Yesterday, the WBA did something unusual: they made welterweight champion Rolando Romero fight mandatory challenger Shakhram Giyasov and featherweight champion Nick Ball fight Brandon Figueroa. Don't worry if this all sounds too good to be true; Mirco Cuello won an eliminator five months before Figueroa (26-2-1, 19 KO) did, and they're making him sit at the kids' table with a useless interim belt. Romero (17-2, 13 KO) was supposed to be the victim so Ryan Garcia could win a free welterweight title in May, but he ended up knocking "Kingry" out in the second round and doing very little for the rest 10 rounds to win the decision. This made him a prime target for the returning Manny Pacquiao, with most rumblings pointing to a January title clash, but it seems he’ll have to pay some step-aside money to make that happen. Giyasov (17-0, 10 KO) has been the WBA's mandatory for what seems like forever. Last year, he got the call to fight Eimantas Stanionis for the belt, but he had to wait while Stanionis tried and failed to unify with Jaron Ennis. Then, when "Boots" packed his bags and went to 154, Giyasov's chance at Ennis went up in smoke. I bet he could make a lot of money by letting Romero fight "Pac-Man," but the idea of beating Romero and taking the Pacquiao fight for himself must be quite appealing. Ball (23-0-1, 13 KO) fought Rey Vargas and Raymond Ford in two very tight fights that made him not want to face featherweights anymore. This led to three straight defenses against career super bantamweights. The most recent fight was in August, when he beat Sam Goodman. This was his third trip to Riyadh in five fights. Figueroa didn't seem very well when he lost to Stephen Fulton in February, and he was lucky to secure the win over Joet Gonzalez five months later. If he comes out ready to fight, he and Ball could have the Fight of the Year, but pretending to be a technician doesn't seem to be working for him.