Steps were immediately taken to fill the void left behind by Amanda Serrano.

The WBC did not waste any time to assign the next two challengers for its freshly available featherweight title. Australia’s Skye Nicolson and Denmark’s Sarah Mahfoud were ordered to fight for the vacant belt, the sanctioning body confirmed Tuesday.

A deadline of January 12 is in place for the two sides to reach terms for a fight that will determine the next WBC featherweight titlist. The belt became available when still unified and lineal featherweight champion Amanda Serrano (46-2-1, 30KOs) severed ties with the Mexico City-based organization over its refusal to sanction 12 three-minute rounds.

Nicolson (9-0, 1KO) holds the interim WBC featherweight title fight and fights for Matchroom Boxing and manager Paul Ready. ­­ Mahfoud—a former IBF title claimant—is the current recognized full IBF belt and who is with Bettina Palle’s Team Palle. They are the two highest ranked available contenders for the newly available belt.

The ordered contest comes less than two weeks after Nicolson’s most recent victory, a ninth-round stoppage of Lucy Wildheart. The November 25 interim title fight took place in Dublin and saw Nicolson—a 2020 Olympic quarterfinalist for Australia—pick up her first career stoppage victory.

Nicolson previously won the interim title in a ten-round, unanimous decision over Argentina’s Sabrina Maribel Perez on September 15 in Tijuana, Mexico. She earned her place as the WBC mandatory challenger to Serrano, who on Monday broke her undisputed featherweight championship.  

Mahfoud (14-1, 3KOs) has won three in a row since a ten-round points victory in their WBC, IBF and WBO unification bout versus Serrano last September 24 in Manchester, England. Mahfoud held the IBF title headed into that night. All three wins have taken place in her native Denmark, where she is still due to face unbeaten Michela Braga on January 13.

Jake Donovan is a senior writer for BoxingScene.com. X (formerly Twitter): @JakeNDaBox