Early in the year, Jorge Linares reached an agreement to fight Dejan Zlaticanin to comply with his mandatory title defense, but unfortunately Linares sustained an injury to his right hand. The WBC voted in favor of placing Linares as Champion in Recess and accepted the request by promoter DiBella Entertainment to sanction No. 1 ranked Zlaticanin vs No. 2 ranked Emiliano Marsili for the WBC lightweight championship.
The fight was scheduled for April, then eventually was moved to June 11 and Marsili had to pull out of the fight when he became ill. The WBC accepted to proceed with the title fight with the highest available contender, No. 5 ranked Franklin Mamani.
Zlaticanin won the lightweight championship with an impressive third-round knockout victory this past Saturday, becoming the first world champion from Montenegro.
The WBC Board of governors received a special request by Golden Boy Promotions and Matchroom Sport, and voted in favor of granting Linares a unification fight vs. WBA champion Anthony Crolla in a mega event in the U.K. in which the highly prestigious Diamond Belt will be at stake. The winner of Linares vs. Crolla is committed to fight Zlaticanin immediately in his next fight.
The WBC is committed to support and mediate to make the best fights possible, whenever possible, and the lightweight division will certainly have two sensational events with twohese 2 matches in 2016.
