The WBC has set their mandates for all 18 weight divisions, notably only the men, on November 9th during their yearly conference. This year’s convention was held in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, and possessed the regular order of seminars, mandates and other events and activities that the WBC held frm Nvember 12th to November 17th, including guest appearances by renowned retired or active professional boxers or other prominent individuals in the industry.
In the heavyweight division, no mandates were issued as Tyson Fury and Oleksandr Usyk are scheduled to fight for undisputed on February 17th. The WBC plans to order Anthony Joshua and Deontay Wilder to face each other after the undisputed heavyweight fight.
In the WBC-created bridgerweight division, WBC cruiserweight champion-in-recess Badou Jack and bridgerweight champion Lukasz Rozanski have been ordered to fight. Another fight ordered in this division is between Kevin Lerena and Senad Genashi for the WBC interim bridgerweight title, which Lerena won on November 25th.
In the cruiserweight division, recently-crowned Noel Gevor Mikaelyan will face the winner of Ryan Rozicki–Olandewaju Durodola, set for December 2nd.
No mandates were issued for the light-heavyweight division due to unified champion Artur Beterbiev defending his titles, including the WBC light-heavyweight title, against Callum Smith on January 13th.
In the super middleweight division, Canelo Alvarez was ordered to face the winner between David Benavidez and Demetrius Andrade. Benavidez, who won by technical knockout on November 25th, is now the mandatory challenger to Alvarez.
In regards to the middleweight division, the WBC appears to be setting up a tournament of sorts. While WBC champion Jermall Charlo recently completed a catchweight bout on November 25th against Jose Benavidez Jr. where he won by unanimous decision, he was allowed to fight at a higher weight without defending his WBC title. With Carlos Adames still the holder of the WBC interim middleweight title, the WBC decided to hold a tournament to decide the next mandatory challenger, which is a designation which could have easily been afforded to Adames given his activity and his current interim position.
In the super welterweight division, Serhii Bohachuk and Sebastian Fundora will fight for the vacant WBC interim title, while Charles Conwell will face the “highest available challenger” for the mandatory position.
At welterweight, the WBC decided to hold a tournament to decide the mandatory challenger, with Terence Crawford as the champion and Mario Barrios as the interim champion.
The super lightweight division has its mandatory challenger, Sandor Martin, set to face the winner of WBC champion Regis Prograis and unified lightweight champion Devin Haney who are set to fight on December 9th.
In the lightweight division, Shakur Stevenson became the WBC lightweight champion, and the WBC will await Devin Haney’s fight with Regis Prograis before making a decision.
At super featherweight, WBC champion O’Shaquie Foster was ordered to fight the winner between Muhammadkhuja Yaqubov and Pablo Vicente who would fight for the mandatory challenger position. Yaqubov won the match on November 25th and is now the WBC mandatory challenger at 130 lbs.
The mandatory challenger at featherweight was set to be decided through the winner of the fight between Nick Ball and Isaac Dogboe. As Ball won the bout by unanimous decision on November 18th, he is now the mandatory challenger and therefore set to face WBC featherweight champion Rey Vargas.
The WBC has set Luis Nery as the mandatory challenger in the super bantamweight division prior to the convention, thus the winner of the undisputed bout between Naoya Inoue and Marlon Tapales, set to occur on December 26th, will need to face Nery next year following the conclusion of their match.
At bantamweight, WBC champion Alexandre Santiago is allowed to make a voluntary defense before facing mandatory challenger Vincent Astrolabio.
The super flyweight division has and will apparently not have a mandatory. Its champion, Juan Francisco Estrada, is expected to face WBA champion Kazuto Ioka in a unification match, while Pedro Guevara and Carlos Cuadras will reportedly fight for the interim title. It is yet unknown why the WBC did not decide on making the winner between Guevara and Cuadras a mandatory challenger, as the two positions are virtually similar and bear roughly the same amount of importance.
At flyweight, David Jimenez will fight against the “highest available contender” to decide the next mandatory challenger in the division. The division’s current champion, Julio Cesar Martinez, is reportedly fighting on December 16th, yet an opponent has yet to be announced.
The WBC plans to hold a ‘tournament’ in the junior flyweight division to decide the mandatory challenger. WBC champion Kenshiro Teraji now holds the title and recently already completed a mandatory title defense by defeating Hekkie Budler in September in a match that the WBC mandated last year.
In the lowest of the men’s division, minimumweight/strawweight, Luis Castillo and Alex Winwood are set to fight in a “final eliminator” to decide the mandatory challenger to face champion Yudai Shigeoka.
