by David P. Greisman

Avtandil Khurtsidze had been the mandatory challenger to middleweight titleholder Billy Joe Saunders — at least until the World Boxing Organization decided to replace him and put Canelo Alvarez in that spot instead.

“This young man had been waiting almost seven months at that No. 1 position, which is a farce,” said Andre Rozier, co-trainer to Khurtsidze alongside Gary Stark Sr. “He was ready to fight.”

Rozier called the WBO a “fraudulent sanctioning body” and described the move as “just about criminal.”

Lou DiBella, who promotes Khurtsidze, decided not to appeal, according to Dan Rafael of ESPN.com.

“There’s really not too much we can do except make a lot of noise about it,” Rozier said. “Thank god my parents enabled me to make a lot of noise. So I will.”

However, DiBella did call upon the WBO to once again name Khurtsidze as Saunders’ mandatory challenger if Alvarez doesn’t take the Saunders fight. There have been discussions between Canelo and Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. for a bout that would take place well above the middleweight limit.

“What we want to do is actually find out if Canelo is going to fight Chavez Jr.,” Rozier said. “If he fights Chavez Jr., then we are going full throttle.”

Khurtsidze hasn’t fought since the March 2016 bout that landed him the mandatory spot, when he broke down previously undefeated prospect Antoine Douglas en route to a 10th-round stoppage. That moved the 37-year-old’s record to 32-2-2 with 21 KOs. One of those losses came early in his career. The other came against Hassan N’Dam in 2010. Khurtsidze has won nine straight since.

The inactivity isn’t at all ideal, but Rozier and his stable of middleweights — which also includes Daniel Jacobs, Sergiy Derevyanchenko and Ievgen Khytrov — are able to assist each other.

“We have one of the best rosters in the middleweight division under our tutelage. Gary Stark and myself have four of the best middleweights on the circuit,” Rozier said. “They spar with each other on a consistent basis. That’s really the only thing you can do until you fight —remain sharp and keep them ever-present in the gym so their skills are ready to go.”

Pick up a copy of David’s book, “Fighting Words: The Heart and Heartbreak of Boxing,” at http://bit.ly/fightingwordsamazon or internationally at http://bit.ly/fightingwordsworldwide. Send questions/comments via email at fightingwords1@gmail.com