Mauricio Sulaiman confirms purse bids for ordered title fight have been cancelled.
Mauricio Sulaiman, president of the World Boxing Council (WBC), has confirmed that purse bids for Hamzah Sheeraz vs. Christian Mbilli, previously ordered for its vacant title, have been cancelled.
Sheeraz (ranked #2 by the WBC) and Mbilli (holder of the WBC’s interim title) were ordered to fight for the organisation’s championship that was vacated following Terence Crawford’s recent retirement. However, the governing body’s president has now confirmed on his personal X (formerly ‘Twitter’) account that the fight is officially off.
While this prevents Sheeraz (22-0-1, 18 KOs) from challenging for one of the four major titles at super-middleweight, his high rankings in the three other organisations actually makes him eligible to challenge for any of them, and it is now expected that he will face off against California’s unbeaten Diego Pacheco (25-0, 18 KOs) for the vacant WBO title.
Hamzah Sheeraz is coming off a crushing victory over Edgar Berlanga in July, stopping the American in the fifth round to one-up Canelo Alvarez, who went the distance in his win over Berlanga the previous year.
Pacheco, on the other hand, last posted a far less convincing display, where he was dropped for the first time in his career and came nail-bitingly close to losing to Kevin Lele Sadjo.
As for Sadjo’s countryman Mbilli (29-0-1, 24 KOs), a fight between him and Guatemala’s Lester Martínez (19-0-1, 16 KOs) is most likely to be ordered for the WBC’s vacant belt. This would be a rematch of the pair’s barnburner that appeared on the Canelo Alvarez vs. Terence Crawford undercard in September that many considered to be 2025’s best fight.
While the cancellation of the fight between the stocky Cameroonian slugger and the lanky British banger is certainly a loss to boxing fans, it can’t be denied that the alternatives are very interesting in their own right.
With Pacheco standing at 6’4″, he will be the first opponent of the 6’3″ Sheeraz to outsize him, and a battle between the two long-limbed punchers who truly stand out in the 168-pound class can’t help but spark intrigue. And after their first fight, Mbilli VS. Martínez 2 is bound to draw the attention of plenty.
So, at the end of the day, we have gained in loss.
The WBC hereby cancels the ruling of the order Mbilli vs Sheeraz consequently the purse bid scheduled for tomorrow is cancelled
— Mauricio Sulaiman (@wbcmoro) January 20, 2026
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