Oscar Rivas vs Bryant Jennings rematch set for inaugural bridgerweight title

Mauricio Sulaiman tells Lance Pugmire that, after officially kicking off the WBC’s profoundly stupid bridgerweight division last week with a third-round finish of Sylvera Louis, Oscar Rivas will compete for its first title in a Montreal-based rematch with Bryant Jennings.

This is appalling for many reasons. For one, Jennings (24-4, 14 KO) is actually ranked #3 in the division behind #2 Kevin Lerena, who appears ready and willing to compete. For two, as others have pointed out, “Bye Bye” hasn’t actually won a fight since stopping Alexander Dimitrenko in 2018; subsequent efforts saw him knocked out by Rivas (27-1, 19 KO) and defeated by Joe Joyce. He gave a good account of himself both times, but come on.

Fun as it would be to heap more vitriol upon this whole mess, is there really a point at this stage? As long as the sanctioning fees keep rolling in, Sulaiman and co. have no reason not to keep this farce going. I mean, hell, the WBA figured that out years ago.