Confusion has reigned at 160lbs for some time following the WBA’s decision to strip Martin Murray of his interim belt, which was subsequently won by Jarrod Fletcher. The Aussie then gave it up once Gennady Golovkin was elevated to super-champion on the understanding that he will get a shot at the regular vacated by GGG.
Now, that leaves Fletcher and American Danny Jacobs to fight each other in the autumn at a venue to be determined in the US, whilst Golovkin faces ex-super title holder Daniel Geale on July 26 in his first defence of his new status.
Prior to all this, Fletcher had already consented in principle to give up his interim version so that Dmitry Chudinov could battle Patrick Nielson for it in Moscow last month and the Russian duly came out on top to pick up that belt.
So, Chudinov is now the interim champion and will get his shot once the regular title is worked out later in the year.
“As Fletcher v Jacobs is for the regular title, the winner must face Chudinov,” Mendoza told World Boxing News.
On to the 168lb division which is also a head-scratcher as Andre Ward is the ‘super’ champion even though he has hardly fought in the past three years and is no longer in possession of unified belts.
Carl Froch, on the other hand is a two-belt champion, and according to the WBA rules, should conceivably be given ‘super’ title status – whilst Ward drops to ‘regular’ status, although this is NOT the case.
“Froch is the regular champion and does have a mandatory, but the time shall be defined promptly,” said Mendoza, before naming who the challenger will be; “The official contender is Stanyslav Kashtanov,” he added.
Middleweight:
‘Super’ Champion: Gennady Golovkin
‘Regular Champion: Jarrod Fletcher/Danny Jacobs
‘Interim’ Champion: Dmitry Chudinov
Super-middleweight:
‘Super’ Champion: Andre Ward
‘Regular’ Champion: Carl Froch
‘Interim’ Champion: Stanyslav Kashtanov
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