The WBA isn’t the only sanctioning body sending out orders today, as the WBO has put forth decrees regarding their super middleweight and middleweight titles.
With 168-pound beltholder Hamzah Sheeraz ditching his hardware in the face of a looming showdown with former middleweight champion Janibek Alimkhanuly (17-0, 12 KO) and no. 2 Diego Pacheco busying himself with further marination against Darius Fulghum, “Qazaq Style” has 15 days to negotiate with no. 3 Jacob Bank (20-0, 11 KO) for the vacant belt instead. No complaints here; Bank probably should have gotten a shot already, as he held a WBO trinket for a good while and sports a knockout win over William Scull, a knockout of
Paulinus Ndjolonimu, and a shutout UD over Pawel Augustynik this year alone.
Eight pounds south, newly upgraded champ Denzel Bentley (22-3-1, 18 KO) and mandatory challenger Yoenli Hernandez (11-0, 9 KO) are headed to a purse bid next week. Bentley is 4-0 with three finishes since an upset loss to Nathan Heaney, the biggest and most recent a seventh-round stoppage of Endry Saavedra for a subsequently upgraded interim title in April. Hernandez, looking to follow in the footsteps of countryman Osleys Iglesias, beat Francisco Veron last month in a solid win that did demonstrate some potential vulnerability that a puncher of Bentley’s caliber could exploit.
Two good fights if they go through. Here’s hoping.
