by David P. Greisman

It wasn’t going to be Peter Quillin vs. Matvey Korobov, not after Quillin dropped his World Boxing Organization title rather than get paid $1.4 million to defend against his mandatory challenger, Korobov.

And it’s not going to be Korobov vs. Billy Joe Saunders for the now-vacant belt.

Rather, it’ll be Korobov vs. the WBO’s 154-pound titleholder, Demetrius Andrade.

That’s what the WBO announced on Wednesday.

The WBO said it had received petitions from both Saunders and Andrade for the right to fight for the title. Korobov, meanwhile, was “deserving of an opportunity” to compete for the belt due to his June win over Jose Uzcategui in an elimination bout.

As for Andrade?

“Although there is no fixed norm to allow our WBO Champions moving up in weight to vie for titles in the next weight division, there are examples of this precedent," the WBO said, citing Ivan Calderon, Miguel Cotto, Donnie Nietes, Ricky Burns, Juan Manuel Marquez, and Mikey Garcia.

“Having manifested a clear desire to move up in weight and considering his status as our current WBO junior middleweight champion, Demetrius Andrade has made a more compelling case than Billy Joe Saunders to compete" for the vacant belt.

Saunders essentially also has a weak résumé, the WBO said.

“Saunders has not faced a WBO top 15-ranked opponent as of yet, and his position as WBO #2 ranked contender is primarily due to the fact that others like Daniel Jacobs have decided not to fight for the WBO title. Even in the case where a fighter ascends to the #1 position in the WBO ranking, this fighter is not automatically considered a mandatory challenger. To be considered as such, a fighter must meet the standard of having defeated WBO classified competition.”

The WBO has given Korobov’s and Andrade’s teams 15 days to reach an agreement or else the bout will go to a purse bid.

Pick up a copy of David’s book, “Fighting Words: The Heart and Heartbreak of Boxing,” at http://bit.ly/fightingwordsamazon or internationally at http://bit.ly/fightingwordsworldwide . Send questions/comments via email at fightingwords1@gmail.com