Ramirez-Alvarez, Salamov-Vlasov Title Eliminators Ordered By WBO

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A final four has been established to fill the light heavyweight void left behind by Saul 'Canelo' Alvarez.

Less than 12 hours after BS.com reported the confusion surrounding the World Boxing Organization (WBO) light heavyweight title, the Puerto Rico-based sanctioning body has ordered a pair of elimination contests. Representatives for the top four contenders—Gilberto Ramirez, Umar Salamov, Maksim Vlasov and Eleider Alvarez—were contacted by the WBO and required to respond within 24 hours whether the boxers are ready to participate in the assigned elimination contests.

Mexico's Ramirez (40-0, 26KOs) has been ordered to face Eleider Alvarez (25-1, 13KOs), a Colombia-born boxer based out of Canada in a pairing of former titlists. On the other side of the bracket is a final eliminator between Umar Salamov (25-1, 19KOs)—a Russian knockout who now lives and trains in Las Vegas—and Russian-born and bred Maksim Vlasov (45-3, 26KOs).

Ramirez and Alvarez are both promoted by Top Rank, although the WBO letter was sent to Ramirez's manager, David Suh in light of the boxer's estranged relationship with the Las Vegas-based promotional outfit which has left the super middleweight titlist out of the ring since last April. Top Rank was the contact of choice for Alvarez, who is coming off of a highlight reel knockout of Michael Seals last Saturday live on ESPN from Verona, New York.

Alvarez's win came one week after another ESPN-televised light heavyweight affair, where Joe Smith scored an upset 10-round win over Jesse Hart, who was previously ranked #3 by the sanctioning body and—with a win—would have been in prime position to challenge for the vacant title. The loss sent the former two-time title challenger out of the top five, with Smith entering the mix at #5—just far enough out of reach to command a title shot, despite false industry whispers that a straight away fight with Alvarez would be for the vacant title.

Tuesday's news keeps Alvarez very much in the mix to regain the title he claimed in an August 2018 knockout win over Sergey Kovalev, only to drop a 12-round decision to the Russian boxer in their rematch last February.

Far less problematic is the pairing of Salamov and Vlasov. In a perfect world, the two would fight Ramirez and Alvarez, respectively, as to not provide headaches for their shared manager, Oleg Bogdanov. Of course, it also makes it that much easier to get both parties on board.

“They both want a WBO title fight,” Oleg Bogdanov, manager for both Salamov and Vlasov confirmed to BS.com. “We are just waiting on a decision from the WBO.”

Bogdanov was contacted directly by the WBO on behalf of Vlasov, while Salamov is officially represented by promoter and former contender Dmitriy Salita in the eyes of the WBO.

Salamov—who is now based in the greater Las Vegas area—has won five straight since his lone career loss more than two years, with his last four fight starts coming with a WBO regional title at stake.

Vlasov—a 33-year old who hails from Samara, Russia—is riding a three-fight win streak, all at light heavyweight following a 12-round loss to Krzysztof Glowacki in an October 2018 interim WBO cruiserweight title fight. The bout was the last of a 13-fight stretch at the weight, all following a January 2015 points loss to Ramirez when both were still campaigning at super middleweight.

The WBO was vacated by Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez (no relation to Eleider) late last year, less than two months after his 11th round knockout of Sergey Kovalev to become a three-division titlist and also capturing 2019 Fighter of the Year honors in the process. The knockout win ended Kovalev’s third title reign–and functionally, Alvarez's as well given his decision to abandon his title in favor of a likely return to the super middleweight division.

Should all parties accept the WBO invitation within the allotted 24-hour time frame, they will then have another fifteen (15) days to reach terms to avoid a purse bid hearing. Both bouts carry a minimum purse bid offering of $300,000, with the session open to all WBO-registered promoters.

Jake Donovan is a senior writer for Boxing Scene. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox

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Vlasov-Salamov Title Eliminator On Hold While Awaiting Travel Visa Renewal

Hours before Joe Smith Jr. punched his way toward a light heavyweight title shot, potential future opponent Maksim Vlasov was forced to go to drastic measure to remain active.

The former title challenger was reduced to accepting an exhibition bout for his latest ring appearance, which came over the weekend in Kazan, roughly five hours from his hometown of Samara, Russia. Vlasov (45-3, 26KOs) won what amounted to a 10-round decision over countryman Sergei Ekimov this past Saturday, in a fight that took place outside of the light heavyweight limit and without official sanctioning.

Vlasov was forced to fight under such circumstances as he awaits word on a long-ago ordered title eliminator versus Umar Salamov (25-1, 19KOs), with the winner due to face Long Island, New York’s Smith (26-3, 21KOs) for the vacant World Boxing Organization (WBO) light heavyweight title.

“[Vlasov] won in a so-called exhibition fight,” Oleg Bogdanov, Vlasov’s manager noted to BS.com. “It was without judges. You know it is not possible to him or to Umar fight in official fights before their elimination fight will take place.”

Original plans called for Vlasov and Salamov to meet in the chief support to Smith’s rescheduled bout versus Canada’s Eleider Alvarez this past Saturday in Las Vegas.

Smith and Alvarez were previously due to collide in July, only for the bout to be postponed when Alvarez suffered an injury thus forcing a five-week delay. Smith was ready, stopping the former 175-pound titlist in nine one-sided rounds to complete their side of the WBO four-man light heavyweight tournament bracket.

Both bouts were ordered earlier in the year, with all four boxers almost immediately agreeing to terms for their respective fights. Such plans were stalled due to the first wave of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic which has made it impossible for Vlasov and Salamov to travel. Vlasov remains at home in Russia, while Salamov—a 26-year old from Grozny who generally trains out of Las Vegas—has been in Kiev, Ukraine for the past several months.

“Top Rank wants to make the fight in the United States and we have to wait for when the US consulates will be open,” notes Bogdanov. “Both boxers’ visas have expired, and US consulates are closed all over the world.

“Umar is training in Kiev and now he wants to fight in an exhibition too, maybe with the same opponent (Ekimov). Umar and Max are eager to fight each other, and then go on to face Joe Smith—who both predicted would beat Alvarez. It will be an excellent fight when Smith gets to face either Umar or Max.”

[margaret thatcher]

Joe will beat up whoever wins that fight

[Cent0089]

Joe will beat up whoever wins that fight

Maxim Vlasov is pretty underrated, but Smith stepped up his game big time. Looking forward to this LHW situation. After eliminator like this, that WBO belt will have some meaning to me as a fan.

[margaret thatcher]

Vlasov is solid, but it seems every time he steps up to guys who might be world class he loses pretty clearly

[DrDuke]

Smith will whoop Vlasov.

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Beterbiev-Deines: New Date, Site; Vlasov-Salamov Eliminator in Co-Feature

Unified light heavyweight world champion Artur Beterbiev’s title defense against Adam Deines is moving to a new date and venue, and will be paired with a light heavyweight world title elimination fight between Maxim Vlasov and Umar Salamov, Top Rank chairman Bob Arum told Boxing Scene on Monday.

Beterbiev and Deines were slated to fight on Sept. 25 in Ekaterinburg, Russia, the Montreal-based Beterbiev’s native country. However, plans are in the works to shift the fight to Oct. 23 to a venue to be determined in Moscow with both fights to air in the United States on an ESPN platform to be determined.

Arum had hoped to have Vlasov-Salamov take place in the United States but because of travel issues related to the coronavirus pandemic, Top Rank’s Russian partners on the two fights will instead put them on the same card in Russia, Arum said.

Beterbiev was initially scheduled to fight mandatory challenger Meng Fanlong (16-0, 10 KOs), of China. But Meng, has been training in the United States, was unable to get a proper visa, causing the recent change opponent to Deines.

Beterbiev-Meng was originally scheduled to take place on March 28 in Montreal but postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic and now it is off. It remains to be seen if Meng will keep his mandatory position with the IBF.

Beterbiev (15-0, 15 KOs), 35, will be making his fourth title defense when he meets Deines and fighting for the first time since knocking out Oleksandr Gvozdyk in the 10th round to unify two belts in October and sending Gvozdyk into retirement. Beterbiev will also be fighting in Russia, which he represented twice in the Olympics, for the first time as a professional. All of his bouts have taken place either in Canada or the U.S.

Deines (19-1-1, 10 KOs), 29, a Russia native fighting out of Germany, suffered his only loss by unanimous decision to Meng in a title elimination bout in June 2019, but he has won two in a row since. He has been idle since last September.

As for Vlasov and Salamov, both of whom are with Top Rank, the winner is supposed to take on Joe Smith Jr. for the vacant WBO 175-pound world title that was vacated by Canelo Alvarez. The WBO ordered a four-man tournament to fill the vacancy.

In the first semifinal, Smith (26-3, 21 KOs), 30, from New York’s Long Island, scored a spectacular ninth-round knockout of former world titlist Eleider “Storm” Alvarez (25-2, 13 KOs) on Aug. 22 on a Top Rank card inside “the bubble” of the conference center at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas to earn his second shot at a world title.

Vlasov (45-3, 26 KOs), 33, of Russia, has won three fights in a row since a one-fight move up to the cruiserweight division, where he lost a unanimous decision in an interim world title bout to Krzysztof Glowacki in November 2018.

Salamov (25-1, 19 KOs), 26, who is based in Las Vegas and trained by Kevin Barry, has won six fights in a row, five by knockout, since dropping a 10-round decision to Australia’s Damien Hooper on the Manny Pacquiao-Jeff Horn undercard in July 2017 in Brisbane, Australia.

In his most recent fight, Salamov knocked out Emmanuel Danso in the third round in his hometown of Grozny, Russia.

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October 23..

Salamov vs. Vlasov

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Umar Salamov Positive For Coronavirus, Vlasov Bout is Postponed

The fight between Russian boxers Umar Salamov and Maxim Vlasov has been pushed back due to coronavirus, according to information provided by the event organizers to Tass.

"Salamov came up with a positive test for coronavirus, the fight will not take place," the agency's source said.

The fight was supposed to take place on November 20 in Minsk.

The winner of the bout was going to become the mandatory challenger for the vacant World Boxing Organization (WBO) light heavyweight title.

The WBO title became vacant after Canelo Alvarez dropped the title to move down in weight to super middleweight.

In November 2019, Canelo moved up by two weight classes to 175-pounds - and knocked out Sergey Kovalev to capture the WBO title.

But not too long after getting that big win, Canelo made a determination to leave the division.

When Canelo made his decision, the WBO put together a four man tournament to determine a new champion.

In the first bracket of the tournament, which took place a few months ago, Joe Smith knocked out Eleider Alvarez.

The winner of the Salamov vs. Vlasov showdown would collide with Smith to crown a new beltholder.

Due to the coronavirus pandemic, the WBO strap at 175-pounds will have to stay vacant until 2021.