BANGKOK, Thailand – Conor Benn received more than the new No. 1 spot in the WBC welterweight ratings this week. At Wednesday’s WBC Convention mandatories meeting, England’s Benn was told he’s first in line to fight the winner of February’s Mario Barrios-Ryan Garcia title fight.
Benn, coming off a triumph over Chris Eubank Jnr, can scout Barrios-Garcia on February 21 in Las Vegas, a match between a champion in Barrios who is coming off back-to-back draws against Abel Ramos and Manny Pacquiao.
Garcia has failed to win three prior title fights after most recently losing a May decision to WBA welterweight champion Rolly Romero at New York’s Times Square.
In news from other divisions at the mandatories session:
Lightweight: Champion Shakur Stevenson received permission to take a 140lbs title fight against WBO champion Teofimo Lopez at Madison Square Garden on January 31. Cuba’s Jadier Herrera will participate in a January 10 title eliminator.
Super-featherweight: Champion O’Shaquie Foster defends his belt Saturday in San Antonio versus featherweight champion Stephen Fulton. Top-ranked contender Mark Magsayo will fight second-ranked Michael Magnesi in a January 31 final eliminator.
Featherweight: As champion Fulton fights to be a three-division champion, unbeaten interim champion Bruce Carrington will meet fourth-ranked Carlos Castro of Phoenix January 31. England’s Nathaniel Collins (No. 3) was also ordered to meet Spain’s Cristobal Lorente (No. 5) in an eliminator.
Junior-featherweight: With undisputed champion Naoya Inoue defending his belt December 27 against Mexico’s David Picasso in Saudi Arabia, WBC President Mauricio Sulaiuman said a victorious Inoue and recent bantamweight champion Junto Nakatani are pegged to fight in May at the Tokyo Dome.
Bantamweight: Takuma Inoue – Naoya’s brother – is the new champion. In coming eliminators, top-ranked Tenshin Nasukawa is being targeted for a bout against former two-division champion Juan Francisco Estrada of Mexico and No. 4 Andrew Cain is ordered to fight No. 6 Alejandro Gonzalez. Sulaiman said “let’s see how this all plays out” without saying who will be the mandatory.
Super-flyweight: Four-division champion Roman “Chocolatito” Gonzalez (No. 2) is “physically unavailable” to fight, leaving No. 4 Ricardo Malajika in an eliminator as champion Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez decides if he wants to pursue becoming an undisputed champion.
Flyweight: Undisputed champion Ricardo Sandoval will take a voluntary defense that was granted Wednesday, as will interim champion Galal Yafai.
Junior-flyweight: Carlos Canizales is now champion-in-recess until he can travel from his native Venezuela while Junior Zarate will fight for the belt in Bangkok Thursday versus Thammanoon Niyamtrong.
Minimumweight: A final eliminator between No. 2 Siyakholwa Kuse and No. 3 Joey Canoy was approved.
