![\"Add](\"https:\/\/www.boxingnews24.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/google.png\"\/)
<\/p>\n
<\/a><\/p>\n
\u201cThe WBC order is Mikaelian against Benavidez. That\u2019s it. If he takes another fight, he is relinquishing his obligations with the WBC,\u201d Sulaiman told BoxingScene<\/a>.<\/p>\n The ruling creates a major obstacle for a fight that has been widely reported as nearing completion. BoxingScene reported Friday that negotiations were being finalized for a Mikaelian-Opetaia bout later this year on a Ring Magazine card backed by Turki Alalshikh.<\/p>\n The WBC formally ordered Mikaelian (28-3, 12 KOs) to defend against Benavidez (32-0, 26 KOs) after the American requested mandatory status. Sulaiman said the order leaves little room for alternative plans.<\/p>\n Benavidez recently met with Sulaiman in Mexico and expressed his desire to pursue cruiserweight unification opportunities, while Dmitry Bivol\u2019s next move remains tied to other obligations.<\/p>\n Although no deadline has been set for Mikaelian to commit, Sulaiman indicated the sanctioning body intends to push the situation forward.<\/p>\n \u201cNot at this time. I\u2019ll be talking to all the different managers. This is a top priority. I\u2019m very much looking forward to making sure this happens,\u201d said Sulaiman.<\/p>\n The comments place Mikaelian in a difficult position. A fight with Opetaia would likely be viewed as the bigger unification opportunity, but moving ahead with those plans would cost him the WBC championship unless the sanctioning body changes course.<\/p>\n The WBC\u2019s stance is straightforward: Mikaelian\u2019s next fight must be against Benavidez if he wants to remain champion.<\/p>\n Tom Galm is a boxing journalist who has covered the global fight landscape since 2014, specializing in heavyweight analysis, industry trends, and fighter psychology.<\/p>\n Click here to subscribe to our FREE newsletter<\/a>Related Boxing News:<\/p>\n \t\t\tCategories David Benavidez<\/a> \t\t<\/p>\n Boxing News 24<\/a> \u00bb David Benavidez<\/a> \u00bb Mauricion Sulaiman To Noel Mikaelian: Fight Benavidez Or Get Stripped<\/p>\n Last Updated on 2026\/06\/01 at 11:35 PM \t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Mauricio Sulaiman has made the WBC\u2019s position clear regarding Noel Mikaelian\u2019s reported plans to pursue a unification fight…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":617210,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[2560,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-617209","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-boxing","tag-boxing","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/617209","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=617209"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/617209\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/617210"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=617209"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=617209"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=617209"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n ![\"Follow](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/follow-google-news.png\"\/)
\n <\/a> <\/p>\n