The WBA could be in the process of creating a secondary lightweight world title and a fight might already be set for that title.
According to El Nuevo Herald, Robert Easter Jr. and Rances Barthelemy will fight on April 27 for the WBA "Regular" lightweight title, which would be another title created by the organization which will further muddy up the 135-pound division. Both Barthelemy (No. 2) and Easter (No. 3) are ranked in the WBA's top three on its lightweight rankings.
Vasiliy Lomachenko is the current WBA lightweight champion but would be considered the "Super" champion if the "Regular" title were to be created. Lomachenko was originally scheduled to unify the WBA, WBO and IBF titles with Richard Commey on April 12, but Commey is currently out with a hand injury, meaning Lomachenko might be ordered by the WBA to face mandatory challenger Anthony Crolla.
The WBA has stated in recent years that it is aiming to reduce the number of world champions per weight class, but progress towards that goal has been very inconsistent with multiple divisions still having more than one WBA world champion.
Easter is a former IBF lightweight champion but lost the title in a unification fight against WBC titleholder Mikey Garcia in Los Angeles last July. The loss ended Easter's reign as champion which started in 2016 and had three successful title defenses.
Barthelemy is a two-division champion world champion, having held the IBF title at 130 and 135 pounds. Barthelemy challenged for the WBA junior welterweight title in 2018 but lost to Kiryl Relikh by unanimous decision. Since then, Barthelemy has only fought once -- a third-round TKO victory over Robert Frankel last December.
