This one’s for you, Charlie Daniels.
The WBA announced today that the previously revealed interim featherweight title fight between Mirco Cuello and Sergio Rios will headline an August 8th installment of their “KO Drugs” series at the Martyrs of Benina Stadium in Benghazi, Libya.
Former Olympian Cuello (15-0, 12 KO) came off the canvas to stop Christian Olivo in their February eliminator, finishing him with a literal last-minute body shot to avoid a majority decision loss. Full champ Nick Ball has never faced a mandatory challenger or, indeed, an actual featherweight since taking the belt, but the WBA elected to just have Cuello fight BoxRec no. 215 Rios (19-0, 7 KO) for an interim title.
Rios has never been booked past eight rounds and has two (2) wins over opponents with winning records. Definitely title material.
A (mildly) more tolerable interim title will also be on the line when rising light heavyweight contender Albert Ramirez (21-0, 18 KO) faces England’s Jerome Pampellone (19-2, 12 KO). Ramirez is coming off a solid string of B-level wins over Euro staples like Adam Deines and Marko Calic, while Pampellone came up short in IBF eliminators against Malik Zinad (MD) and Conor Wallace (SD) in his last three bouts.
Completing the trifecta of extraneous hardware involving Olympians, two-time silver medalist Sofiane Oumiha (6-0, 3 KO) takes on veteran Francisco Fonseca (36-4-2, 29 KO) for the “gold” lightweight title.
/Winners%20&%20Losers%20header%20template%20(2).webp?ssl=1 "5 Winners and 2 Losers from the first 2026 pre-season test in Bahrain – who was left itching to make up for lost ground?")
