SYDNEY, 3 June 2004 — The World Boxing Association (WBA) has warned Australian Kostya Tszyu he will be stripped of his super-lightweight world title if he makes a mandatory defense of his International Boxing Federation (IBF) championship against Sharmba Mitchell.
In an e-mail to the WBA’s Australian representative Derek Milham, the organization’s championship committee chairman Renzo Bagnariol told Tszyu he must negotiate with Vivian Harris, the holder of the standard WBA super lightweight title.
If not, Bagnariol warned Tszyu would be stripped of the WBA title belt if he next fought Mitchell.
Tszyu, who hasn’t fought since January 2003 because of shoulder and Achilles surgery, is committed to fighting IBF interim titleholder Mitchell before November.
The IBF gave Tszyu a nine-month injury exemption until November this year to fight Mitchell after a shoulder injury forced him to withdraw from a fight against the American in Moscow last February.
Tszyu’s manager Matthew Watt said yesterday his fighter had no problem with facing Harris, but was committed first to facing Mitchell.
Watt said the WBA had been pressured into its ultimatum by Harris’ New Jersey-based promotional company.
“The WBA is being pressured by Main Events and really it’s going to come down to if the WBA is prepared to give Kostya Tszyu an extension of injury and I don’t know the answer to that,” Watt said. While he acknowledged Tszyu was overdue for a mandatory defense of his super lightweight title, which he had to make earlier this year after a 21-month period, Watt said his fighter was entitled to some leeway given the serious nature of his injuries.
“If you give Tszyu a six months extension for each of his injuries, both of which were well documented, with surgery and serious rehabilitation processes, if you add that on top of the 21 months, he’s got to February 2005 to fight Harris, and that’s our argument,” Watt said.
