Abass "The Silverback" Baraou promoted to full WBA champ at 154lbs

The bull-strong hook-and-uppercut-happy Togolese-German beat the previously undefeated Cuban-American boxer-puncher Yoenis "El Bandolero" Téllez Silega last month to become the interim champion. Full champ Terence Crawford was today stripped after moving up this past Saturday to defeat Saúl Álvarez and announcing his intention to not return to 154lbs. Baraou's reign has been backdated by the WBA to start September 13th, the day Crawford fought Álvarez.

Terrific couple of years for Baraou, who defeated Sam Eggington to become EBU champ in early 2024 and defended it once against Macaulay McGowan before sitting on the shelf for fourteen months. A defense over Milan Prat was ordered to take place in February. I'm assuming that with that not happening and Baraou going for the WBA interim belt, he has been stripped. (BoxRec still lists him as EBU champ as well, but they probably just haven't updated yet - Wikipedia has the belt as currently vacant)

The run of pro success comes after years of toil for Baraou, a good amateur who defeated Eumir Marcial in an Olympic qualifier and held Cuban legend Roniel Iglesias to a MD, but could never quite reach the medal stages in any major tourneys.