Guillermo Rigondeaux was officially stripped of his WBO super bantamweight title earlier this week, and now has been named "champion in recess" by the WBA, with a rumored fight against Cesar Seda for December 4 in Ottawa reportedly shot down by the sanctioning body.

Rigondeaux-Seda was thought to be a go when it was tweeted out by BoxRec's Philippe St-Martin, but Ben Jacobs later reported that the WBA turned down the fight. It's a defensible move, since Seda (26-3, 17 KO) is coming off of an upset loss on March 28 against Cesar Juarez.

The decision to push Rigondeaux into "champion in recess" status frees up current WBA "world" champion Scott Quigg to be elevated to "super world" champion, which would give him a chance to unify against Carl Frampton, who holds the IBF belt. Those two are reportedly close to a deal for a February bout.

Rigondeaux (15-0, 10 KO) has not fought since a December 31 win over Hisashi Amagasa in Japan, and has had trouble finding fights since his deal with Top Rank expired in 2014. He recently said that he is a free agent after his contract with manager Gary Hyde expired, though he does still have a deal with Caribe Promotions. Caribe worked alongside Top Rank during Rigondeaux's time with the American promotional giant.

Now 35, Rigondeaux is still considered one of the best pound-for-pound fighters in the world, but given his elite skill and "boring" style, not many top names are exactly lining up to face him, in part because American TV just hasn't been there for him since he outclassed Nonito Donaire in 2013. He's fought just one time on U.S. TV since then, and HBO2 even declined to air his win over Sod Kokietgym last July when they broadcast fights from Macau on tape delay.