The WBC ordered the best featherweight fight that can be made in boxing during its annual convention Wednesday in Kiev, Ukraine.
The Mexico City-based sanctioning organization announced that its featherweight champion, Gary Russell Jr., must make a mandatory defense of his title against fellow champion Leo Santa Cruz. Russell-Santa Cruz is one of the fights Premier Boxing Champions’ Al Haymon wants to make at some point in 2019, but the WBC’s order could expediate scheduling that 126-pound showdown and make it the next fight for each champion.
Russell (29-1, 17 KOs) made a mandatory defense of his 126-pound championship in his last bout. The southpaw from Capitol Heights, Maryland, out-boxed previously undefeated Joseph Diaz Jr. (27-1, 14 KOs) in that 12-rounder May 19 at MGM National Harbor in Oxon Hill, Maryland.
https://www.boxingscene.com/gary-russell-vs-leo-santa-cruz-ordered-by-wbc--132402
The Mexico City-based sanctioning organization announced that its featherweight champion, Gary Russell Jr., must make a mandatory defense of his title against fellow champion Leo Santa Cruz. Russell-Santa Cruz is one of the fights Premier Boxing Champions’ Al Haymon wants to make at some point in 2019, but the WBC’s order could expediate scheduling that 126-pound showdown and make it the next fight for each champion.
Russell (29-1, 17 KOs) made a mandatory defense of his 126-pound championship in his last bout. The southpaw from Capitol Heights, Maryland, out-boxed previously undefeated Joseph Diaz Jr. (27-1, 14 KOs) in that 12-rounder May 19 at MGM National Harbor in Oxon Hill, Maryland.
https://www.boxingscene.com/gary-russell-vs-leo-santa-cruz-ordered-by-wbc--132402
