The WBC still hasn’t sanctioned Chavez-Rubio bout: Is Sulaiman having second thoughts?

By Boxing News - 12/30/2011 - Comments

Image: The WBC still hasn't sanctioned Chavez-Rubio bout: Is Sulaiman having second thoughts?By Eric Thomas: The World Boxing Council still hasn’t officially sanctioned the already scheduled HBO fight between WBC middleweight champion Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. vs. Marco Antonio Rubio on February 4th. The WBC originally said that Chavez Jr. would have to fight Martinez next but then Sulaiman came out and said that Chavez Jr. has asked to take an optional defense against Rubio.

At that point, Sulaiman gave him the permission he wanted to take that fight. Martinez has since blown his top about it, saying he never agreed to allow Chavez Jr. to take the fight and that he should be next. The noise that Martinez has been making may have gotten through to Sulaiman, who sent out an e-mail earlier today, saying that the WBC hadn’t received a written petition for the Chavez-Rubio fight to be sanctioned.

The WBC is now waiting on the petition from Chavez’s promoter Bob Arum or one of the other top executives at Top Rank. Arum is said to be on vacation right now, so this may have to wait. It’s unclear whether this is a slam dunk for Arum once he gets back from his vacation and submits the petition. Since the WBC told Martinez he was to be next, it shouldn’t really matter whether the wBC received a petition or not. The answer should be no to a Chavez-Rubio fight until Chavez Jr. has met his requirement of facing Martinez. According to RingTv, Arum will will conduct a press conference on this matter on January 3rd. This should be interesting to hear Arum explain it from his side.

Martinez will fight Matthew Macklin on March 17th if he can’t get the Chavez Jr. fight. He’s still hoping the wBC side with him on the matter but he’s got the Macklin fight ready just in case they don’t.



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