By Luke Furman

Puerto Rican cruiserweight Francisco Palacios (21-1, 13 KOs) is a happy man. Last week at the WBC's annual convention, the sanctioning body ordered their cruiserweight champion Krzysztof Wlodarczyk (46-2-1, 33KOs) to make a mandatory defense against Palacios. The Polish boxer beat Palacios by a close split decision in April. Some called it a controversial decision and viewed Palacios as the clear winner.

"The WBC kept me in place as the number one contender. Therefore I am very happy. I was already better than him in the first fight, but the judges awarded the victory to the Pole. I'm going to come in a lot more motivated for the rematch. I'm going to be working hard during the training camp in order to be even faster and stronger than I was in April," Palacios said.

Luke Furman covers boxing for bokser.org.