By Jake Donovan

Dejan Zlaticanin wasn’t concerned about the 10 month wait that was in store for his planned lightweight title fight showdown with Jorge Linares earlier this spring.

Nor was he too concerned with whomever would stand opposite corner after Linares claimed injury in vacating his belt. It took another two months and three opponents to get Zlaticanin to the title stage, but history was made for his native Montenegro when he stopped Franklin Mamami in three rounds to win a lightweight strap earlier this month in Verona, New York. 

“The feeling is amazing,” Zlaticanin (22-0, 15KOs) told BoxingScene.com of his title winning effort. “I'm the first World Champion from my country of Montenegro. It didn't matter who was the opponent; I just wanted that green belt.”

He now has it, but had also hoped to obtain that long-awaited – and promised - showdown with Linares. The three-division titlist from Venezuela was downgraded to “Champion in Recess” by the World Boxing Council (WBC), which was designed to allow him to still claim title status but on the condition that his first fight after recovering from injury would come versus Zlaticanin,

Instead, Linares will face World Boxing Association (WBA) lightweight titlist Anthony Crolla in September.

The bout is shamefully being touted by Matchroom Boxing, Crolla’s promoter, and Golden Boy Promotions - who co-promotes Linares along with Teiken Promotions – as a unification bout. Along with the WBA strap, the WBC has made available its Diamond belt – despite its original intent to serve as a symbol for a superfight – and Golden Boy-owned Ring Magazine made the decision to recognize the bout as for its vacant lightweight crown.

The latter move was met with more than a few raised eyebrows, since Linares and Crolla are ranked #1 and 3, respectively. Ranked firmly at #2 is Zlaticanin, whom Linares is still required to face or else be forced to sever ties with the WBC. 

“I'm very disappointed,” Zlaticanin said, not only of the aforementioned decision but also the reality that his next fight won’t come against the opponent of his liking. “Linares showed that he's scared to face me; he started to train a week after he (claimed he was) injured.”

Hope still remains for the squat southpaw. With the WBC sanctioning the event, the winner will still be required to face the unbeaten 32-year old, who remains optimistic of landing a big fight.

 “They are ordered to fight me next so it's not a problem (that the fight is happening),” shrugs off Zlaticanin. “Whoever wins will lose the titles in his next fight when he fights me.”

As Crolla-Linares is still three months away, the last thing that the newly crowned titlist wants is another layoff. His Showtime-televised knockout win over Mamami came a full 52 weeks after stopping previously unbeaten Ivan Redkach on the very same cable outlet.

That time was spent with promises of a title shot, only to be met by extended wait periods. Now that he holds a belt – and thus a bargaining chip – the intention moving forward… is to move forward.

“I think I will make one voluntary defense,” Zlaticanin notes of how he spends to plan the next few months while waiting out the Crolla-Linares winner. “I want to be an active champion.”

Jake Donovan is the managing editor of BoxingScene.com. Follow his shiny new Twitter account: @JakeNDaBox_v2