Light Heavyweight Eleider Alvarez will not participate in a purse bid for a potential purse bid with Oleksandr Gvozduk, according to Dan Rafael of espn.com
“The WBC has received official notification from Alvarez in which he has withdrawn from the fight for the WBC interim title, consequently the purse bid scheduled for this Friday is now cancelled,” WBC president Mauricio Sulaiman wrote to both camps on Wednesday. “The WBC will now take the matter back to the WBC board to review and make a ruling on the division.”
“Obviously, we’re disappointed that once again a fight disappeared for Gvozdyk after being ordered. We know Gvozdyk is a solid fighter, we just didn’t realize we have the second coming of Bob Foster,” Top Rank vice president Carl Moretti sarcastically told ESPN, referring to the all-time great former light heavyweight world champion and one of the biggest punchers in boxing history.
“He is the No. 1 WBC contender because he has earned it in the ring and we can see no logical reasons to fight a fourth final title eliminator,” Michel told ESPN, though the Gvozdyk fight would be for an interim title, which, with a win, would guarantee Alvarez a higher percentage of the money in the full title fight if it were to go to a purse bid. “His goal is to fight the champion.”
