The WBO welterweight champion might just have his next opponent lined up, and to the dismay of many fight fans it is not Errol Spence Jr. Today, Monday, February 27th, the WBO ordered a bout between Terence Crawford, and the WBO #1 contender Alexis Rocha to be negotiated in the next twenty days.
If no resolution is come to at the end of that time period, the WBO clearly outlined its plan to move forward.
“In case of a purse bid involving a contest between contestants one or more of whom are WBO Super Champions, or a contest between a current WBO Champion and another current WBO Champion or a contest between a WBO Champion and a WBO Interim Champion, or a contest between two WBO Interim Champions, the following rules shall be applied in conjunction with the purse bid rules contained in the WBO Regulations forWorld Championship Contests,” the WBO explained in this document explaining the mandate of the title fight. “(2) In any of the situations described in Section 14(e)(1) above and a purse bid takes place, the division shall not be greater than 75/25 in any case and shall be calculated by the Championship Committee using a ratio based upon the average purse of each fighter’s last three (3) fights. The WBO may rely upon the purses reported to the WBO on the WBO Participant’s Promoter’s receipts for the fights that are used to calculate the Purse Division for this purpose.”
After Alexis Rocha knocked out Georgie Ashie in January, on a fight date that was rumored for Ryan Garcia, but turned into a Alexis Rocha headlined card, Golden Boy Promotions President, Eric Gomez, told the media that Terence Crawford was next, in a media scrum conducted after the fights. Rocha elaborated further when Crawford was brought up to him.
“Just give me my shot, man,” said Alexis Rocha after his knockout win earlier this year over Georgie Ashie in a media scrum, when asked about facing Terence Crawford next. “I’ve been waiting in line, I’ve been knocking on the door…I am young hungry lion.”
As for Terence Crawford, he was last seen on BLK Prime PPV in Omaha, Nebraska, knocking out David Avanesyan. Since then, a pictured surfaced with Crawford, Golden Boy Promotions founder Oscar De La Hoya, and executive Bernard Hopkins on an Instagram post in January, but beyond that image we have heard very little from Crawford.
“We’re looking forward to furthering the discussions so maybe we can make a Rocha versus Crawford fight,” said Oscar De La Hoya said Marcos Villegas of FightHub TV, when leaving the Alexis Rocha versus Georgie Ashie fight. “We can deliver whatever fights [Terence Crawford] wants, [Crawford] is the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world now…We could get [Crawford] and Rocha, [Crawford] and Vergil [Ortiz], we could even get him and Errol Spence. This is the way we work with other promoters, and we want to make things happen.”
