According to the WBC, Jose Zepeda and Regis Prograis will clash for the vacant WBC 140-pound title on November 26th in a venue to be announced. New kid on the block MarvNation Promotions will be the promoter. The WBC belt became vacant on July 1st, when world champion Josh Taylor of Scotland relinquished the crown in lieu of a mandatory title defense against Zepeda. The WBC title fight was ordered on July 31st, and then sent to a purse bid on August 30th. MarvNation, founded and headed by Marvin Rodriguez, emerged as the winner, posting a $2.4 million bid to far outpace the rest of the field. The winning bid was nearly double that of TGB Promotions’ $1.2 million bid. 

 

Zepeda was originally due to fight former champion Jose Carlos Ramirez, whose own desire to challenge for a second title reign was affected by the delay in the belt becoming available.

Ramirez faced and defeated former two-division titlist Jose Pedraza in March, taking the fight with the intention of next challenging for the title ahead of his already scheduled October wedding. The timing of the order conflicted with his out-of-ring calendar, so Ramirez agreed to stand down and face the winner of the vacant title fight. Prograis steped in. He previously held the WBA title, claiming the belt in a sixth-round knockout of Kiryl Relilkh in April 2019 during the semifinal round of the World Boxing Super Series tournament. Prograis lost the belt to Taylor via majority decision in their October 2019 WBSS final in London, but has since won three straight.