Manchester lightweight Anthony Crolla has this morning received the news that he had been longing to hear – the WBA have “ordered” a rematch of this month’s world title challenge to Columbian (reg) champion Darleys Perez which saw Crolla battle to a controversial draw in spite of a 2 point deduction from the champion for low blows late in the fight.
This morning, Crolla’s promoter Eddie Hearn tweeted;
“I cannot tell you how happy I am to announce that the @WBABoxing have ordered the rematch between @ant_crolla and Darleys Perez!”
Further elaborating to Sky Sports, Hearn said;
“I spoke to the WBA president Gilberto Mendoza and he watched the fight and felt that Crolla won the fight convincingly as well.
“We put an official request and complaint in to the WBA. The British Boxing Board of Control also backed us and wrote to the WBA and said how we feel that the decision is wrong. They went through the official process and came back in the early hours of this morning, stating that Darleys Perez must rematch Anthony Crolla.”
To muddy things slightly, Frank Warren matchmaker Jay McClory – who helps look after interim WBA lightweight champ Derry Mathews – responded to Hearns original tweet to say that the WBA have in fact given “permission” for the rematch to take place within 120 days, with no “order” in place.
Hearn replied;
“Not “permission” – resolution states Darleys Perez MUST face AC – ordered my old son.”
What it actually translates as is they (Crolla/Perez teams) have 120 days to get the fight on and the WBA have not ordered the fight as a mandatory defence for Perez. However if Perez refuses to rematch Crolla in that 120 day time period then he will be stripped of his title.
Twitter @Undilutedpoison