Boxing: Hamed set to lose his WBC crown

NASEEM HAMED is set to be stripped of his World Boxing Council featherweight title next month if he does not relinquish his World Boxing Organisation crown.

Jose Sulaiman, the WBC president, has revealed that Hamed had agreed to give up one of his belts within 15 days of beating the-then WBC champion, Cesar Soto, in Detroit last October. He has yet to do so, and now Sulaiman has said the result of a formal vote on stripping Hamed will be announced next month.

"We had a very nice conversation between two people who understand each other," Sulaiman said. "He [Hamed] confirmed that he did not want to relinquish the WBO title. He wanted the WBC to allow him to have both titles and that on one occasion he would defend the WBC version and on another the WBO version.

"But that is against the regulations so we both agreed that he was keeping the WBO title and that the WBC could proceed in accordance to its rules."