I believe Banks vs Mitchell was a semi final eliminator for the WBC title. Fury vs Boytsov was the other eliminator. Boytsov pulled out and has been replace by Kevin Johnson. Assuming Fury gets past Johnson we should see Banks and Fury fighting for the right to face Vitali. If Vitali retires it would be for the vacant WBC belt! How do you see this fight going? Currently I haven't seen enough of Banks fights to have an informed opinion on it. Also would Banks want to fight Wlads brother?
Banks already stated after last night that the only realistic title fight he will get is Povetkin. If Vitali retires then he could chase the WBC belt but right now he knows he has a good thing going with Wlad which, if they continue to be a winning team for Klitschkos next few fights, will allow him to keep earning big money as a high profile trainer long after his fighting career is over.
Fury-Johnson is NOT a WBC semi-eliminator; Boystov-Fury was set to be, but Boystov pulled out. Banks, if he wants to get a shot at the belt (questionable), will fight the winner of Arreola-Stiverne.
Thanks to both you guys for the info. It seems like a strange situation. Banks got the eliminator but doesn't want to fight Vitali. Fury wanted the eliminator and now doesn't get it. I wonder who will fight the winner of Arreola vs Stiverne? If Banks does and wins (but doesn't want to fight Vitali) we could be back to square one. It could be that the Arreola vs Stiverne winner gets a straight shot at the title. But does Vitali want to fight either of them? I thought eliminators were suppose to clarify the situation, not complicate it!atsch