Regarding the WBO super lightweight title Chris Algieri was stripped of following his decision to challenge Manny Pacquiao for the welterweight version, WBO General Secretary Jose Izquierdo confirmed a fight between undefeated former lightweight title holder Terence Crawford and Puerto Rican Thomas Dulorme.
Speculation had been rife that Ruslan Provodnikov and Lucas Matthysse may fight for the 140lb belt on April 18 when they collide in what looks on paper to be a war, although Izquierdo categorically dismissed the rumours.
“The WBO title will not be on the line when Provodnikov faces Matthysse on April 18th,” Izquierdo confirmed to World Boxing News.
“There was no official request that I know of. In any case, Chris Algieri is ranked higher than them.
“Also, it must be noted that it is customary for the WBO to rank champions moving up in weight in the number one slot in the higher division. So in the case of Terence Crawford we considered all scenarios in the division and we have decided to sanction a fight with Thomas Dulorme.
“The winner must then face Chris Algieri,” he added.
In the super-featherweight division, and following Rances Barthelemy’s decision to vacate the IBF belt, former IBO champion Jose Pedraza is in discussions to face-off against Australian ex-featherweight king Billy Dib, according to IBF Chairman Lindsey Tucker.
“Rances Barthelemy informed us that he intended to vacate the super-featherweight title on February 10th,” Tucker told WBN.
“Both number three-ranked Romain Jacob and fourth placed Francisco Vargas already had fights scheduled and are unavailable, so next in line Billy Dib agreed to fight Jose Pedraza for the vacant title. They now have 30 days from February 10, 2015 to negotiate. If they still can’t agree, we will call for a purse bid.”
