BoxRec

Ok, so John Murray had to vacate the European Lightweight Title if he wanted to fight Kevin Mitchell as apparently you can't fight for a title coming off the back of a loss.
Then James DeGale gets a shot at a European title coming off the back of a loss which I appreciate was a "close loss" but then Murray who gets knocked out in the 8th round of his fight with Mitchell gets a World Title shot against Rios.
I know money talks etc but surely this doesn't make sense.

The WBA does not have a rule which proscribes the contention of a world title immediatly following a one-sided defeat. The EBU does (it might have been abrogated) have such a rule, and therefore Mitchell could not challenge Murray for the EBU title. It makes perfect sense according to the rules, but sometimes the rules don't make sense.

edit--Thought Rios was the WBO champ for a minute

The EBU hav changed the rule since the Murray Mitchell fight, it is now at their discretion, otherwise Degale couldn't fight for the EBU title coming off a loss either.

The EBU make it up as they go along.
Rhodes has been told he can't fight for the Euro off a loss, despite being the Mandatory.

twenty six wrote:The EBU make it up as they go along.
Rhodes has been told he can't fight for the Euro off a loss, despite being the Mandatory.

Correct.

It's a glorified "Italian champion" title anyway. The number of Italians that get a shot at the belt is jaw dropping.

Branco, Simone Maludrottu, Cristian Sanavia get 3 shots a year it would seem.

Definitely agree with that