WBC orders Dejan Zlaticanin vs. Emiliano Marsili to fight for interim WBC 135lb title

By Boxing News - 02/25/2016 - Comments

Image: WBC orders Dejan Zlaticanin vs. Emiliano Marsili to fight for interim WBC 135lb titleBy Jeff Aranow: WBC lightweight champion Jorge Linares (40-3, 27 KOs) is currently out of action with a fractured hand. With Linares unable to fight, the World Boxing Council has ordered #1 WBC Dejan Zlaticanin (21-0, 14 KOs) to face unbeaten #2 WBC Emiliano Marsili (32-0-1, 14 KOs) for the WBC interim lightweight title.

The winner of the Zlaticanin-Marsili fight will then face WBC champion Linares as soon as his fractured hand heals up enough for him to return to the ring.

Negotiations have been ordered by the WBC between Zlaticanin and Marsili’s management teams. If the two teams are unable to put together a fight, then a purse bid will take place on March 4.

It’s unclear how long the WBC will wait on Linares to heal up before they give him the Emeritus champion status, which the WBC gives to their injured champions from time to time.

Zlaticanin, 31, has looked very impressive in his last six fights in beating Ivan Redkach, Alex Bone, Ricky Burns, Asan Yuseinov, Petr Petrov and Bahrom Payozov. The wins over Petrov, Burns and Redkach were especially impressive for Zlaticanin because those are top contenders in the 135lb division and highly thought of. In the case of Burns, he’s a former two division world champion who still has a lot left in the tank at 32.

The 39-year-old Italian Marsili has looked very sharp lately in beating Gamaliel Diaz, Gyorgy Mizsei Jr, Benoit Manno, Pasquale Di Silvio and David Kis.

Zlaticanin looks hard to beat fight now. It’s going to be very difficult for Marsili to beat him because he’s fighting at such a high level right now.

Linares won the WBC lightweight crown in 2014 in stopping Javier Prieto in the 4th round. Linares has since stopped the rugged British fighter Kevin Mitchell and Ivan Cano. Linares looked very good in both fights and showed that he’s one of the best fighters in the 135lb division if not the best. The injury that he suffered is just bad luck because things were going so well for him.



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