It’s been less than a week since Keyshawn Davis was forced to vacate his WBO lightweight title after coming in overweight for his cancelled June 7th against Edwin De Los Santos, and the WBO has quickly decided to order two of its top lightweight contenders to fight for the now-vacant title; British contender Sam Noakes and American contender Abdullah Mason. If negotiations go well, or if purse bids need to be initiated if not, the fight will see a new WBO champion emerge in the 135 lbs division; the second of this year.

Keyshawn Davis (13-0, 9 KO’s) will likely be moving up to super lightweight (140 lbs) following the debacle of the past weekend where he not only lost his title on the scales, but further stirred up controversy through a lockerroom altercation with former opponent Nahir Albright (17-2, 7 KO’s).

Davis previously won the title after defeating then-incumbent champion Denys Berinchyk (19-1, 9 KO’s), defeating the Ukrainian who was defending the WBO title for the first time. Both Davis and Berinchyk failed to make a single successful title defense during their short tenures as world champions.

With Sam Noakes (19-0, 17 KO’s) and Abdullah Mason (17-0, 15 KO’s) respectively occupying the #1 and #2 positions on the WBO’s lightweight (135 lbs) rankings, the organization has quickly gone on to ensure the WBO title won’t remain vacant for long by pitting its two best contenders against each other.

According to WBO president Gustavo Olivieri, the two parties have 20 days―from June 12th to July 2nd―to reach an agreement before a purse bid ceremony commences; thereby leaving it open to be bid upon by both fighters’ promotions, and outside promotions.