WBC president Mauricio Sulaiman has confirmed whether David Benavidez, who faces unified cruiserweight champion Gilberto Ramirez in May, will keep hold of his world title at 175lbs.
The sanctioning body came under heavy criticism after it was announced that Shakur Stevenson would no longer be in possession of his WBC lightweight title.
This news emerged shortly after the American’s dominant points victory over Teofimo Lopez last month, which saw him claim the WBO strap at 140lbs.
Prior to moving up in weight, Stevenson had outlined the possibility of him bouncing back down to 135lbs, where he expected to maintain his world championship status after defeating Lopez.
Sulaiman, however, has since explained that the 28-year-old’s management team never submitted a formal request in writing, causing Stevenson to lose his WBC title in the aftermath.
If such a request was accepted, then Stevenson would have been expected to pay $120,000 to the WBC, which is less than the 3% sanctioning fee they require for world title fights.
But even so, many have argued that this rule is unfair on the champions, who must still pay a considerable fee when they are involved in a non-WBC title fight.
Yet despite this backlash, WBC light-heavyweight champion Benavidez has nonetheless submitted a request of such nature to Sulaiman, allowing him to retain his green and gold belt while challenging for Ramirez’s WBO and WBA titles later this year.
Speaking with Chris Mannix, Sulaiman confirmed this to be the case.
“If you want to keep your [WBC] title, there are specific rules, and these rules have been in place for decades.
“Benavidez is fighting in May, as WBC light-heavyweight champion, and he’s fighting [at] cruiserweight for another organisation.
“He made the petition in [writing, to keep his WBC title], and it’s the exact same case that is the way it’s done by the WBC rules.”
With Benavidez abiding by the rules, it therefore seems that the WBC is unlikely to change their directive any time soon, despite high-profile fighters such as Stevenson and Terence Crawford taking a firm stance against them.
As for Benavidez, he has made it clear that his intention is to drop back down in weight to face Dmitry Bivol and Artur Beterbiev. His WBC belt will be a key factor in negotiating those match-ups.
