Guillermo Rigondeaux, as promised, has been stripped of the WBA super-bantamweight title as a result of his defeat to Vasyl Lomachenko.

‘Rigo’ lost a one-sided contest to the Ukrainian on December 9, dropping a first defeat of his professional career and being forced to re-evaluate his next move.

One of those considerations certainly won’t be a title defense as the Cuban contemplates a move up to featherweight where a packed division features the likes of Leo Santa Cruz, Abner Mares, Carl Frampton and Scott Quigg.

In a statement over the New Year, the World Boxing Association outlined their continued commitment to reducing the number of championships of offer under their banner.

The World Boxing Association (WBA) announced in January 2016 that it would work on reducing the amount of champions in the 17 boxing categories and we have done so. 2017 started with 32 champions and closed with 25 monarchs in the 17 categories, although it is pertinent to note that when this plan started in the search for a sole monarch, there were 42 champions,” the WBA pointed out.



In addition, there are 9 categories that have only one champion, and if not, the title remains vacant and about to be disputed. In that spirit, the Championship Committee has worked tirelessly to make the resolutions honored. It has also given much-needed mobility to several categories by ordering qualifying combats.

Without a doubt, this goes to show coherence with the new policies of the WBA and for 2018 a promise to keep on working on our rules proposals.