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The World Boxing Association and British Boxing Board of Control have things all planned out, it seems, as the organizations have ordered many of their titleholders to face their mandatory challengers. WBA titleholders Keith Thurman and Jack Culcay must face David Avanesyan and Demetrius Andrade, respectively, while four separate BBBofC champions are set for purse bids.
Thurman (27-0, 22 KO) and Avanesyan (22-1-1, 11 KO) hold the WBA "world" and interim welterweight titles, respectively, and their unification bout has been planned since before both of their recent fights. Culkay (22-1, 11 KO) won the interim super welterweight title two Mays ago with a decision over Maurice Weber and has defended it twice, while Andrade (23-0, 16 KO) was stripped of his WBO belt due to a long absence.
I know we usually include the fighters’ records when announcing each matchup, but you’ll forgive me for being a bit lax on that during this BBBofC roundup. Frank Warren won the purse bid for Ovill McKenzie’s cruiserweight title defense against Craig Kennedy, with the four aforementioned others set to submit bids on August 10th.
Super middleweight champ Callum Smith has countryman Luke Blackledge on the horizon, Chris Eubank Jr. gets a domestic showdown with Tommy Langford instead of a Golovkin blockbuster, Kal Yafai takes on Jamie Conlan at super flyweight, and Andrew Selby faces Kevin Satchell in his first flyweight title defense.
A few decent matchups in the lot; any of them stand out to you guys?