Jacob Bank (20-0, 11 KOs) is negotiating a vacant WBO super middleweight title fight against Zhanibek Alimkhanuly (17-0, 12 KOs) after Diego Pacheco instead booked a fight against Darius Fulghum.
WBO president Gustavo Olivieri named Bank the “first available contender” in announcing the fight and gave both sides 15 days to reach terms before a purse bid is ordered.
Pacheco is ranked above Bank by the WBO but is scheduled to face Fulghum instead. It is unclear whether Pacheco was formally offered the Alimkhanuly fight or whether he would have accepted it.
It marks another WBO title opportunity that has passed Pacheco by. Earlier this year, the WBO ordered him to negotiate a vacant title fight with Hamzah Sheeraz, but the two sides failed to reach an agreement and the matchup was sent to purse bid before ultimately falling apart.
Bank has previously criticized the WBO’s handling of Alimkhanuly following his suspension for a positive test for meldonium. The WBO later terminated Alimkhanuly’s suspension early after determining that he had satisfied the conditions imposed on him.
Bank also criticized the decision to move Alimkhanuly directly into the upper reaches of the super middleweight rankings following his return.
He now gets the opportunity to face Alimkhanuly directly with the vacant WBO title on the line.