WBO orders four-man Box-Off for Light Heavyweight title

According to Dan Rafael of espn.com, the WBO has ordered a 4 man box-off for it’s light heavyweight title that was vacated by Canelo Alvarez.

The WBO on Monday sent letters via email to the representatives of all four boxers, ordering former super middleweight world titlist Gilberto “Zurdo” Ramirez and former light heavyweight world titlist Eleider “Storm” Alvarez to meet in one semifinal elimination bout, and Umar Salamov and Maxim Vlasov to meet in the other.

“These bouts will be between the first and fourth contenders and the second and third contenders, respectively. The winners will then face each other for the vacant WBO light heavyweight championship title accordingly,” the WBO wrote to their representatives. Ramirez sits No. 1 in the sanctioning body’s 175-pound ratings with Salamov No. 2, Vlasov No. 3 and Alvarez No. 4.

Canelo Alvarez knocked out Sergey Kovalev in the 11th round to win the belt on Nov. 2 in Las Vegas and win a world title in a fourth weight class, but he relinquished the title six weeks later to comply with the WBO’s “prohibition against its champions holding titles from other sanctioning organizations in multiple weight classes.” He also holds non-WBO world titles at super middleweight and middleweight.