face Serbian-American contender Radivoje Kalajdzic for the vacant WBA “regular” title. Though no venue has yet been confirmed and their fight has yet to be officially announced, June appears to be a possible date for the two fighters―making it possible their fight will take place on the undercard of the recently-announced Davis-Martin event on June 15th.
The decision by David Morrell (10-0, 9 KO’s) to potentially face light-heavyweight contender Radivoje Kalajdzic (29-2, 21 KO’s) for the WBA “regular” title bears many similarities to David Benavidez’ (28-0, 24 KO’s) choice to move up to the 175 lbs division to fight Oleksandr Gvozdyk (20-1, 16 KO’s) for the vacant WBC interim title―especially if their fights occur on the same date.
This decision is especially peculiar as the WBA revealed they gave David Morrell “special permission” to move up, indicating that he will not have to vacate his WBA “regular” title to move up to 175 lbs to challenge for that division’s WBA “regular” belt. WBC 168 lbs interim champion Benavidez has similarly been allowed by the WBC to move up without forfeiting their title.
The recent course in two 168 lbs placeholder champions moving up to the same division to possibly fight on the same card shows the revolving relationship between the WBA, the WBC, and Premier Boxing Champions (PBC), with both David Morrell and David Benavidez aligned with the PBC through TGB Promotions―who represents them both as their promoter.
As usually comes with these sort of convenient and aptly-timed decisions that appear part of a larger agenda, while PBC fighters are set to benefit, fighters signed to other promotions are more liable to suffer as a result. Case in point with Boxxer fighter and light-heavyweight contender Joshua Buatsi (18-0, 13 KO’s), who is/should be regarded as the WBA 175 lbs mandatory challenger after beating fellow Brit and rival Dan Azeez (20-1, 13 KO’s) at the Wembley Arena in a final eliminator earlier this year.
It is unknown what Morrell’s intentions are at 175 lbs, but if he decides to stay at 175 lbs he might become favored to fight the undisputed winner between Artur Beterbiev (20-0, 20 KO’s) and Dmitry Bivol (22-0, 11 KO’s)―who are set to battle on June 1st, thereby potentially depriving Buatsi of his deserving opportunity to become undisputed.
Though mandatories appear to trump over placeholder champions such as WBA “regular” champions or interim champions, boxing politics suggest both the WBA and WBC are in bed with PBC; made even more noticeable given the latest reports of Benavidez and Morrell―both considered “PBC” fighters―moving up to the same weight class. This relationship can favor Morrell for a quicker opportunity for a world title at 175 lbs, with sanctioning bodies having the ability to simply refuse to order a mandatory challenger, in this case Buatsi, to face the incumbent champion of their organization to allow Morrell to potentially face the future undisputed light-heavyweight champion.
While David Morrell might possibly move up, a new WBA mandatory challenger in Edgar Berlanga (22-0, 17 KO’s) at 168 lbs has been formally established by the WBA. Though Berlanga was already considered the mandatory challenger after defeating Padraig McCrory (18-1, 9 KO’s) in a WBA final eliminator in February, it took almost two months for the WBA to officially recognize him as the WBA mandatory challenger.
This confirmation means that Berlanga can face the current holder of the WBA 168 bs title, undisputed champion Canelo Alvarez (60-2-2, 39 KO’s) in the near future if the WBA decides to order a bout between the two fighters.
