Two things the WBA can do to make amends
Two things the WBA can do to make amends
Through Teodoro Medina Reynoso
PhilBoxing.com
Thu 24 June 2021
The World Boxing Association (WBA) recently increased its notoriety by sanctioning another interim heavyweight world title fight involving Michael Hunter, Jr., himself a low profile contender at best and a Mike Wilson, a obscure fighter with an inflated record. who would never have fought in heavyweights.
The WBA already recognizes four fighters as ‘world champion’, namely Anthony Joshua of UK as super champion, Trevor Bryant of USA as regular champion, Mahmoud Charr of Syria as champion on vacation and Daniel Dubois also from the UK as interim champion.
The need to sanction another interim championship fight between Hunter and Wilson escapes logic.
Well, this is just the latest of the WBA’s blunders that started with the organization’s fetish for multiple world champions in virtually every weight division, from minimum to heavyweight.
At minimum weight, for example, the WBA has three champions, Thamanon Niyomtrong aka Knockout CP Freshmart from Thailand as super champion, Victorio Saludar from the Philippines as regular champion and Leyland Buenavidez from Puerto Rico as gold champion, whatever that means. Still, he sanctioned another bout involving former champions Byron Rojas of Nicaragua and Jose Argumedo of Mexico for his regular championship. Uh?
This excessive leaning towards multiple world champions by the WBA has resulted in calls for the WBA to be withdrawn from recognition as a major legitimate sanctioning body for world boxing or even for the non-support or boycott of its fights of. championship sanctioned.
With the exception of the withdrawal of recognition by the World Boxing Network (WBN), a major influential boxing media group in the United States, the WBA nonetheless emerged somewhat unscathed from the near-global outrage of boxing fans.
The WBA’s position is somewhat stabilized by the fact that it has popular and widely acclaimed champions on its roster like Joshua, Canelo Alvarez, Manny Pacquiao, Josh Taylor and Naoya Inoue.
In this regard, I believe the WBA can and should do at least two things that would help the organization to make some redress for its alleged past and recent blunders.
The first is to restore Pacquiao as his super champion in the welterweight division. It wouldn’t just correct his own unfair decision by stripping Pacquiao of his recognition as a super champion and relegating him to the nebulous designation of recess champion while replacing him with a largely unworthy Yordenis Ugas from Cuba. Pacquiao’s restoration will also improve his upcoming fight against WBC and IBF Unified Champion Errol Spence of the United States as a true global welterweight unification fight.
Second, a fight between his super champion Inoue and regular champion Guillermo Rigondeaux for his bantamweight crown perhaps in collaboration with the IBF to accelerate the quest for a true unified world champion in the preparatory division for a possible clash. with the winner of the next WBC. -WBO unification between Filipino champions Nonito Donaire and John Riel Casimero.
Inoue recently said he was not interested in a fight against Rigondeux while waiting for winner Donaire-Casimero. But it’s not up to him or his promoter Bob Arum, who is also known for his dislike of Rigo, to decide.
I believe this is where the WBA could step in and their determination will serve for the better, for a change. It’s quite unfair that two Filipinos tear each other apart while Inoue and Rigondeaux wait like well-rested hyenas for the survivor.
Donaire and Casimero will meet again on August 14 and at that point Inoue would be three months from the ring and Rigondeaux has been inactive since February 2020. The two would definitely need to fight, especially Rigondeaux. Logic and practicality as well as fair play dictate that Inoue and Rigondeaux fight to make them even worthy of facing Donaire or Casimero.
Tins of tomatoes certainly won’t do the trick, either.
Author Teodoro Medina Reynoso is a former boxing radio talk show host living in the Philippines. He can be contacted at [email protected] and by phone 09215309477.
Click here to see a list of other articles written by Teodoro Medina Reynoso.
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