Meiirim Nursultanov was supposed to fight for an interim belt Saturday. Instead, he is going straight to Carlos Adames for the full WBC middleweight title.
The WBC ordered Adames to face his mandatory challenger next, Dan Rafael reported Tuesday. If the two sides cannot make a deal, a purse bid is scheduled for October 20. The winner must then fight interim champion Jesus Ramos Jr.
Nursultanov was set to face Ramos on Saturday’s PBC card before Ramos was hospitalized and withdrew with what PBC described as food poisoning. The WBC had previously said the winner of that fight would challenge Adames. Ramos had a sound reason to withdraw, but Nursultanov was ready to fight and should not have to wait for his title opportunity because the bout fell through.
The change gives Nursultanov more than a new opponent. He can fight for the full belt without first risking a loss to Ramos, and the WBC order gives him a deadline for negotiations. He still has to beat Adames, a difficult champion, but he no longer has another fight between him and the title shot he has sought.
Adames, meanwhile, has a mandatory to deal with rather than an open choice of opponents. Nursultanov offers a hard fight without the obvious payday of a marquee name. If the camps cannot agree on terms, the purse bid could also take control of the promotion out of their hands. That makes October 20 a meaningful date for both fighters, though an order is no guarantee the fight gets made.
Ramos keeps his claim to the winner, but his wait could stretch well beyond this fall. First, Adames and Nursultanov have to negotiate, fight, and recover. The WBC has given all three men a sequence; now it has to see that sequence through. Adames is completely trapped in boxing purgatory. He is the ultimate poster child for high risk, zero reward.
When Adames went to Riyadh and took Hamzah Sheeraz to school, he exposed the British fighter for everyone to see. He walked out of Saudi Arabia with a controversial draw while Sheeraz packed his bags and bolted straight out of the division to super middleweight rather than dare run that back. That fight cost Adames his golden ticket. If he had been given the decision he clearly earned, he would have commanded the massive purses and respect of an undisputed or marquee kingpin in Riyadh Season shows. Instead, he got left holding an empty bag.
Calling out Janibek Alimkhanuly and Osleys Iglesias was pure desperation to find someone with a pulse, but both routes were dead ends. Janibek has his own promotional mess and brings virtually no ticket sales or mainstream buzz to make the risk worthwhile for either side. Iglesias is a monster who punches like a mule and brings even less commercial appeal. Nobody with options wants to look in Adames’ direction because he is awkward, hits hard, possesses an iron chin, and cannot sell out an arena on his own name.
Now the WBC has boxed him into a corner. Instead of landing a lucrative unification or a recognizable name, Adames gets Meiirim Nursultanov. This is the classic who needs him scenario at its absolute worst. Nursultanov is a stone-cold Kazakh grinder with deep amateur seasoning who will make every second of every round physically miserable. If Adames wins a grueling decision, nobody outside the hardcore fanbase will care, and the casuals will not give him an ounce of credit. If he gets clipped or outpointed, his entire career plummets off a cliff.
Adames wanted the glory, the rematches, and the unifications. Instead, the boxing business did what it always does to guys without fanbases: shoved him into a basement fight against a dangerous mandatory where he has everything to lose and almost nothing to gain.
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