The twice rescheduled Hamzah Sheeraz-Diego Pacheco purse bid was canceled outright, WBO officials confirmed Friday.
WBO president Gustavo Olivieri alerted BoxingScene and other outlets that the session “has been terminated,” hours before the hearing was scheduled to be conducted from sanctioning body headquarters in San Juan, Puerto Rico.
“Further official communication will be issued in due course,” Olivieri said of the ordered super middleweight title fight.
No other details were provided regarding this matchup. It remains unclear if Friday’s update means the fight will move forward and an announcement is forthcoming, or if either side withdrew and a newly ordered title fight is forthcoming.
Messages left seeking clarification from representatives on both sides as well as WBO officials were not immediately returned as this goes to publication.
The development comes shortly after the WBC withdrew its earlier order for its own vacant title fight between England’s Sheeraz, 22-0-1 (18 KOs), and WBC interim titlist Christian Mbilli. A purse bid hearing was canceled outright as the WBC Board of Governors elected to instead upgrade Mbilli to full titleholder.
Sheeraz-Mbilli was ordered by the WBC in late November, roughly three weeks before the WBO summoned Sheeraz to enter talks with Pacheco, 25-0 (18 KOs), for its own 168lbs title fight.
All signs pointed to Sheeraz-Pacheco becoming the matchup that would make its way to the ring. It was even teased to land on a Riyadh Season event – unsurprising, given that the very talented Sheeraz is a favorite of series financier and boxing powerbroker Turki Alalshikh.
No such plans are yet in place to stage another show before the end of this year’s Riyadh Season in March, but that doesn’t mean another won’t take place by that point.
Meanwhile, Sheeraz seemingly invested his resources into this fight among the three that were presented to him as a top-rated contender. He was also in line to next face Osleys Iglesias, 14-0 (13 KOs), for the vacant IBF 168lbs title but declined the sanctioning body’s invitation to enter negotiations since he was already in talks with Mbilli and Pacheco.
All three sanctioning bodies are tasked with filling a void in the wake of Terence Crawford’s exit from the sport.
Crawford dethroned Saul “Canelo” Alvarez for the undisputed 168lbs championship last September 13 but never defended the crown prior to his announced retirement in December. He was already relieved of the WBC title prior to that point, for failure to pay his previously agreed-upon sanctioning fee, and subsequently vacated the WBA, IBF and WBO belts upon his retirement.
Jose Armando Resendiz, 14-2 (11 KOs), was upgraded from interim to full WBA titlist as a result, the reason a vacant title fight was not ordered by that organization.
The call for Sheeraz-Pacheco came in mid-December, shortly after Pacheco’s unanimous decision win over Kevin Lele Sadjo. Pacheco survived his first career knockdown to prevail and maintain his unblemished record, even if more questions than answers were raised from his performance.
Sheeraz entered the super middleweight title picture after his successful divisional debut.
The unbeaten contender dismantled former title challenger Edgar Berlanga inside of five rounds last July 12 in Queens, New York – not far from Berlanga’s Brooklyn home base. Sheeraz’s explosive performance was right on time, remove the bad taste left from his disappointing draw with WBC 160lbs titlist Carlos Adames earlier in the year.
