By Jake Donovan

Contrary to previous reports, Alejandro Sanabria did in fact fight – and win – on Saturday night.

Rumors circulated by local promoter Hector Garcia suggested that Sanabria’s WBC-sanctioned lightweight bout with Balweg Bangoyan was pulled from Saturday’s show in Los Cabos, Mexico. There was concern over Sanabria’s promoter – Promociones del Pueblo – not following the proper procedures to have the fight sanctioned for the title intended to be at stake.

“The company that represents him did not send a request to the WBC to sanction the fight,” Garcia informed Miguel Rivera of Boxingscene.com earlier Saturday. “Every time a title associated with the organization is being used, they must be notified.”

The WBC complained about not being notified of the title bout, which caused Garcia to hit the panic button and claim the bout would be scrapped altogether.

Sanabria apparently never received the memo, as he entered the ring at Gimnasio Auditorio and went on to take a 10-round decision over Bangoyan.

Sanctioning would’ve been huge, especially in light of what took place elsewhere in Mexico on the evening. Leading contender Jorge Linares was in line for a July 7 rematch with Antonio DeMarco, but failed to live up to his end of the bargain as the Venezuelan suffered a second-round stoppage in a massive upset at the hands of local (Cancun) fringe contender Sergio Thompson.

With Linares’ loss, proper sanctioning would’ve guaranteed Sanabria a mandatory title shot against DeMarco perhaps later this summer. A title fight still remains well within his sights, but will have to climb a little more towards that goal.

For now, just fighting was the primary concern. What the fight leads to is something for his handlers to worry about at the negotiating table.

“Hector Garcia is the local promoter (of the show) but we are the promoters,” stated Oswaldo Kuchle of Promociones del Pueblo. “It’s our TV date (Televisa) and we have all sponsorship. So even though Garcia tried to scratch bout, it was impossible. Sanabria won and now is focusing on a world title shot.”

Jake Donovan is the Managing Editor of Boxingscene.com. Follow Jake on Twitter:@JakeNDaBox or submit questions/comments to JakeNDaBox@gmail.com