Michał Cieślak has been crowned full World Boxing Council (WBC) cruiserweight champion, despite not having fought since he won the interim version of the title in June 2025.
An interim title in boxing is usually awarded when a reigning champion cannot defend the belt within a required period, with the interim champion expected to fight for the full title once the situation is resolved.
The WBC, one of boxing's four major world sanctioning bodies alongside the WBA, IBF and WBO, said in a statement that it had made numerous attempts to bring together all the parties needed to reach the agreements required to sanction a fight between Noel Mikaelian, the reigning cruiserweight champion, and his mandatory challenger, Jai Opetaia, but had been unable to do so.
As a result, the WBC's Board of Governors decided to vacate the cruiserweight title, which sits directly below heavyweight in the organisation's rankings, and promote Cieślak, who held the interim belt, to full champion.
Mandatory defence against Benavidez
The WBC also confirmed that Cieślak must make a mandatory defence of his new title against David Benavidez. The fight has been scheduled for December 2026, and reports suggest it could take place on December 12, 2026.
The federation ruled that the winner of a future fight between Mikaelian and Opetaia will become the mandatory challenger for whoever wins the Cieślak-Benavidez contest.
Benavidez, from the United States, has previously held world titles at super middleweight and light heavyweight, while Opetaia, from Australia, holds other cruiserweight world titles including the IBF and WBO belts.
How Cieślak won the interim title
Cieślak, 36, claimed the interim WBC cruiserweight title in June 2025 by beating Jean Pascal, a Canadian boxer and former world champion with the WBC, IBO and The Ring. The contest lasted only four rounds before the referee stopped it, judging that Pascal should not absorb further punishment.
Polish champions at the WBC
Cieślak now joins a short list of Polish fighters to have held a WBC world title. The most recent was Łukasz Różański, who held the WBC bridgerweight belt, a division the WBC introduced in 2020 that sits between cruiserweight and heavyweight, from 2022 to 2024. Krzysztof Włodarczyk and Tomasz Adamek have also previously been WBC world champions.
