Jose Zepeda and Regis Prograis eagerly await confirmation of a date for their fight for the vacant WBC junior welterweight title.
Joining them in the holding pattern is the sanctioning body that ordered the fight and is now demanding answers about when it will take place.
MarvNation Promotions is officially on the clock to honor all the terms of the purse bid the company won to secure the rights to Zepeda-Prograis. The Southern California-based team put up a whopping $2,400,000 during a purse bid hearing on August 30, nearly double TGB Promotions’ $1,200,600 bid as the next highest bidder.
As previously reported by BoxingScene.com, the WBC received the required ten percent deposit right on the ten-day deadline, with that money placed in escrow. The sanctioning body has now asked the promoter to deliver the most important thing: written confirmation of when and where the fight will take place.
“They complied with the offer from the exchange, they sent the deposit,” WBC President Mauricio Sulaiman confirmed in a recent interview with FightHype.com. “However, they are pending to send the contracts with the date and place of the fight.
“We are in communication with them to help them understand that if they can’t promote the fight, just walk away. Otherwise, there are heavy penalties.”
The terms of the purse offer require three separate stages to confirm the date and location of the fight, all within a 21-day period. Under WBC rules, the promoter must contact both fighters within seven days of the auction hearing. The WBC is required to be notified by the promoter within fifteen days of the ceremony of the date and location of the event.
The 15-day deadline, Wednesday, September 14, has come and gone with no confirmed update. The WBC has since contacted MarvNation with a reminder of the stakes and that a final deadline is expected: the 21-day mark by which the WBC must be in possession of both their signed contracts. fighters, provided by the promoter.
That leaves MarvNation with a final deadline of September 20 to avoid a portfolio bid default.
“They won this fight. It’s been a long time without a fight (for the WBC title). It’s time to get going,” Sulaiman said. “Is in danger. We need to have a site and a date, a location and the signed contract.
“If not, the fight will go to TGB, who was the second bidder.”
MarvNation was founded in 2014 by Marvin Rodriguez, who got into the sport to promote his two sons. His company started out as a concert promotion outfit before turning to boxing on a regular basis in 2018. They are primarily known for promoting club shows in the Southern California region as well as Mexico and Costa Rica. The latter boasts by far its biggest star client, unified IBF/WBO strawweight winner Yokasta Valle (26-2, 9KOs).
Understandably, there is great skepticism that the company can pull off a fight of this magnitude and at such a high price. The only update provided by the promoter was their plans to host the event in November, either in Las Vegas or Atlantic City and likely on a separate pay-per-view.
“They are very hardworking,” Sulaiman acknowledged. “They met with a huge deposit. We are trying to help them take the right direction.”
The belt became vacant on July 1, when Scotland’s Josh Taylor (19-0, 13KOs) relinquished the crown in lieu of a mandatory title defense against California’s Zepeda (35-2, 27KOs). Taylor completely unified the division following a 12-round victory over Ramirez for his undisputed championship last May 22 in Las Vegas, but he has only fought once since: a disputed split decision victory over Jack Catterall on February 26 at Glasgow.
Taylor now only holds the WBO title, having vacated the WBA, WBC and IBF belts, in that order. The WBC vacancy came after dragging out talks with Zepeda and asking for multiple delays in purse offers, leaving Zepeda waiting almost three months before having to start a new round of talks with the next highest available contender.
Zepeda earned his way back to the mandatory challenger position during his current six-fight unbeaten streak. His rise to top contendership came after surviving four knockdowns to score four of his own in a sixth-round knockout of Ivan Baranchyk in October 2020, prevailing in the universal pick for 2020 Fight of the Year.
Two more victories followed, including a first-round knockout of Josué Vargas last October 30 in New York City and a busy affair in March before entering talks with Taylor. It turned out to be a huge waste of time for everyone involved, as Taylor finally handed over the belt, the long wait even angering the WBC.
Prograis (27-1, 23KOs) was the number three contender, coming to that point after scoring a sixth-round knockout of Belfast’s Tyrone McKenna in March. The former WBA champion from the Greater Houston area via New Orleans was also in the hunt for the vacant WBA title, only to miss out when the Dominican Republic’s Puello (20-0, 10KOs) reclaimed the belt on the 20th. of August. points win over Batyr Akhmedov.
All was not lost for Prograis, who for months was by far the best junior welterweight in the world not to be in the mix for the title.
That changed with Ramirez’s graceful exit from the WBC-mandated fight, as the 33-year-old southpaw has a shot at becoming a two-time champion. He previously held the WBA title, claiming the belt in a sixth-round knockout of Kiryl Relilkh in April 2019 during the semifinal round of the World Boxing Super Series 140-pound tournament. Prograis lost the belt to Taylor by majority decision in their October 2019 WBSS final in London, and has since won three in a row.
Jake Donovan is a senior writer for BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox
