Mexico's Eduardo “Zurdo” Ramirez informed the WBA of his decision to vacate his interim featherweight belt through a letter sent by his promotions company, Sampson Boxing. Ramirez had held the belt since May 1st when he defeated fellow Mexican Isaac Avelar by TKO in California. Ramirez sent an e-mail in which he thanked the WBA for the opportunities and said "another opportunity" [likely a world title fight for another organization] has presented itself and that he will take another direction in his career soon. The WBA immediately rushed to create a new interim title, announcing on the same day that Irish boxers Michael Conlan and T.J. Doheny will fight for the same tilte this Friday, August 6th at the Falls Park, in Belfast, Northern Ireland.

 

Conlan (21-3 including the World Series of Boxing) was a bronze medalist at the 2012 London Olympics. Doheny (22-2) is coming off a loss to Ionut Baluta 17 months ago in a lower weight class, so it does not seem particularly fair that he gets this opportunity. Doheny, a southpaw, is a former IBF 122-pound champion but lost that title in April 2019 during his unification fight with Daniel Roman. At 34 years old, Doheny must take advantage of this chance and although he appears to come in at a disadvantage, his experi