Don King Says WBC Won’t Sanction Mikaelian-Opetaia For Cruiserweight Title

Don King says the WBC will not sanction Noel Mikaelian’s fight with Jai Opetaia as a title bout, leaving Saturday’s cruiserweight co-feature in Las Vegas unlikely to carry Mikaelian’s belt.

The 12-round fight at T-Mobile Arena, before Ryan Garcia faces Conor Benn, is still due to go ahead with Opetaia’s Ring championship and the Zuffa Boxing belt involved. WBC president Mauricio Sulaiman had not formally confirmed King’s statement.

Mikaelian, 28-3 (12 KOs), holds the WBC cruiserweight title, but the sanctioning body had ordered him to face David Benavidez, its light-heavyweight champion and unified WBO and WBA cruiserweight champion.

Representatives for Mikaelian and Benavidez had been working towards a December 12 fight in Glendale, Arizona, before Mikaelian instead signed to face Opetaia, 30-0 (23 KOs), on the Zuffa Boxing-backed card.

Sulaiman outlined the WBC’s position before the weigh-in, telling SecondsOut: “We ordered Mikaelian against Benavidez, and Mikaelian’s promoter reached an agreement with Benavidez’s promoter. Don King is Mikaelian’s promoter, and there is an issue because Mikaelian signed to fight someone else.

“When we order a fight, a fighter who does not comply loses his privileges. If a mandatory contender does not participate in the ordered fight, he is no longer the mandatory contender. There is a contract.”

King, Mikaelian’s 95-year-old promoter, issued a cease-and-desist letter to Zuffa Boxing this week and has argued that Mikaelian was obliged to accept the Benavidez fight.

King told BoxingScene that the Benavidez offer was worth $1 million. Mikaelian has said he never received a contract to face Benavidez next and accepted the Opetaia fight because he did not want to lose more time and was being offered a seven-figure purse.

Speaking to BoxingScene earlier in fight week, Mikaelian said his agreement with King contained an addendum allowing him to pursue a better offer.

“This is the loophole we used,” Mikaelian said. He added of King: “I knew [King] had a bad reputation, but it was 10 times worse than I was expecting.”

Mikaelian said an offer to face Opetaia had initially been made to his team in March for a voluntary defence but was not shown to him until later.

The WBC had been attempting to mediate between the parties, with Sulaiman indicating that much of the dispute involved Mikaelian’s contractual relationship with King rather than simply the sanctioning of Saturday’s fight.

Mikaelian had already acknowledged that he could lose the belt.

“Mauricio… has been a great friend. Business is business. This is how he handles his business. This is how I handle my business,” he said. “No hard feelings. But I’m a little tired of sanctioning bodies telling me who to fight. I want to do what I want to do.”

Opetaia puts title politics aside

Opetaia has his own recent history with sanctioning bodies. The Australian was stripped by the IBF in March after proceeding with his Zuffa debut against Brandon Glanton, whom he beat by unanimous decision.

Speaking to BoxingScene at Wednesday’s media day, Opetaia dismissed questions about the sanctioning situation.

“Same sh*t, man,” Opetaia said. “Every time I’m doing interviews about fights, I’m getting constantly asked about sanctioning bodies. We have a job to do. We’re here to win a fight. We haven’t lost track of that… it’s the only thing I’m thinking of.”

He also described the dispute around Mikaelian’s belt as “outside noise”, adding: “I’m not looking for a headline. I’m looking for a knockout punch. All we do is train. Headlines change every day. Our mission doesn’t.”

Mikaelian, who won the WBC title from Badou Jack, told The Ring that he does not regard facing Opetaia as a greater challenge than others he has already faced.

“I don’t think so,” Mikaelian said. “I just see it as another fight. Obviously, he has momentum right now because he’s very well marketed and very well promoted [by Zuffa Boxing].”

Mikaelian pointed to previous fights with Valery Brudov, Youri Kalenga, Mairis Briedis, Krzysztof Wlodarczyk, Junior Makabu and Jack before adding: “They’re all former world champions or multiple-division world champions, so you always look at the next challenge, what is in front of you, as the next big thing. But it’s just another fight.

“Obviously, he’s a very good fighter, and he’s a former champion himself, too. I respect that, but I see it as another fight.”

Benavidez is expected to face interim WBC cruiserweight champion Michal Cieslak in December in Arizona, while there has also been talk from Benavidez’s camp about facing the Opetaia-Mikaelian winner in 2027.

Opetaia refused to look beyond Saturday.

“Noel first,” he said. “All that [Benavidez] conversation means nothing unless I take care of Noel first. I’ve got 12 hard rounds ahead of me. This isn’t going to come easy. I’ve dug deep.”

Mikaelian took a similar view of what might follow.

“The winner of this fight can fight [Benavidez],” he said. “But it’s not in my power. It’s all politics, and they’re trying to use Jai and I as pawns.”