Johnson-Heiland WBC Eliminator Eyed By Gary Shaw

By Steve Kim

Promoter Gary Shaw is moving on from the disappointment of his man, Tureano Johnson, not getting a crack at WBA/IBO middleweight champion, Gennady Golovkin, on May 16th. That assignment ended up going to Willie Monroe Jr. Now, Shaw is proposing a scenario that will lead to his client possibly fighting for a middleweight belt in the near future.

Shaw told BoxingScene.com - "Look, Tureano's in a great position. He's number two (in the WBC) and (Jorge Sebastian) Heiland has to fight. Maybe they'll mandate Tureano and Heiland to fight to be the mandatory because right now, after Miguel Cotto's next fight, he's gotta fight 'Triple G' or he'll be stripped."

Heiland is the top-ranked contender by the WBC, a belt that is currently held by Cotto. The Puerto Rican star hasn't announced his next move but it is believed that he will be returning to the ring on June 6th. But looming is Golovkin who is the WBC interim titlist. The organization has made it clear that Golovkin will be Cotto's mandatory challenger after his next fight.

Of course, Cotto, could just merely vacate the belt and go onto other safer endeavors.

"So if he's stripped, 'Triple G' is going to have to either fight Hieland or Tureano as the mandatory," said Shaw, who said that he will bring this up to WBC president, Mauricio Sulaiman.

Steve Kim is the news editor for BoxingScene.com.