We have our first casualty of the sanctioning bodies’ recent moves to penalize Russia and Belarus. Jalol Akhmedov reports and others confirm that a March 26th show in Ekaterinburg, headlined by Magomed Kurbanov vs. Patrick Teixeira, has been postponed after the WBA and WBO refused to sanction a pair of scheduled title fights.
The first, the main event, was originally scheduled for December 11th before Kurbanov (22-0, 13 KO) caught a fever while preparing backstage. He and Teixeira (31-2, 22 KO) were supposed to fight for the WBO “international” super welterweight title the former controversially won against Liam Smith, hence where the trouble ensued.
The second pitted WBA “world” cruiserweight champion Ryad Merhy (30-1, 25 KO) against Russian Olympic gold medalist Evgeny Tischenko (9-1, 6 KO). What was presumably Tischenko’s spot in their cruiserweight rankings now reads, and I’m not joking, “Not Rated” from “#nowar.”
Both Kurbanov and Teixeira remain in the WBO’s rankings, so that’s presumably still on the table, but I’m guessing Tischenko’s not getting his shot unless things change very quickly.