The World Boxing Association (WBA) Championships Committee has applied pressure to get a deal finalized for an ordered super bantamweight eliminator bout between Japan’s Tomoki Kameda and Uzbekistan’s Murodjon Akhmadaliev.
The sanctioning body sent the official communication this past Friday, August 18, to both teams granting them 30 days to negotiate the bout between the two top-ranked fighters.
Kameda is ranked No. 1, while former world champion Akhmadaliev is ranked No. 2 at 122-pounds. The winner of the bout will be the official challenger for the world title, which is currently held by Marlon Tapales.
Tapales, who also holds the IBF title, is angling for a year-end unification with newly crowned WBC, WBO champion Naoya Inoue of Japan.
Should Kameda and Akhmadaliev fail to reach an agreement within the provided time limit or should either boxer refuse to sign for the fight, the WBA may call for a purse bid with a 50-50 monetary split for the boxers.
Kameda (40-3, 22 KOs), a former bantamweight world champion, has won four bouts in a row since suffering a decision loss to WBC super bantamweight world champion Rey Vargas in July of 2019.
Akhmadaliev (11-1, 8 KOs) suffered his first career defeat back in April, when he dropped a twelve round split decision to Tapales, who walked away with the WBA, IBF straps.