In the first real disappointing bit of boxing news in the new year, the WBC ordered title eliminator between Colombian contender Eleider Alvarez and rising Ukrainian light heavyweight Oleksandr Gvozdyk will not be going forward. The scheduled purse bid has been canceled.
It appears that Eleider Alvarez (23-0, 11 KOs) does not care all that much about becoming a world titleholder. Though his camp is claiming that they are waiting for nothing short of a full title shot, he has repeatedly accepted step aside money from WBC titleholder Adonis Stevenson and his team. Instead of forcing the issue and taking his shot, the Colombian contender just keeps cashing in on Stevenson’s preference to fight other people.
Each time he steps aside the WBC has made him fight another final eliminator. Accordingly, he has now fought three against Isaac Chilemba, Lucian Bute, and Jean Pascal. Oleksandr Gvozdyk (14-0, 12 KOs) was supposed to be his fourth. It wasn’t a surprise when the fight was announced to be going to a purse bid as Alvarez works with PBC, the Ukraining works with Top Rank, and those two companies do not work with one another, but it was a surprise when Alvarez and his team announced that they were dropping out of the fight entirely.
Their argument is that Alvarez is already the number one contender and shouldn’t have to fight yet another eliminator. I suspect the extreme talent and skill possessed by Oleksandr Gvozdyk is factoring into their decision too as it seems strange to suddenly draw the line at four, but I am speculating. Either way, Team Alvarez is definitely trying to still have their cake and eat it too here. By now they are well aware that the WBC will force them to fight another eliminator if they take step aside money instead of taking their title shot. This might sound crazy, but if they want a shot at Adonis Stevenson then just maybe they should stop taking money from Adonis Stevenson to not fight him.
The WBC has not made a ruling on their mandatory situation yet following this development.
