WBA orders Manuel Charr-Fres Oquendo to purse bid

A heavyweight bout between Manuel Charr (31-4, 17 KOs) and Fres Oquendo (37-8, 24 KOs) was officially ordered to purse bid yesterday by the WBA, according to ESPN’s Dan Rafael. The fighters have until Feb. 9th to reach a purse agreement on their own or else the purse bid will take place that day at the Hotel Dann Carlton in Medellin, Colombia.

If we go through with the purse bid, there will be no minimum bid for the bout and the fighters will split the winning bid 50/50.

Charr, 33, is most recently coming off a decision win over Alexander Ustinov this past November — his third straight win since getting knocked out by Mairis Briedis in August 2015. Charr currently holds the WBA’s ‘regular’ world title.

Oquendo, 44, is perhaps in a more interesting position. He hasn’t fought since a mid-2014 loss to Ruslan Chagaev and has been on the sidelines since with injuries and other issues. That said, the WBA still owes him a title shot based on a federal lawsuit he won against them some time ago.