LAS VEGAS (May 19, 2016) – The World Boxing Association (WBA) has declared Saturday night’s fight between No. 1 ranked contender Beibut Shumenov (16-2, 10 KOs) and  No. 11-rated Junior “Hurricane” Wright (15-1-1, 12 KOs) will become the  WBA “regular” cruiserweight world champion.  The 12-round off-TV bout will take place at The Chelsea inside The Cosmopolitan in Las Vegas.

Shumenov had been the WBA “interim” cruiserweight world champion and mandatory challenger for WBA Super cruiserweight titlist Denis Lebedev (28-2, 21 KOs), who also fights this Saturday in a unification match against International Boxing Federation (IBF) champion Victor Emilio “El Tyson de Abasto” Ramirez (22-2-1, 17 KOs) in Russia.

The WBA has mandated that the Shumenov-Wright winner will be the mandatory challenger for the Lebedev-Ramirez unified winner, which must take place within 120 days.

Friday’s night’s fight in France between No. 2 Yunier Dorticos and No. 3 Youri Kalenga, erroneously billed as for the WBA “regular” title,will now be for the WBA “interim” cruiserweight world championship.