Haney vs Abdullaev was originally a final eliminator to determine Lomachenko's mandatory challenger. It wasn't upgraded to an interim title fight until Suleiman had talks with Top Rank and Lomachenko...after it became obvious that they weren't planning to face the winner any time soon.
The WBC announced Wednesday that it has upgraded the fight between Devin Haney and Zaur Abdullaev on Sept. 13 (DAZN) at New York's Madison Square Garden from a lightweight title eliminator to a vacant interim title bout. “The WBC received a request to accept this fight to be contested for the WBC interim championship and consistent with a conversation with Top Rank and our proud champion Vasiliy Lomachenko, the WBC board of governors has approved the interim championship in this division,” the WBC said in a statement.” The Haney-Abdullaev winner likely would not have gotten the next shot at Lomachenko, who won the vacant WBC title by decision over Luke Campbell on Saturday to add to his two other belts and is likely headed to an undisputed title fight with the winner of the December fight between titlist Richard Commey and Teofimo Lopez Jr.
Tweet
Comment