Keith Thurman’s injury withdrawal was just as painful to junior middleweight title contender Serhii Bohachuk.
Following Thurman’s withdrawal from the WBO title fight due to a Sunday training-camp injury, Sebastian Fundora was declared the replacement fighter to face Tim Tszyu in the revised WBC junior middleweight title bout March 30 main event in Las Vegas.
Bohachuk had been set to face Fundora for the vacant WBC belt that was set to open the pay-per-view portion of the same card. But Thurman’s injury twist, and his subsequent replacement with Fundora, scuttled that bout.
And although WBC president Mauricio Sulaiman told Boxing Scene that his board additionally approved Brian Mendoza (22-3, 16 KOs) to face Bohachuk (23-1, 23 KOs) for the WBC interim 154-pound title, there is no teeth to Sulaiman’s declaration that the winners of those two bouts must fight each other next.
That’s because unbeaten and recently undisputed welterweight champion Terence Crawford in late February filed a petition to become the mandatory opponent for the winner of the March 30 title fight.
Since Tszyu (24-0, 17 KOs) currently stands as the WBO junior middleweight champion and the WBC belt is vacant, the WBO agreement takes precedence.
A WBO official told Boxing Scene that the March 30 winner is obligated to fight Crawford within 120 days of that bout.
There is another wrinkle, of course. The WBO has yet to authorize Tszyu’s new bout against Fundora as a voluntary title defense, despite the fact that a petition to do so has been filed by Tszyu’s Australian promoter.
The WBO’s position is that fellow sanctioning bodies can only list one champion in each weight class. The WBC lists former undisputed champion Jermell Charlo as its “champion in recess” pending this bout for the vacated belt.
A WBO official said his organization expects to rule on Tszyu’s petition within 48 hours.
“We might not sanction it as a title defense, and if we don’t and Tszyu loses, then the title is vacant,” the WBO official said.
Before learning of the WBO’s position, Sulaiman said he sought to do the right thing and keep a WBC title fight on the shaken card.
“We always support special circumstances – it’s boxing, anything can happen,” Sulaiman said. “All of the fighters are in full training. So there’s no concerns about their weight or safety measures.”
Former welterweight champion Thurman was ruled out earlier Monday with an upper-body injury. He saw doctors Monday and was not immediately available to comment on his condition, his publicist told Boxing Scene.
The 6-feet-5½ Fundora (20-1-1, 13 KOs), who possesses a sprawling 80-inch reach, was promoted into the possible unified title bout despite coming off a seventh-round knockout loss to Mendoza in April.
Like Tszyu and Thurman, Fundora fights under the PBC banner.
Bohachuk, promoted by Tom Loeffler, now must wait for his shot at the WBC belt by confronting Mendoza, who was defeated by Tszyu via unanimous decision in October.
The possibility remains that Ukraine’s Bohachuk would land on the coming Crawford card as that winner’s next opponent, creating an even bigger payday than going against the Tszyu-Fundora winner.
Still, instead of being less than two weeks away from a world championship, Bohachuk now finds himself perhaps eight months or more from that opportunity.