Munguia's WBA Title On the Line vs. Zon After Melikuziev Steps Aside

Jaime Munguia's WBA super middleweight title will be on the line against Nikita Zon in Riyadh on Saturday, Oct. 31, after mandatory challenger Bektemir Melikuziev agreed to step aside, according to Dan Rafael and Japan's Boxing Master. The fight is on the undercard of Canelo Alvarez's challenge for Christian Mbilli's WBC title.

Rafael posted on Oct. 28 that Munguia's team had "finally made a step-aside deal" with Melikuziev, so Saturday's fight "will be for his WBA 168 title."

Boxing Master reported the same day that the WBA decided to give the Munguia-Zon bout a special approval as a title fight. Guillermo Brito, operations head at Munguia's promoter Zanfer, told Izquierdazo the bout had been authorized and that the other side had agreed, as quoted by ClaroSports. Brito said, in comments translated from Spanish, that "Jaime's next fight will be the mandatory." As of this writing, Boxbid has not seen a written resolution from the WBA itself, and we'll add it when one is posted.

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What Melikuziev gets

The terms, first laid out in a Team Munguia statement circulated by reporter Cesar Seda and reported by BoxingNews24 and Uzbekistan's ProSport, are:

• Munguia and Melikuziev get up to 30 days after Oct. 31 to agree terms for the mandatory.
• Munguia takes no other fights before facing Melikuziev, including unification bouts.
• Munguia won't try to delay the mandatory and won't ask the WBA for "super champion" status in the meantime.

No date or venue has been set for Munguia vs. Melikuziev.

How it got here

The WBA ordered Munguia vs. Melikuziev on Sept. 21 with an Oct. 21 deadline to make a deal, saying Munguia's window for the mandatory defense had already run out on Aug. 30. When Zon was named as Munguia's Riyadh opponent, the WBA said on X on Oct. 8 that it "has not approved" the bout and that Melikuziev (17-1, 11 KOs) was its official contender. Melikuziev had publicly turned down an earlier step-aside offer and told Munguia to respect the mandatory.

Zon (12-0-1, 10 KOs) is ranked No. 9 by the WBA, so Saturday becomes the biggest night of his career, with a world title on the table.

The rest of the Riyadh card

Fight week has already seen changes. Lindolfo Delgado is out of his IBF title fight with Biyarslanov, and Ricardo Blandon replaced Lorenzo Parra against Rafael Espinoza. Here's our preview of Canelo vs. Mbilli.

The headliner has live markets on Boxbid's Points Bet, including the winner of Canelo vs. Mbilli and total rounds. Points Bet uses Boxbid points only, with no real money in or out; it's for entertainment. New to it? Here's how Points Bet works. You can also call the round in Guess the Rounds, back your pick in Fight Picker, and follow Canelo on his Boxbid page for fight week.