Nicolson-Mahfoud purse bids called
The WBC have ordered Australia’s Skye Nicolson and Denmark’s Sarah Mahfoud to challenge for the vacant WBC featherweight world tilte, the sanctioning body confirmed on Dcember 5.
A deadline of January 12 was set for the two sides to reach terms for a fight that will determine the next WBC featherweight champion.
The vacant belt became available when unified and lineal featherweight champion Amanda Serrano (46-2-1, 30KOs) severed ties with the World Boxing Councils for its refusal to sanction 12 three-minute round contests. Currently, female championship fights are set at 10 two-minute rounds.
Unbeaten Aussie Nicolson (9-0, 1KO) currently holds the interim WBC featherweight title and is signed to Matchroom Boxing and manager Paul Ready.
Nicolson and IBF titlist Mahfoud are the two highest ranked contenders in the division.
The welcome news comes less than two weeks after Nicolson’s most recent victory on November 25 – a ninth-round stoppage of Lucy Wildheart in Dublin.
Nicolson previously won the interim title in a 10-round, unanimous decision over Argentina’s Sabrina Maribel Perez on September 15 in Tijuana, Mexico. She earned her place as the WBC mandatory challenger to Serrano, who broke her undisputed featherweight championship reign on Monday.
Mahfoud (14-1, 3KOs) has won three in a row since a 10-round points victory in their WBC, IBF and WBO unification bout versus Serrano last September 24 in Manchester, England.
The Faroese-born Danish professional had the IBF title headed into that night. All three wins have taken place in her native Denmark, where she is still due to face unbeaten Michela Braga on January 13.
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