Ryan Rozicki’s promoter has a date and location set for the upcoming WBC cruiserweight title fight – but what he doesn’t have yet is an agreement from the WBC titleholder himself.

“Badou Jack has until the end of this month [February] to either sign the contract and honor the purse bid or he will be stripped,” said Dan Otter, managing director of Three Lions Promotions.

Three Lions was the only company to put forth a purse bid on Jack-Rozicki earlier this month. The bid was $320,000, according to Otter (the amount was first reported by The Ring magazine).

Rozicki will fight on Saturday, April 26 – the WBC’s website erroneously says April 29. He will headline at the Centre 200 in his hometown of Sydney, Nova Scotia.

That will remain the case whether the foe is Jack or someone else. If Jack is stripped, then Three Lions and the WBC must instead work their way down the rankings to see who else is available to vie for the vacant title.

Jack, previously a super middleweight titleholder and the owner of a secondary belt at light heavyweight, seized the WBC cruiserweight title in February 2023 with a 12th-round technical knockout of Ilunga Makabu.

But when Jack was mulling over a move to the bridgerweight division later that year, Jack was named “champion in recess.” Noel Mikaelyan stopped Makabu in three rounds in October 2023 to win the vacant WBC belt.

Neither Jack nor Mikaelyan has fought since their respective wins over Makabu in 2023. Mikaelyan pulled out of several defenses against Rozicki, who is ranked No. 1 at cruiserweight by the WBC. In December 2024, at the WBC’s annual convention, Jack was reinstated as the cruiserweight titleholder while Mikaelyan became “champion in recess.”

“At first I thought for sure he would sign,” Otter said of Jack. “He’s against a young buck [Rozicki is 30, Jack is 41] and I think it's a very tough fight for him. Maybe he expected to have a big fight before he retired and get a payday. This is probably not the fight he envisioned back when he was reinstated.”

Rozicki is coming off a draw against Yamil Alberto Peralta in December, a rematch of their May 2022 bout in which Rozicki was controversially awarded a split decision.

Rozicki-Peralta II was for the WBC’s interim cruiserweight title. With that belt still vacant, and with Rozicki vying for the primary title, the WBC is seeking to make a bout between Peralta (currently ranked No. 2) and Michal Cieslak (No. 3) for the interim title.

David Greisman, who has covered boxing since 2004, is on Twitter @FightingWords2. David’s book, “Fighting Words: The Heart and Heartbreak of Boxing,” is available on Amazon.