Hearn clashing with WBA over Feb. 13 Warrington-Xu unification
Xu holds the secondary “world” title
With British boxing on track to resume next month, Eddie Hearn hopes to kick things off with Josh Warrington vs. Xu Can on February 13th. Unfortunately, he tells Boxing Social that one major obstacle remains: the WBA.
Xu (18-2 3 KO) holds the sanctioning body’s “World” featherweight title, which he claimed in 2019 with a decision over Jesus Rojas and subsequently defended against Shun Kubo and Manny Robles III. “Super” champion Leo Santa Cruz hasn’t defended the title since February of 2019 and spent his last two fights at 130 pounds; by all rights, he should be stripped and Xu elevated, but the WBA’s grotesque favoritism towards “El Terremoto” is apparently standing in the way.
Keep in mind, this is the same sanctioning body that let Santa Cruz fight an unranked featherweight for the “super” super featherweight belt despite already having a “world” champion.
As Hearn explains, Warrington (30-0, 7 KO) would be facing an extremely dangerous opponent without a live audience, and should thus have another world title as a potential reward. Whatever the ultimate result, he claims Warrington will fight on the 13th regardless.