By Rick Reeno

BoxingScene.com has learned from several sources that featherweight champion Chris John is going to bumped up to the status of "super champion" by the WBA. I've heard that a ceremony, involving Oscar De La Hoya and WBA president Gilbert Mendoza Jr, is likely to take place prior to Saturday's Victor Ortiz-Marcos Maidana headliner at Staples Center in California.

With John being bumped to "super champion," a move expected for the last few months, "interim-champion" Yuriorkis Gamboa would get elevated to the status of "full champion." The reasoning by the WBA to elevate John is the eleven title defenses that he made since winning the belt in 2003.

I also hear the rematch between John and Rocky Juarez is being discussed for the late fall. The fight was scheduled to take place as the co-feature to Ortiz-Maidana, but John withdrew a few days ago after becoming ill during several training sessions. A physican discovered irregularities in his blood.