The previously announced WBC Pearl belt that was going to be on the line for Amir Khan’s July 12 fight is no longer at stake.
The WBC has now gone on to change the title that Amir Khan and Billy Dib will contest for in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. The fight will now be for the vacant International welterweight title in the aftermath of Neeraj Goyat, Khan’s original opponent, being forced to withdraw after suffering serious injuries in a recent car accident.
As for the fate of the Pearl belt, which was meant to commemorate the historic card in Jeddah and multiple nationalities coming together for the event, the WBC stated that the belt will be reserved for another special occasion. The event is only the second pro boxing card in the history of Saudi Arabia with the first one being the World Boxing Super Series super middleweight finals back in September 2018.
Khan will be competing at 147 pounds for the third straight fight and for the first time since losing a WBO title fight against Terence Crawford. Khan, a former unified junior welterweight champion, has won two of his last three fights.
Dib is a former world champion at featherweight, but the fight against Khan will have him go up all the way to welterweight, something he had never even come close to throughout his long pro career. Dib’s last two fights were contested at super featherweight, when he lost to Tevin Farmer in an IBF world title bout last August, and at junior welterweight last April when he knocked out Surachet Tongmala.
