Lawrence Lustig / Naoki Fukuda
On the back of breaking the news that the world title fight between champions Jamie McDonnell and Tomoki Kameda on May 9 in Texas would not be a unification, WBN has obtained a letter from the WBO outlining the situation further.
The organization’s current bantamweight title holder Tomoki Kameda has now received correspondence that confirms he will be stripped of the belt if he faces McDonnell next month.
As WBN first reported in March, the fact that McDonnell is the ‘regular’ WBA champion and not the highest recognised title holder at the weight (which is Juan Carlos Payano), means Kameda is not allowed to put his title on the line as the Briton is not ranked with the WBO.
Below is the letter sent to all parties on Tuesday:
We write to you in response to the various press reports that make mention of a proposed Unification Championship contest with Jamie McDonnell. This matter falls under the purview of the WBO World Championship Committee, as per our WBO Regulations of World Championship Contests. Specifically, the following is within our power and discretion:.
The WBO Regulations of World Championship Contests also authorize the application of our WBO Champion to unify World Championships with the WBA, the IBF and the WBC,?
pursuant to SECTION 7: UNIFICATION BOUTS AND UNIFICATION TOURNAMENTS AS MANDATORY TITLE BOUTS:
In addition to this, Section 15 of said rules (on NONCHAMPIONSHIP FIGHTS or
NON-WBO CHAMPIONSHIP FIGHTS) state that:
Based on the above dispositions, the WBO World Championship Committee will not authorize your proposed bout with Jamie McDonnell as a Unification Contests, as it our position not to recognize the “secondary titlists” of organisms that opt to have more than one champion per division— as is the case with the WBA, which has Juan Carlos Payano as its so-called “Super Champion” in the Bantamweight division and Yonfrez Parejo as its “Interim” titleholder. Simply put, the WBO only recognizes the “highest” titleholder of other sanctioning organisms as legitimate champion for unification purposes (in this case Payano). In addition to this, the WBO World Championship Committee may only sanction contenders to the WBO World Championship title that are rated within the top 15 of the WBO. In this case, McDonnell does not meet the criteria of the WBO Ratings Committee and is not rated.
Finally, please note that should you decide to participate of the aforementioned bout in spite of this warning and without our authorization, this Committee may order you to show cause as to why the WBO Bantamweight Championship of the World should not be declared vacant or, in the alternative, it may declare the title vacant without further hearing you.
Very truly yours,
WBO World Championship Committee
Luis Batista Salas, its Chairman
The next fighters in line to be called upon to battle it out for any vacant strap are Ryo Akaho of Japan and number two rated Pungluang Sor Singyu of Thailand.