Josh Taylor vs. Jose Zepeda - WBC Order

[Ruthless-RKO]

[Ruthless-RKO]

So now two of the Orgs have ordered mandatories.

Well one of them was a very small purse bid which was won.

Taylor is yet to vacate ANY belt and even mention moving up.

Tbh, this would be a cracking fight.

God knows Zepeda deserves a shot.

[GreenLightning]

Ohhhhh Zepeda is a dangerous boy

[Ruthless-RKO]

"As per prior communications and with the agreement which all four presidents (of the WBC, WBO, IBF, WBA) confirmed in the meeting held in Puerto Rico, the WBC mandatory defense is next, followed by the IBF," the WBC explained in a statement.

"The WBC is hereby advising of the beginning of the free negotiations period for the Josh Taylor´s mandatory title defense versus Jose Zepeda. If no agreement is reached the WBC will conduct a purse bid on Tuesday, May 24th."

[gregregegg]

Surely Taylor has dropped every belt. Do the vacant titles. He said he can't make 140 anymore, and even if he changed his mind no way he could have any fight other than jack Catterall at 140...

I'd of stripped him by now and would be calling vacant shots, in a gov body's. Why let the division stagnate. Also holy fuk I'd be offering those vacant shots to jack cat.

[Ezzard]

Shame Taylor can't make the weight. I think he will struggle at 147 by comparison.

[Ruthless-RKO]

Shame Taylor can't make the weight. I think he will struggle at 147 by comparison.

Well based on his last fight. Yeh. It wasn’t good at all.

[Alba]

Surely Taylor has dropped every belt. Do the vacant titles. He said he can't make 140 anymore, and even if he changed his mind no way he could have any fight other than jack Catterall at 140...

I'd of stripped him by now and would be calling vacant shots, in a gov body's. Why let the division stagnate. Also holy fuk I'd be offering those vacant shots to jack cat.

He hasn't formally announced it though? Talking about it, and formally putting it in writing are two separate things

[Ruthless-RKO]

Sky Sports are saying Taylor's promotional team are working to finalise a world title defence against Jose Zepeda..

[Ruthless-RKO]

Josh Taylor's promotional team confirm they are working on world title defence against Jose Zepeda

"We are working with both teams to put this fight on next," Top Rank president Todd DuBoef confirms that Josh Taylor is set to face WBC mandatory challenger Jose Zepeda in his next world title defence

Josh Taylor's promotional team have confirmed they are hoping to finalise a world title defence against Jose Zepeda for the Scotsman's next fight.

Taylor had to relinquish his WBA super-lightweight title at the weekend due to the mandatory requirements of the governing body, but the Scottish star is now set to defend his WBC, WBO and IBF belts against Zepeda, the WBC mandatory challenger.

Top Rank President Todd Duboef told Sky Sports: "Zepeda is coming off a fight of the year performance against Baranchyk and a first-round KO of Vargas in October.

"These together have earned him the mandatory position to Josh's WBC crown.

"We are working with both teams to put this fight on next."

Taylor had retained the WBC, WBA, IBF and WBO belts in February with a hotly disputed points win over WBO mandatory challenger Jack Catterall, who had called for a rematch.

WBC president Mauricio Sulaiman had confirmed to Sky Sports that Zepeda was next in line to challenge Taylor, despite the WBA's decision to enforce a mandatory defence.

We have ordered that fight," Sulaiman told Sky Sports. "We have a purse bid date, I believe it's the 24th of this month.

"The issue here is we had an agreement. We met in Puerto Rico, the four presidents, Paco Valcarcel, Daryl Peoples, Gilberto Mendoza and myself and we had an agreement.

"We sat down, we discussed that division and I was clear that [Jack] Catterall as WBO mandatory was next. Zepeda as WBC mandatory was next, and then the IBF mandatory was next.

"For some strange reason, the WBA simply went out and ordered another fight, and now they have taken away the title from Josh Taylor, or Josh relinquished. Whichever maybe, but it's very unfortunate.

"We want to keep the mandatory unified champions. We want to have mandatory contenders that are of the highest level, but we will see what happens next."

[margaret thatcher]

surprisingly tough fight after the cat ordeal. i wouldve thought a move up in weight and a 147 debut vs someone softer

zep is a southpaw too

[Ruthless-RKO]

He's NOT moving to 147.

So he's lost his WBA belt because he doesn't want to fight Puello, they didn't even bother to bid in the purse bid.

He doesn't want to rematch Catterall..

Guys full of shit.

[margaret thatcher]

cat definitely deserves a rematch

but zepeda may be even better than cat and poses a lot of the same stylistic issues, except with more pop. i give jt some props if it is zepeda because that's one of the last opponents id expect after such a torrid time with cat

[Frostieballs]

So Catterall getting completely shut out here?

[Foggy]

Boxing strikes again just move up or rematch Catteral

[emallini]

Good fight that

[Dioufy]

Blames the Catt loss and performance on the weight… stays at the weight.
Guy is a bell.

[Deserter]

Blames the Catt loss and performance on the weight… stays at the weight.
Guy is a bell.

Yep agreed. Used to be a Taylor fan but the way he's acted in the aftermath of the Catterall fight has completely alienated me.

[rd350lc]

So Catterall getting completely shut out here?

Ain't right is it , the lad deserves better .

[KiwiRider]

Blames the Catt loss and performance on the weight… stays at the weight.
Guy is a bell.

Yep agreed. Used to be a Taylor fan but the way he's acted in the aftermath of the Catterall fight has completely alienated me.

X2
Full of it. Either rematch Jack or piss off.

[gregregegg]

Im a bit disapointed in governing bodys to be honest. There is a fight that clearly needs a rematch, The fighter says its unsafe for him to make 140 anymore, and they start ordering mandatories.

They really should have ordered catteral, or stripped him. only two reasonable things to do in the situation.

[Ruthless-RKO]

Im a bit disapointed in governing bodys to be honest. There is a fight that clearly needs a rematch, The fighter says its unsafe for him to make 140 anymore, and they start ordering mandatories.

They really should have ordered catteral, or stripped him. only two reasonable things to do in the situation.

The WBC Prez has hit out at the WBA.

A few years back, the 4 main orgs main an agreement to mandate fairly, so the boxer with multiple belts doesn’t end up getting stripped.

Take your turns.

Tbh. It doesn’t hurt them. If a boxer is mandated for the WBC belt, and the champ holds the wba belt too, the WBA will also get their sanctions fees as long as the challenger fights for all the belts. It’s very rare a boxer doesn’t.

[coneye]

The sanctioning bodies are never going to all be in sync ,, But it does'nt matter what they say , facts are Taylor would'nt give a rematch stating he cannot make the weight now he can ,, hope he gets beat next up and i was a big fan off his .

[tigermoth87]

Clearly terrified of facing the Cat.

Everybody .... EVERYBODY .... knows that Cat whooped him. One of the biggest robberies in boxing HISTORY.

[Wee Tommy]

I was a Taylor supporter, I know a few guys from Lochend who say he’s a great guy as well but this is pure nonsense from him. He know he lost and he’s alienated his fans. That’s not the way to do it In boxing.

Fight Cat or move up it’s simple.