The World Boxing Association (WBA) Championships Committee denied the special permit request to unify sent by the team of the organization’s Featherweight Super Champion, Leo Santa Cruz, and ratified that he must face the champion of the category, Leigh Wood, to define the sole 126-pound monarch.

The Mexican had submitted a request on July 11 to face WBC champion Rey Vargas. In line with the presidential mandate of having only one champion per division, the committee decided that the mandatory fight for the British champion should stand and that Santa Cruz will have 24 hours to respond if he will defend his title.

“El Famoso Terremoto” won his belt on January 28, 2017 and has defended it on three occasions, most recently in February 2019. His championship status was conditioned to a mandatory 24-month defense period.

His most recent mandatory fight was in June 2018, so his fue date was in June 2020, and he must now face Wood.

On December 8, 2021, the WBA Championships Committee sent a communication to Santa Cruz stating: “We have noted that you defended your featherweight title on February 16, 2019, and would like to inquire about your boxing status, specifically whether you plan to continue fighting in the featherweight division.”

No response was received from the champion on that occasion. On April 6, 2022, the committee formally ordered the Santa Cruz-Wood bout.

Subsequently, when the request for permission was received, the pioneer organization sent it to Matchroom Boxing for consideration but Wood’s team refused to accept it.

In that sense, Santa Cruz has 24 hours to respond if he will comply with the mandatory fight ordered in April. This ruling supersedes previous rulings made in the division.