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Now this is a rare sight: a sanctioning body actually doing their job. According to WBO chief Paco Valcarcel, featherweight champion Oscar Valdez’s June 8th fight with Erick Ituarte will not have his title on the line.
Me Han preguntado si Valdes defendera su titulo pluma contra alguien cuyo apellido es Ituarte quien no esta clasificado ..peleara 10rds porque por El titulo no sera
— Paco Valcárcel, Esq. (@PacoValcarcel) May 7, 2019
Wbo championship committee won't sanction Valdes vs Ituarbe for the featherweight title
— Paco Valcárcel, Esq. (@PacoValcarcel) May 7, 2019
For those that can’t read Spanish and don’t feel like using Twitter’s translate tool, Valcarcel says that the fight will be 10 rounds if it happens.
Ituarte (21-1-1, 3 KO) was a blatantly unworthy challenger; he’s nowhere to be found in the WBO rankings and BoxRec has him at #104 in the weight class. It’s a tad odd that the WBO was fine with Valdez (26-0, 21 KO) fighting a similarly soft touch in Carmine Tommasone earlier this year, but I suppose they took Valdez’s layoff and injury into account.
Top Rank now has one month to either find a more palatable opponent, convince the WBO to change their minds, or settle for Valdez having a weird gap in his title reign.