WBC Orders Alen Babic To Face Ryad Merhy As A Final Eliminator For Oscar Rivas’s Title
At the 2022 WBC Convention, Croatia’s all-action Alen Babic (11-0, 10 KOs) was ordered to face Belgium’s former WBA (Regular) champion Ryad Merhy (31-1, 26 KOs) in an final eliminator bout for the WBC Bridgerweight World Title currently held by Oscar Rivas.
Rivas will first defend his world title against mandatory challenger Lukasz Rozanski in Poland on February 25, the winner of Babic-Merhy will be the second mandatory. When you win a vacant WBC title, you must face two mandatory challengers.
Babic was expected to return on Nov 26 on the Dilian Whyte card, however, his team began early negotiation with Rivas’ camp which took priority. Rivas has rescheduled his bout with Rozanski and now Babic looks to secure a second 2022 outing against Merhy.
Merhy is represented by Belgium’s leading promoter Alain Vanackere whilst Babic is under Eddie Hearn‘s Matchroom Boxing banner. Should a deal be agreed, the fight is likely to take place on a Matchroom UK show on DAZN.
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