The WBA’s welcome move to clear up its convoluted world title picture is gathering pace with the order of two purse bids.
No agreement was reached for the mandated bouts between WBA super-featherweight champion Roger Gutierrez and Chris Colbert, and WBA flyweight king Artem Dalakian and Luis Concepción so both purse bids have been scheduled for September 27 via Zoom.
Colbert and Concepción were Interim champions before the WBA dissolved those title belts last month. Both fighters then became mandatory challengers under the WBA’s new initiative. Former WBA Regular 130lbs belt holder Gutierrez was upgraded to full champion when Gervonta Davis gave up the Super belt under pressure from the sanctioning body.
The minimum purse bid for Gutierrez-Colbert is $120,000 and $80,000 for Dalakian-Concepción (with 55%-45% splits in favour of the champions).
The WBA swiftly dispensed with its three-tier title system (Super, Regular and Interim) following the furore regarding the Interim 147lbs title bout between Gabriel Maestre and Mykal Fox in August, where the latter seemed to win clearly on the cards only to lose a hotly debated decision.
Main image: Chris Colbert. Photo: Sean Michael Ham/Premier Boxing Champions.