Galal Yafai will at least get to fight on his promoter’s show for his first major title fight.
Matchroom Boxing outbid Golden Boy Promotions to secure the rights to Yafai’s challenge of WBC/WBA flyweight titlist Ricardo Sandoval. Friday’s purse bid hearing ended with Matchroom posting $625,000, significantly outpacing Golden Boy Promotions ($411,000) for the ordered title consolidation bout.
Sandoval, 27-2 (18 KOs), holds the primary WBC 112lbs belt as well as the WBA strap. England’s Yafai, 11-1 (8 KOs), was reinstated as the WBC interim titlist after the controversial nature of his loss to Francisco Rodriguez, who tested positive for a banned substance.
A date and location for the matchup remains forthcoming. However, the winner will receive a 10 per cent win bonus ($62,500) from the amount placed in escrow, in accordance with WBC purse bids. The remaining 90 per cent ($562,500) will be split 55/45 in favor of Sandoval as the primary titleholder.
The bout was originally ordered last August, shortly after Yafai’s secondary title reign was reinstated. WBC officials subsequently rescinded the order, however, when both boxers were granted separate voluntary title defenses.
Neither boxer took advantage of the offer and, thus, wound up back in each other’s sights when the fight was reordered in late January.
California’s Sandoval became a unified titlist following his upset win over two-division champ Kenshiro Teraji last July 30 in Yokohama, Japan. He earned the WBA and WBC titles with the big road win but spent the rest of the year out of the ring because of general maintenance while eyeing his first assignment of 2026.
The hope was for Sandoval to land a three-belt unification with WBO titlist Anthony Olascuaga, 11-1 (8 KOs), but talks never really advanced for the proposed all-California clash. Incidentally, Los Angeles’ Olascuaga will defend his title versus Jukiya Iimura, 9-1 (2 KOs), on Sunday in Yokohama.
Yafai’s predicament was considerably different, though it is the ultimate justice that he is back at the front of the line to fight for the title.
A 2020 Olympic gold medalist for Great Britain, Yafai claimed the secondary version of the WBC interim flyweight title in a rousing sixth-round stoppage of former IBF titlist Sunny Edwards. Their November 2024 crossroads clash took place at bp pulse LIVE Arena in Yafai’s hometown of Birmingham, England, and served as a breakout moment.
The career-best win was followed by a near-career-altering defeat when he was battered by Mexico’s Rodriguez last June 21. Yafai suffered a knockdown and absorbed a massive beating at the hands of his visiting opponent.
It was learned after the fight that Rodriguez tested positive for the banned substance heptaminol, a matter that remains under investigation nearly nine months later. Because of the slow-moving process on the UK side of drug testing, Yafai is stuck with the loss on his record.
The saving grace for Yafai came when the WBC invalidated the result and restored his interim title status.
He now has the chance to upgrade – and very likely on his team’s terms, pending confirmation of the fight date and venue.
