LEROY BROWN, Star Writer

World Boxing Association (WBA) featherweight champion Nicholas Walters, could find himself in trouble with the WBA unless he signs a contract for his first title defence soon. Walters defeated Dualis Prescott on December 8 last year, by technical knockout in round 7, to win the vacant title. In accordance with Rule 12 of the WBA Championship fight rules, he should have defended the title by April 7, but this has not happened and there is no concrete evidence that the title defence will take place any time soon.

Rule 12 states that "a boxer who obtains a title in an eliminatory fight for a vacant title must defend the title within 120 days from the date the title was obtained." This is clear and unambiguous and means that a title defence should have taken place by April 7, 2013.

It was announced some time ago, that the WBA had agreed that the April 7 date would be changed to May 11. However, that date had been changed once more to June 1. This would have been done by virtue of the powers given to the WBA Championships Committee in its Rule 16. This rule states that "in its sole discretion, the Championships Committee may reduce, extend or otherwise modify the periods for mandatory defenses for a good cause either in response to a request for a special permit or on its own initiative."

It is apparent that the WBA is being cooperative with the parties involved in the negotiations, said Jacques Deschamps, who manages Walters and the prospective promoters SportsMax, but the question is how long will this continue? Deschamps said that he was still having discussions with SportsMax about their promoting the fight, but nothing had yet been finalised. Attempts to get information from SportsMax have been futile.

Deschamps admitted that he was "becoming anxious about the delay" which he said could have serious implications for him and his fighter. He did say, however, that he was trying to be patient and was hopeful that something would happen soon.

In the meantime, the clock is ticking.