By Miguel Rivera

The president of the World Boxing Association, Gilberto Mendoza, has revealed to ESPN Deportes that Puerto Rico's Jesus Rojas was elevated to the stats of "regular" champion in the featherweight division.

He'll make the first defense of that title on August 11 in California against once-beaten United States Olympian Joseph 'JoJo' Diaz.

He also confirmed that Mexico's Edivaldo 'Indio' Ortega will fight against Philippine boxer Jhack Tepora for the WBA interim-championship at 126, thanks to a request from the promoters - and with the promise that the winners of both fights can face each other to leave only one champion and then look to collide with the WBA's "super" champion at the weight, Leo Santa Cruz.

Jesus Rojas (26-1-2, 19 KOs), who won the interim in September of last year in Las Vegas by defeating Claudio Marrero, has not been able to return to the ring to defend his belt for various reasons.

The contest in August with 'JoJo' Díaz (26-1, 14 KOs) will be broadcast on the Facebook platform to the entire world.

The winner of the August 11 battle in California will have to make the following defense against the winner of the battle between Ortega and Tepora, who are going to fight this July 15 (July 14 at night in the American continent) in Kuala Lumpur , Malaysia, backing the undercard of Lucas Matthysse and Manny Pacquiao for the welterweight championship of the World Boxing Association.

Tepora (21-0, 16 KOs) has knocked out his last five opponents, and that earned him having been tabbed as the highest ranked boxer after Rojas' rise as a regular champion, which is why they had no major setbacks in approving the interim-belt, because his Mexican opponent is second on the lists.

Ortega (26-1-1, 12 KOs) comes from achieving two fundamental victories that helped him regain his position in the organization after a painful defeat in 2016.