The WBA Championships Committee has officially reasserted, through a resolution, its commitment to have a single champion in the heavyweight division.

In the case of WBA Super Championship, Ukrainian Wladimir Klitschko will fight Great Britain’s Anthony Joshua on April 29 at London’s Wembley Stadium. The winner of this contest will in turn fight Cuban Luis Ortiz, current WBA Intercontinental Champion.

Klitschko was supposed to fight a rematch Tyson Fury, but he vacated the throne due to personal problems related to having failed a pre-fight drug test. Because of this, the Committee decided that Klitschko, former holder of the WBA black and gold heavyweight belt, will face reigning IBF champion Joshua, which should make for a no less satisfying Super Championship confrontation.

As for Luis Ortiz, who relinquished his interim title, he remains the mandatory challenger for whoever is ultimately crowned WBA World Super heavyweight champion, be it Joshua or Klitschko.

Meanwhile, regarding the fight between American Shannon Briggs and Puerto Rican Fres Oquendo, the Championships Committee has given the fighters and their representatives given 30 days from January 2, 2017 to reach an agreement. If they fail to come to terms, the fight will be publicly offered as a purse bid.

The winner between Briggs vs. Oquendo will face Russian Alexander Ustinov, who last year was scheduled to fight Ortiz, a fight that failed to materialize because the Cuban vacated his interim title.

Regarding the case of the Australian Lucas Browne, he was eliminated from the WBA rankings after testing positive in a test conducted by the Voluntary Anti-Doping Association (VADA), in accordance with the rules of the World Boxing Council (WBC).

Thus is determined the current status of the tournament to establish a single heavyweight champion in the WBA.

This article was penned by the author who is not related to the WBA and the statements, expressions or opinions referenced herein are that of the author alone and not the WBA.