The World Boxing Association (WBA) Championships Committee has ordered the start of the negotiations between Daniel Roman, who is the super bantamweight champion of the organization, and Moises Flores, who is the interim champion.
The WBA wants then to face each other in order to eliminate one of the belts and move forward with the title reduction policy.
This resolution is issued in accordance with the WBA Championship Rule 11, which states that a champion must face an official challenger every nine months. Roman won his title on September 3rd, 2017, and his next mandatory defense should take place by June 2018.
For this reason, the Championships Committee duly informed the interested parties, and notified them that they have 30 days to reach an agreement or the fight will be called to a purse bid.
Román won his championship after beating Japan’s Shun Kubo by technical knockout last year and defended his belt for the first time in February against Japan’s Ryo Matsumoto, whom he defeated by unanimous decision.
For his part, Flores won the WBA Interim title at 122 pounds against Colombian Oscar Escandón and defended it successfully on three occasions. The last time he defended his championship was against Guillermo Rigondeaux, who is the former WBA champion, in a bout that was declared a “no contest”.
Flores faced Rigondeaux back in June of 2017. Initially the contest saw Rigondeaux win with a first round knockout. But later the Nevada Stats Athletic Commission ruled that Rigondeaux's knockout punch had come after the bell and changed the verdict.
The WBA then ordered them to fight in a rematch, but Rigondeaux instead moved up by two weight divisions to face WBO 130-pound champion Vasyl Lomachenko in December. After Rigondeaux was stopped in the contest, he was stripped of the WBA's 'super' title at 122-pounds - which left Roman was the sold titleholder.