If boxing was to be cleaned up once and for all, one would be hard-pressed to pick a better place to start than the dismantling of the various sanctioning bodies. It doesn't take incredible insight to trace many of boxing's biggest problems to the officials in charge of alphabet organizations like the WBA and WBC. Illegitimate champions? Check. Tampering with official rankings? Check. Stripping rightful champions of their titles? Check. Obvious and blatant favoritism to certain promoters? Attempting to legitimize "catch-weight" fights? Interim champions? A criminal disregard for the safety of the fighters they are responsible for? Check, check, check and check.
Dealing with these governing bodies has often been compared to working with international crime cartels, with the WBA and WBC widely considered to be the worst of the worst. Only here can a fighter get elevated four spots in the rankings following a knockout loss, like Fres Oquendo did in 2002 after suffering a 9th round TKO at the hands of David Tua. Then you have the case where Graciano Rocchigiani upset Michael Nunn for the WBC championship in 1998, only to be stripped of the belt when former champion Roy Jones Jr . decided that he "changed his mind" about vacating the belt. The case was a clear-cut violation of the WBC's own rules, and in a rare case of boxing justice, Rocchigiani was awarded $30 million in damages by a U.S. Federal Court. Then there is the disgusting love affair between WBC "President for Life," Jose Sulaiman and Promoter Don King. Sulaiman, truly one of the slimiest characters in a sport that has it's share of them, is less a president, and far more a lackey of Don King's Promotional company. Under Sulaiman's august leadership, the WBC has stripped fighters like Leon Spinks of their title for being signed to fight a rematch with Muhammed Ali instead of a Don King-promoted fighter. Years later, King persuaded Sulaiman and the WBC to refuse recognition of James "Buster" Douglas as world heavyweight champion, following Douglas's defeat of Don King's cash cow Mike Tyson , in their 1990 bout in Las Vegas, Nevada. Despite the WBC's requirement that their champions defend the title against a mandatory challenger at least once a year, Don King fighters are often allowed to ignore this rule. Examples include Alexis Arguello and Carlos Zarate. The list goes on and on, and only gets more and more ridiculous.
As such, it is not hard to believe the latest sputterings from the WBC camp. Shortly after St. Louis's Junior Welterweight Devon Alexander defended his WBC belt against Juan Urango, Alexander dared call out the best fighter in his division, Tim Bradley. Taking personal offense that Alexander would be interested in fighting the WBO champion, Sulaiman responded with an e-mail to the Alexander camp, threatening his status as the WBC champion, and requesting his resignation as titleholder. Sulaiman was soundly called out by ESPN's Dan Rafael for his actions, displaying a beat-down that rivaled Alexander's own knockout victory over Urango on March 6th. The best part of all of this is that Alexander first won the WBC title in 2009 after defeating Junior Witter for a vacant belt. Of course, the title was vacant because the former champion, one Tim Bradley, had recently been stripped of the belt by Jose Sulaiman. Bradley had shown grit and toughness in getting up from two knockdowns at the hands of then-WBO titlist Kendall Holt to take a unanimous decision victory. As Bradley already owned the WBC trinket, his triumph over Holt allowed him to unify the WBO and WBC belts, a feat rarely seen in the sport today. Sulaiman, in his incredible wisdom, decided that Bradley could not effectively represent both organizations, and demanded that Bradley choose which belt he would keep. Bradley chose to keep the WBO title, setting the stage for Alexander to receive similar 5-star treatment from Sulaiman and company 2 years later.
With half a dozen "champions" per weight class, it is no surprise that even dedicated fans fail to keep up with or pay attention to minor title fights. The cheapening of the word "Champion" is perhaps the greatest contributor to the recent trend for the true superstars of the sport to completely ignore the various titles and chase the dance partners that can line their pockets most effectively. This has led to the multitude of "super-fights" being contested in between what is already an overabundance of weight classes. Sulaiman likes to refer to the winner of these artificial "catch-weight" fights as "Diamond Belt Champions." This would all be laughable if Sulaiman wasn't absolutely serious. Of course, this being boxing, fans should not expect any reprieve when the 78 year old Sulaiman finally kicks the bucket. In the type of nepotism that occurs regularly in the sport, Sulaiman's son Mauricio is being well-groomed to take over right where his father left off. Boxing fans can look forward to similarly ridiculous rulings for years to come.
I definitely agree with you about the indiscriminate use of the word champion and the ridiculousness of the made-up weight divisions. A sport were competitors slip rolls of nickels into their gloves is bound to be riddled with its share of corruption, but flagrant disregard of rules is shameful. I vaguely remember stories about Don King, but assume that anybody in bed with Las Vegas has a serious nefarious side, so can't say that's surprising.
ReplyDeleteDo you think the rise in popularity of "professional" wrestling helped escalate the theatrics of staged fights and faulty new titles in boxing? Were the powers that be trying to regain their hold on ratings? Do you think it's working? I do notice people much more into boxing now than they seemed to be about 10 years ago...
--Clara