WBC convention highlights: Jaime Munguia, Katie Taylor, David Benavidez updates headline flurry of news

The stakes have been raised for Jaime Munguia’s return on Saturday in Tijuana, Mexico.

Representatives for the World Boxing Council (WBC) confirmed Wednesday at their 62nd annual convention that No. 2 super middleweight contender, Munguia, will be ordered to face the No. 1 contender, France’s Christian Mbill, for the WBC interim championship, should Munguia beat Bruno Surace on Saturday.

Uncrowned will have round-by-round coverage of Munguia vs. Surace.

The winner of a potential Munguia vs. Mbilli fight would be the eventual mandatory challenger for Saul “Canelo” Alvarez’s WBC super middleweight belt.

Munguia (44-1, 35 KOs) unsuccessfully challenged Alvarez in May for the undisputed title, extending him the 12-round distance. He then returned with an eighth-round stoppage of Erik Bazinyan in September.

Mbilli (28-0, 23 KOs) defeated Sergiy Derevyanchenko in August in Canada and is rated as the No. 1 challenger by the WBC and the WBA.

Both fighters are promoted by Bob Arum’s Top Rank, so theoretically the fight shouldn’t be difficult to make.

Moving over to the light heavyweight division, the WBC ratified that the winner of February’s David Benavidez vs. David Morrell contest will be the sanctioning bodies’ mandatory challenger for the winner of the Feb. 22 undisputed championship rematch between Artur Beterbiev and Dmitry Bivol.

Benavidez (29-0, 24 KOs) and Morrell (11-0, 9 KOs) both moved up from super middleweight after failing to land a fight with boxing’s biggest star, Alvarez. Benavidez won a decision over Oleksandr Gvozdyk in his light heavyweight debut in June, while Morrell outpointed Radivoje Kalajdzic in his first bout at 175 pounds in August.

In other news, legendary four-division champion Roman “Chocolatito” Gonzalez (52-4, 42 KOs) was ordered to battle Australia’s former champ Andrew Moloney (26-4, 16 KOs) in a final eliminator to determine the next mandatory challenger for WBC super flyweight king Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez.

Alberto Puello (23-0, 10 KOs) is also set to defend his WBC super lightweight strap against mandatory challenger Sandor Martin (42-3, 15 KOs) on March 1, presumably on the Gervonta Davis vs. Lamont Roach undercard.

Other notes from the convention:

• WBC interim flyweight champion Galal Yafai has been ordered to face No. 1-ranked contender Francisco “Chihuas” Rodriguez in a final eliminator for WBC champion Kenshiro Teraji. Yafai stopped Sunny Edwards in the sixth round in November in a shockingly one-sided contest.

• Eddie Hearn said undisputed super lightweight women’s champion Katie Taylor could face Amanda Serrano in a trilogy contest in 2025, possibly at Croke Park in Ireland. If not, a Taylor vs. Chantelle Cameron trilogy will be in play.

• WBC ordered super featherweight champion Alycia Baumgardner to rematch Delfine Persoon. Baumgardner and Persoon fought to a no contest in September due to a Persoon cut caused by an accidental clash of heads.

• WBC featherweight titleholder Skye Nicolson is in advanced talks for a homecoming return fight in Australia, which could take place on George Kambosos’ undercard. The priority is a unification with Nina Meinke, but if that cannot be made, then Nicolson will defend against her mandatory, Tiara Brown.

• Noel Mikaelyan will become the WBC cruiserweight champion in recess due to promotional issues he has with Don King. Badou Jack has been reinstated as full WBC cruiserweight champion and ordered to defend against Ryan Rozicki next.

• British super lightweight Dalton Smith, who is expected to face Walid Ouizza for the European belt next, asked to be mandatory for the Martin vs. Puello winner. Smith’s request was not immediately granted, but he is currently ranked No. 2 in the WBC and will likely be the No. 1 contender following Martin vs. Puello.

• Top Rank wants to explore making a unification fight between WBC champion O’Shaquie Foster and WBO champion Emanuel Navarrete. Navarrete stopped Oscar Valdez in the sixth round on Saturday. Foster has been granted a voluntary defense next.

• Sean Gibbons, on behalf of Mark Magsayo, asked for a final eliminator between Magsayo and Eduardo “Rocky” Hernandez. Magsayo vs. Hernandez will be ordered if both boxers win their next fights. Uncrowned has learned that Hernandez will return to the ring Feb. 28 on a Matchroom Boxing show in Mexico, possibly against Edward Vazquez.

• Claressa Shields vs. Danielle Perkins will happen in February for Shields’ WBC heavyweight title.