The WBC had ordered Mbilli to face Hamzah Sheeraz for the vacant title. That was the fight meant to turn interim status into legitimacy. Instead, negotiations stalled, the mandatory order was cancelled, and the belt was reassigned without a purse bid or a resolution in the ring. The organisation solved the paperwork problem and moved on.
Interim titles are supposed to lead somewhere. In this case, the ordered fight never arrived, and the belt moved anyway. Mbilli stayed active and kept winning, but the step meant to define his status was bypassed rather than settled in the ring.
What he did not get was the fight that would have clarified where he actually stands in a crowded and unresolved weight class.
There has already been noise suggesting Sheeraz avoided the bout. The record does not support that. The fight was discussed, the terms did not come together, and priorities shifted. That is not a refusal. It is a reminder that sanctioning bodies can order fights, but they still rely on market realities they cannot control. When those realities win, the belt often moves anyway.
For Mbilli, the title changes his status without changing his situation. He is a champion, but without a clear first defence attached to the announcement. Names will be floated, contenders will line up, and the division will continue to feel paused rather than settled. The belt has moved faster than the structure around it.
This is not a critique of Mbilli’s merit. An undefeated fighter who kept winning did not create this outcome. It is a critique of how often boxing replaces resolution with reassignment. Titles are meant to narrow questions. In this case, the elevation widens them.
The WBC avoided a messy purse bid and a public stalemate. That may be efficient. It is not clear. Mbilli now carries a full title into a landscape that still lacks a defined path, a mandated opponent, or a fight that confirms hierarchy.
For all the ceremony that comes with a green belt, this move leaves the division looking much the same as it did before, only with one fewer interim label and the same unanswered questions underneath.
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