WBA finally agrees to sanction Wladimir Klitschko-Anthony Joshua for world title

The WBA has finally gotten around to making a series of rulings which clears up the heavyweight picture for the sanctioning body, after Tyson Fury vacated their world title. In a letter obtained by RingTV, the WBA Championship Committee states that Wladimir Klitschko will be given a “special permit” to face IBF titlist Anthony Joshua for their vacant “super” world championship.

Unfortunately that this ruling didn’t come in time to make Klitschko-Joshua possible for Dec. 10, as most fans were hoping, but it does pave way for the fight to take place in early 2017 should every go well.

In the meanwhile, Klitschko is said to be nursing a minor injury, which will shelf him for the remained of the year, while Joshua has been officially scheduled to take on Eric Molina on the Dec. 10 date.

In the same letter, the WBA has also ordered that Lucas Browne take on Shannon Briggs for their “regular” world title before Dec. 31. Since Fres Oquendo is on the sidelines, still recovering from shoulder surgery, he wasn’t available to take the Browne fight.

Briggs, 44, hasn’t been in a notable fight since losing a unanimous decision to Vitali Klitschko in 2010 - but that hasn’t stopped him from expressing his enthusiasm over a Browne fight.

The winner of Browne-Briggs will be immediately ordered to face Oquendo as a mandatory title defense within 120 days.

Last but not least, the WBA has stripped Cuban heavyweight Luis Ortiz of his interim world title for not facing Alexander Ustinov after beating Bryant Jennings last December. World of Boxing won the purse bid for the Ortiz-Ustinov fight back in August, but Ortiz “chose not to proceed with the Ustinov bout,” according to the WBA’s letter. Ortiz is currently slated to fight Malik Scott next weekend in Monte Carlo for the vacant WBA intercontinental title.