Bruce “Shu Shu” Carrington’s third-round technical knockout of Enrique Vivas on Saturday night should secure the undefeated featherweight contender a shot at the WBC’s 126-pound championship.

Whether Stephen Fulton would be his opponent in that bout remains to be seen.

The 27-year-old Carrington’s promoters at Top Rank Inc. were led to believe that winning their WBC elimination match would make Carrington the mandatory challenger for Fulton, who won his WBC belt eight weeks ago. Brooklyn’s Carrington (15-0, 9 KOs) entered his victory over Vivas (23-4, 12 KOs) ranked No. 1 by the WBC in the 126-pound division, but Fulton hasn’t been ordered to fight him next.

One of the potential problems, The Ring has learned, is that the WBC has informed Fulton’s handlers, who are aligned with Al Haymon’s Premier Boxing Champions, in writing that he must make his first defense of its 126-pound championship against former WBC featherweight champ Rey Vargas.

Mexico’s Vargas (36-1-1, 22 KOs) hasn’t fought in over a year, not since his controversial 12-round split draw with England’s Nick Ball in March 2024 at Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Vargas, who was dropped twice by Ball (22-0-1, 13 KOs), seemingly lost that 12-round fight on the Anthony Joshua-Francis Ngannou undercard.

Vargas was undoubtedly beaten by American O’Shaquie Foster in his previous fight, for which Vargas moved up from the featherweight division to junior lightweight.

The inactive Vargas has been the WBC’s featherweight champion in recess since he fought Foster. Representatives for Philadelphia’s Fulton and Brandon Figueroa, of Weslaco, Texas, were made aware at least of the possibility of being ordered to defend that title against Vargas next before Fulton won their 12-round rematch by unanimous decision February 1 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.

It is also possible, coincidentally, that the 30-year-old Fulton (23-1, 8 KOs) will move up from featherweight to junior lightweight to face Foster for the WBC 130-pound championship Foster won when he beat Vargas by unanimous decision in February 2023 at Alamodome in San Antonio. Fulton has fought just twice at the featherweight limit since Japanese superstar Naoya Inoue (29-0, 26 KOs) stopped him in the eighth round of their 122-pound title unification fight in July 2023 at Ariake Arena in Tokyo.

If Fulton were to move up four pounds to fight Foster (23-3, 12 KOs), Top Rank wants an assurance from the WBC that a Carrington-Vargas fight would be contested for its full featherweight title, not its interim championship.

Top Rank’s concern is that Fulton could be named the WBC’s champion in recess, the same designation Vargas received when he fought Foster, of Orange, Texas. That distinction would afford Fulton the option of returning to the featherweight division for a title fight if Foster were to beat him in their 130-pound championship match.