Herrera, a 23-year-old Cuban southpaw based in Dubai, captured the interim title in January when he stopped Ricardo Nunez in the eighth round in Germany. The victory moved his unbeaten run to 18 fights with 16 knockouts and appeared to put him on a clear route to the full title.
WBC President Mauricio Sulaiman explained that several promoters have submitted proposals to hold a vacant championship fight. One proposal involved Herrera facing England’s Sam Noakes, another Queensberry Promotions fighter ranked #5 in the WBC lightweight rankings.
Sam Noakes was one of the names put forward in a proposal for the vacant title fight. The English contender fought Abdullah Mason for the vacant World Boxing Organization Lightweight title in Riyadh last November and lost a twelve round decision.
Despite that defeat, Noakes’ name was among those offered as an option to contest the newly vacant WBC belt.
The World Boxing Council has approved a match between the #1 and #2 contenders, Zepeda and Roach, for the vacant WBC lightweight title.
According to Sulaiman, the winner of that fight would later meet Herrera or the winner of a future interim title defense.
That arrangement leaves interim champion Jadier waiting while a new titleholder is crowned through another bout. Mexico’s William Zepeda remains among the top contenders in the division after previously holding interim status before losing a wide decision to Stevenson last summer in Queens.
Interim belts are typically used to keep divisions moving when a champion is unable to defend the title. When the belt later becomes vacant, the interim title holder is usually placed directly into the championship match. Leaving Herrera out of that process is unusual, and it puts his title position in a precarious spot as the WBC moves forward with a different route to crowning a champion.
That kind of outcome tends to make observers wonder if an interim belt still has a clear purpose once the full title is up for grabs.
