Today’s scheduled World Boxing Council (WBC) purse bid has been avoided as Groupe Yvon Michel (GYM) announced an agreement has been reached with Titov Promotions, which promotes undefeated mandatory challenger Evgeny Romanov (16-0, 11 KOs) for WBC bridgerweight world champion Oscar “Kaboom” Rivas’ first title defense.
Under this agreement, GYM obtained the rights to promote Rivas’ first WBC defense. “We are very happy with this outcome,” GYM President Yvon Michel said. “I would like to thank Mr. Alex Titov for his co-operation. We intend to hold this world championship in June, in Montreal or possibly in Colombia, where discussions are currently taking place. It was important for us that Oscar defends his crown in a familiar environment.”
Trained by Marc Ramsey, Rivas captured the WBC world title last October 22, winning a unanimous decision over Ryan Rozicki (13-1, 13 KOs) at the Olympia in Montreal.
Colombia-native Rivas, who represented his country at the 2008 Olympics, became the first WBC world champion in the history of the bridgerweight division. Romanov, for his part, became the mandatory contender by virtue of his 12-round dominance over compatriot Dmitry Kudryashov (24-5, 23 KOs) last May in Khimki, Russia. Romanov had an excellent amateur career, even registering a knockout victory over Deontay Wilder, the future WBC World Heavyweight Champion, in an international tournament.
“I am happy to be able to defend my WBC bridgerweight belt in familiar terrain and quickly,” Rivas commented. “I intend to keep this belt for a long time. In addition, whether my promoter GYM has obtained the rights to promote in my adopted city, Montreal, or in my native country, Colombia, I feel confident and surrounded by the best. It helps me stay focused on my goals.”
This should be a pretty good fight actually. Romanov hasn’t had much in the way of actual competition as a pro. It’ll be interesting to see how he responds to it. I got Rivas by decision.
Without hometown judging, Rivas cannot win this. The Russian will box his ears off.
@Chris the natural: Tend to think the same way, unless Rivas has more power maybe being naturally bigger?
Rivas doesn’t have that much power and won’t present Romanov with anything he hasn’t felt before. Plus the Russian has some dig as well.
Good weight division for Evgeny Romanov. He has been fighting at around this weight in his pro career.
Evgeny Romanov’s style reminds me of Murat Gassiev in using both hands, pushing the fight and being relentless, but just with wilder punches I guess.
Not crazy about the choice of the name for this weight class but I do see the need for it. We as athletes are evolving, getting bigger, faster, stronger. Is what is.