Ricardo Nunez and
Jadier Herrera will fight for the WBC interim lightweight title after all.
Mauricio Sulaiman, president of the WBC, informed The Ring on Friday that his organization again approved Nunez-Herrera as a fight for its interim 135-pound championship now that O’Shaquie Foster gave it up less than a week after winning it. Panama’s Nunez (26-7, 22 KOs), ranked No. 1 among the WBC’s 135-pound contenders, and Cuba’s Herrera (17-0, 15 KOs), who’s ranked third, are scheduled to square off on the
Agit Kabayel-Damian Knyba undercard January 10 at Rudolf Weber-Arena in Oberhausen, Germany.
Nunez-Herrera was already approved as a fight for the WBC’s interim lightweight title the previous week at its annual convention in Bangkok, Thailand. Foster-Fulton was authorized as an interim championship bout at the 11th hour because Fulton came in two pounds overweight for his 12-round, 130-pound fight for Foster’s WBC super featherweight crown.
Foster, who made weight for that fight, defeated Fulton decisively on points on the Isaac Cruz-Lamont Roach undercard Saturday night at Frost Bank Center in San Antonio.
Sulaiman understands the backlash caused by a dubious decision that rewarded Fulton with a title fight in a higher weight class, despite that he didn’t make weight.
“It was very confusing,” Sulaiman told The Ring. “I take all the blame. What happened was, Fulton against O’Shaquie Foster, featherweight champion against super featherweight champion, was good on paper, had been postponed three times. … I was in Thailand when I get a phone call at 2 a.m. from the promoter [Tom Brown] stating that Fulton did not make weight.
“And he asked the WBC to support their petition to do an interim title [fight] in the lightweight division to save the fight. And that’s why we decided to support the petition, so that Foster, who had done nothing wrong and had been training for months, would go in the ring and make a living.”
Foster-Fulton of course could’ve proceeded as a non-title bout if Foster (24-2, 12 KOs) and Fulton (23-2, 8 KOs) agreed to it. The WBC would not have received a sanctioning fee, however, had they not fought for one of its titles.
Regardless, Sulaiman stated that he was “highly disappointed” with Fulton’s failure to make weight. He also confirmed that Fulton has given up his WBC featherweight title and that interim champ
Bruce “Shu Shu” Carrington (16-0, 9 KOs) and second-ranked
Carlos Castro (30-3, 14 KOs) will fight for that belt.
Keith Idec is a senior writer and columnist for The Ring. He can be reached on X @idecboxing.