The team behind Erick ‘Mini-Pacman’ Rosa made good on its vow to secure the rights to his next ordered fight.

Terms have been reached for the precocious Rosa (4-0, 1KOs) to challenge secondary WBA strawweight titlist Vic Saludar, thus avoiding a purse bid hearing. The bout will take place December 9 at a venue to be determined in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.

“We promised to bring this fight to Dominican Republic,” Belgica Peña, Rosa’s promoter and CEO of Shuan Boxing told BoxingScene.com.

The mandatory title fight was ordered August 26 by the WBA, as part of the sanctioning body’s ongoing effort to reduce its number of recognized titlists. The move came one day after the WBA announced its elimination of all interim titles, with Rosa one of eleven fighters affected by the move. The 21-year-old Dominican claimed the interim belt just one month prior in a twelve-round unanimous decision win over Ricardo Astulvica in their July 21 battle of unbeaten strawweights.

Just five weeks later came the decision to remove the belt from circulation.

“We do not agree with our titles being taken away because we paid various sanctioning fees,” Peña noted at the time of the ruling.

The move still left the WBA with two recognized titlists at strawweight. Philippines’ Saludar (21-4, 11KOs)—who previously held the WBO strawweight title—claimed the vacant WBA “World” title following a twelve-round, split decision win over then-unbeaten Robert Paradero this past February 20 in Binan City, Philippines.

Thailand’s Thammanoon Niyomtrong (also known as Knockout CP Freshmart) is the recognized WBA “Super” strawweight titlist, having received an upgrade prior to his most recent win, a twelve-round, unanimous decision win over Norihito Tanaka last March in Nakhon Sawan, Thailand. Niyomtrong will eventually be on the hook to face the WBA “World” titlist in a consolidation clash, though he will have the benefit of waiting out a four-man tournament to determine his future mandatory challenger in that regard.

Along with Saludar-Rosa, the WBA also ordered title eliminator between Nicaraguan contenders Byron Rojas—a former titlist—and Leyman Benavides. The 30-day negotiation period began August 27, with the two sides given 30 days to work out terms.

The winner will face whomever prevails between Saludar and Rosa, who will then go on to challenge Niyomtrong to give the division a single WBA titlist—as should already be the case.

Saludar previously held the WBO title before he was dethroned by current titlist Wilfredo Mendez via unanimous decision in their August 2019 clash in San Juan, Puerto Rico. The bout was his lone fight outside of Asia, having since twice fought in the Philippines.

Rosa has been matched aggressively since turning pro. The supremely skilled Dominican went the ten-round distance in his pro debut, claiming a shutout win over Oscar Bermudez last October 24 at Hotel Catalonia Malecon Center which housed each of his first three fights. The win over Astulvica took place at Pabellon de Boleibol, also in Santo Domingo where he will remain for his biggest fight to date.

Despite the disappointment of having his interim title removed, Rosa was still entitled to 45% of the total pot had the fight made its way to a purse bid hearing. Instead, he is guaranteed another home game and in position to stake his claim among the best strawweights in the world.

Jake Donovan is a senior writer for BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox