The World Boxing Council and World Boxing Association no longer see eye-to-eye following a disagreement over the super-lightweight mandatory.
WBC President Mauricio Sulaiman admitted that his WBA counterpart broke ranks after all four sanctioning bodies reached an agreement last year.
Sulaiman explained that Josh Taylor was supposed to face the WBC mandatory Jose Zepeda next. However, Mendoza moved to strip Taylor when the Scot refused to meet Alberto Puello.
MANDATORY
“The issue here is we had an agreement. We met in Puerto Rico, the four presidents, Paco Valcarcel, Daryl Peoples, Gilberto Mendoza, and myself, and we had an agreement,” Sulaiman told Sky Sports.
“We sat down, and we discussed that division. I was clear that [Jack] Catterall, as WBO mandatory, was next. Zepeda, as WBC mandatory, was next, and then the IBF mandatory was next.
“For some strange reason, the WBA simply went out and ordered another fight. Now they have taken away the title from Josh Taylor, or Josh relinquished.
“Whichever may be, but it’s very unfortunate.
“We want to keep the mandatory unified champions. We want to have mandatory contenders that are of the highest level, but we will see what happens next.”
Back in October, the WBC had explained the meeting that took place. They said: “The President of the WBO, Francisco Valcarcel, the IBF Daryl Peoples, the WBA, Gilberto Mendoza Jr., and the WBC, Mauricio Sulaimán, celebrated a meeting in Puerto Rico.
“The meeting was very productive. They discussed a possible future agreement in search of a standardized process for the unification of world titles.
“The boxing leaders identified several areas in which they agree. Others in which they will continue to work diligently for the benefit of the sport.
Majo Gomez
World Boxing Association and World Boxing Council
“As independent sanctioning bodies, each will still have its autonomy, but together they will continue to work on the same path to grow and strengthen the positive image of boxing worldwide.
“Furthermore, the unified objective of the four organizations is to have a fair, safer, stronger, and healthier sport.”
This is obviously no longer the case and could jeopardize future cohesion between the organizations. Taylor now possesses three of the four belts he won against Jose Ramirez but lost against Jack Catterall.
It’s not the first time Sulaiman and Mendoza fell out, either.
The views expressed in this article are the opinions of Phil Jay.
WBN Editor Phil has over ten years of boxing news experience. Follow WBN us on Twitter @WorldBoxingNews.