The World Boxing Association (WBA) appears to be continuing their strategy of using interim titles to prevent deserving contenders from receiving a direct title opportunity. Jono Carroll, who was previously ordered to face WBA 130 lbs champion Lamont Roach Jr and vice-versa, now finds himself involved in a fight against Russian contender Albert Batyrgaziev for the WBA interim title this Friday, July 12th.

The case of Venezuelan WBA super lightweight (140 lbs) interim champion Ismael Barroso (25-4-2, 23 KO’s) illustrates the fruitlessness of a WBA interim title well. He attained the interim title in January, only to see the actual world title contested twice: first when American champion Rolando “Rolly” Romero (15-2, 13 KO’s) defended and lost the title to Mexican challenger Isaac Cruz (26-2-1, 18 KO’s) on March 30th, and now it will be defended by Cruz on August 3rd. Interestingly, the WBA did not order Romero or Cruz to defend their title against Barroso, and both title fights featured or will feature lightweight (135 lbs) contenders vying for the 140 lbs title.

After acknowledging Jono Carroll as the mandatory challenger at super featherweight (130 lbs), the WBA proceeded to order him and champion Lamont Roach Jr. (25-1, 22 KO’s) to face each other, with the condition that the winner would need to face Georgian contender Otar Eranosyan (14-0, 7 KO’s). However, this mandate was postponed or rescinded when Roach faced Feargal McCrory (16-1, 8 KO’s) roughly two weeks ago on June 28th.

With Olympic gold medalist Albert Batyrgaziev (10-0, 7 KO’s) now set to face Carroll, the winner will presumably face Lamont Roach Jr. However, it’s unclear why the interim belt was introduced if Carroll was already the mandatory challenger, suggesting he may have accepted a step-aside¹ deal to allow Roach’s defense against McCrory, possibly offered by Roach’s promoter Matchroom.

Carroll’s upcoming bout against Batyrgaziev instead of Roach Jr. might have been his own decision, considering the potential compensation offered, illustrating the business aspects of boxing that often deny fighters direct title opportunities.

However, the WBA also bears responsibility for the confusion caused by introducing an interim title, especially with Carroll already in a mandatory position that should have allowed him a direct title opportunity against Roach―and see Roach stripped if he refused to face Carroll. Given Carroll had already waited three years to be ordered to fight for the title, any action by the WBA to prohibit step-aside deals would have been justified.

There’s also ambiguity over who the actual mandatory challenger is, with Otar Eranosyan previously identified as one while Carroll was also acknowledged as a WBA 130 lbs mandatory. The most logical approach would have been for the Roach Jr.-Carroll fight to proceed without allowing Carroll to step aside.

Furthermore, Feargal McCrory was not ranked by any sanctioning bodies before facing Roach, yet managed to enter the top 15 contenders with the WBA a month before his fight, perhaps to justify WBA’s leniency in allowing Roach decision to fight a virtual unknown contender in McCrory at the time.

It remains to be seen whether the winner, potentially the WBA interim champion after the July 12th match between Jono Carroll and Albert Batyrgaziev, will indeed get a chance to fight Lamont Roach Jr or face the “Barroso treatment” instead. Without confirmation that Carroll remains the mandatory challenger or if his bout with Batyrgaziev is a final eliminator², there’s a risk that the interim title could prevent the winner from challenging Roach.

In such a scenario, Otar Eranosyan, the #1 contender in the WBA 130 lbs rankings, would likely face Roach Jr. given his own position as [future] mandatory challenger, highlighting ongoing inconsistencies in the application and enforcement of rules by the sanctioning body, and the deterioration of title opportunities for those deserving of them.

1. A step-aside deal is a monetary agreement offered to mandatory challengers, allowing the defending champion to fight someone else, thereby granting the champion an exception through their sanctioning body ↩︎
2. A final eliminator is a bout between two highly ranked contenders vying for the mandatory challenger position designated by a sanctioning body. The winner of the bout earns the status of mandatory challenger for the sanctioning body ↩︎