Errol Spence ordered to defend WBC title in opposition to Keith Thurman

Errol Spence Jr. may defend his unified welterweight championship in opposition to Keith Thurman subsequent after the WBC ordered the obligatory title battle on Wednesday at its conference in Mexico.

Spence, who holds the WBC, WBA and IBF belts at 147 kilos, was in superior talks to battle Terence Crawford, however after negotiations collapsed, he nonetheless wants a challenger for his subsequent protection.

Crawford, who will defend his WBO title in opposition to David Avanesyan on Dec. 10, stated final week that he anticipated Spence to battle Thurman.

Each Spence and Thurman battle for Al Haymon’s Premier Boxing Champions, and organizations usually solely order bouts when a promoter has a deal in place. Nevertheless, Spence has been steadfast that he would by no means give Thurman a shot at his three titles as a result of Thurman confirmed no real interest in combating him years in the past.

Organizations usually order title fights between champions and contenders, however Spence may all the time elect to relinquish the belt, whereas Thurman may select to pursue a distinct battle. The mandates aren’t binding, and the edges nonetheless have to come back to a deal in these cases.

Eimantas Stanionis can also be ready for his WBA title shot, whereas Jaron “Boots” Ennis pushes for his IBF title alternative. However Thurman, a former unified welterweight champion, seems to be subsequent.

Thurman, 33, has been inactive in recent times, however ended a 31-month layoff in February with a unanimous-decision victory over Mario Barrios. Thurman (30-1, 22 KOs) is ESPN’s No. 7 welterweight. His lone defeat got here in 2019, a split-decision loss to Manny Pacquiao.

Spence (28-0, 22 KOs), 32, picked up a 3rd title with a Tenth-round TKO win over Yordenis Ugas in April. He additionally owns title victories over Danny Garcia, Mikey Garcia and Shawn Porter (Thurman additionally defeated Danny Garcia and Porter.)

The WBC ordered a handful of different title fights — and title eliminators — at its annual conference.

The group beforehand stated Deontay Wilder and Andy Ruiz Jr. would meet in an eliminator to find out a compulsory challenger for the heavyweight title held by Tyson Fury.

Devin Haney, the undisputed light-weight champion, is in talks to face Vasiliy Lomachenko subsequent 12 months, and within the meantime, the WBC ordered an eliminator between Shakur Stevenson and Isaac Cruz.

The WBC’s mandates appeared to point a number of different fighters transferring up in weight apart from Stevenson.

At 126 kilos, a rematch between Stephen Fulton and Brandon Figueroa was ordered for the interim featherweight title. Fulton outpointed Figueroa in a 122-pound title unification in one among 2021’s finest motion fights.

At 118 kilos, Nonito Donaire and Jason Moloney have been matched up for the bantamweight title held by Naoya Inoue. Inoue plans to leap to 122 kilos after he fights Paul Butler on Dec. 13 in an undisputed bantamweight championship bout.

Rey Vargas, who’s transferring as much as 130 kilos, is lined as much as meet O’Shaquie Foster for the title vacated by Stevenson in January.

At middleweight, Jermall Charlo, who hasn’t competed since June 2021, was ordered to battle Carlos Adames.

And at tremendous middleweight, the WBC introduced that the extremely anticipated David Benavidez-Caleb Plant battle will determine a compulsory challenger for boxing’s high star, Canelo Alvarez.