Valuev/Holyfield should not be happening, especially not for a “world title”.

Holyfield, now in his mid-40s, has not fought since losing to the average “champ” Sultan Ibragimov. Valuev, though not a massive puncher in relation to his size, has the attributes to hurt, or at the very least, humiliate the once great American.

It filtered through that Valuev, to his credit, did not want to take this fight, which says something about a boxers’ ability to dictate his career these days.

With Sauerland looking to make this fight, the WBA quickly installed Evander into the rankings due to his “record and caliber”. Both will be tarnished tonight. Lets hope that’s all.

Had this fight gone ahead for the WBO title, it would have been a farce. Alvarez had already been stopped in 4 by Alexeev last year, making the likelihood of a KO win for Enzo pretty much guaranteed.  Any “punchers chance” Alvarez may have had is tempered somewhat by the fact that all  but one of his 9 KOs in 11 wins was against a novice opponent with a losing record.

His “best” win meanwhile, came against Emesto Zamora, who now has a losing record. To date, Zamora has been stopped in 13 of his 17 losses. Entering his WBO Latino “title” fight with Alvarez, Zamora was 2-8 in his last 10. Those two wins were against opponents with a combined 0-8 record. (For the record books, they are now a combined 0-18).

Yet that Latino title is basically what gave Alvarez his #15 world ranking – at light heavyweight. And so the fact that Alvarez was struggling to make 200lb appears indicative of just how out of shape and unprepared he would have been.

Yet despite this, the promoter for this “fight” (Sports Network) had no qualms about pitting the (with all due respect)  hapless Alvarez in with Enzo. The WBO – frighteningly, one of the closest things we have to a governing body in the sport – were clearly happy to accept this match-up.

The whole thing smacks of desperation, and the need – desire? – to put money and contract requirements before fans.

]]> http://boxingbollox.wordpress.com/2008/12/05/there-is-a-god-and-he-isnt-a-wbo-official/feed/ 0 boxingbollox http://boxingbollox.wordpress.com/2008/11/02/the-oldies-are-the-best-when-it-comes-to-youth-titles/ http://boxingbollox.wordpress.com/2008/11/02/the-oldies-are-the-best-when-it-comes-to-youth-titles/#comments Sun, 02 Nov 2008 10:49:14 +0000 boxingbollox http://boxingbollox.wordpress.com/?p=48 ]]> French light welterweight prospect Ali Chebah lost his WBC Youth title to Reyes Sanchez at the end of September. He dropped to 27-1(22) as a result.

But last night, he captured the same, now vacant, title. So in the space of 5 weeks, Sanchez 13-2(8) has either been stripped or has given up the title. Given Reyes is rated at leightweight and is WBC Continental Americas champion at that weight, it is probable that his future, and his title, lie at 135lb.

If this is the case though, why was he brought in as a challenger for the 140lb youth title? If it was known he would vacate if he won, why put him in for it? Why not just make Chebah/Sanchez a non-title fight? Of course, it’s about the business – the promotor can use the title as a marketing tool; the WBC gets some dosh in order to keep the electric metre running, and pay some researchers to come up with new titles begining with “FEC”.

But, as with most things in boxing these days, it’s the fans that lose out. The Sanchez fans watched their man win a title he was not going to keep. Thus the title is meaningless for him, making the title aspect of the fight rather farcical.

Anyway, the title is back safely in the gloves of Chebah now. He beat Pipino Cuevas Jr last night, who is 29 years old. In his last fight Cuevas won the WBC Latino superfeatherweight title, against an opponent who had no record on the boxrec database going into the fight. If Pipino wasn’t the guy to bring meaning and prestige to the WBC Youth title last night, I don’t know who was.

Since 2002, he has contested the WBC Continental Americas title, the WBA Fedebol title, the WBO NABO title, The WBC Latino title, the WBA Fedecentro title, the WBC CABOFE (Caribbean) title, and the WBC FECOMBOX title.

Mr Cruz must have one of the most mixed and vibrant ethnic backgrounds going in order to have qualified for all those titles.

Tell you what, I’ll email the WBA. I’m sure I’ll get a reply.

By making him ”super champion” the WBA grant Mijares amore time to fight their mandatories. (The logic goes, is that because Mijares has more belts, he will have more mandatory obligations. In order to prevent Mijares being stripped by one organisation and the whole point of unification being lost, the WBA are more lenient at enforcing their own mandatories on the “super champion”. 

But instead of simply having the WBA mandatory challenger wait a little linger, and hone his skills against another opponent in the meantime, or alternatively make him an interim champion until the super champion becomes available, the WBA decided to create a WBA “regular champion” in situations where a “super champion” had been created.

Actually, the WBA likes you to think of the regular champion as being just like the other WBA champions who preside in divisions where there has been no unifications (welterweight, for example). The super champion must meanwhile be thought of as some sort of God for picking up more than one strap. But of course there’s major flaws. The fans, or at least those who are aware of this sorry super/regular/with or without fries affair at the WBA, know that the regular champion is the (and sorry to be crass here) but he’s the sloppy seconds compared to the guy who’s gone on to unify.

It’s like England winning the World Cup, only the shine is taken off somewhat by the fact that Brazil (representing here the super champion) have pulled out of the competition. And in any case Italy (IBF) France (WBC) and Holland (WBO) have already pulled out a long time ago, so really, in this analogous World Cup we have FIFA hosting, England have won a 2nd rate World Cup. Anyone who doesn’t know that Brazil et al are playing in a much more lucrative and exotic competition (also hosted by FIFA) are being duped.

With the “super champion” thing in play, the WBA pick up sanctioning fees from two sets of title fights. We have already established that the status of a WBA “regular” champion is much watered down. In addition, with two champions taking opponents from the WBA’s #15, the rate of boxers getting title shots before vanishing (if they lose) increases.  If there are not enough prospects coming through (particularly plausible in a quieter division like superfly) then the talent pool will decrease, along with the quality of the title fight, and thus the integrity of the sport.

(I hope you’re all taking notes, because there’s going to be a short quiz at the end).

But anyway, back to the three champions.

Because WBA champion Mijares unified in May, as we know by now this meant he became a super champion in the eyes of the WBA (getting 18 months to take on a mandatory challenger to boot) which leaves the “regular” title “vacant”. (You will note please that when writing about boxing sanctioning bodies, the use of inverted commas to denote deep irony is unnavoidable.)

The regular title will be contested by the WBA’s #1 Nobuo Nashiro, and their #3 Kohei Kono, in Japan on September 15th.

We’re up to speed and ok so far. (Well, apart from the fact one of these guys is going to become a world champion when they’re not even the best according to the WBA, let alone in the whole division).

But now we must factor in the Conception Factor.

Rafael Conception took possession of the WBA interim superflyweight title in July by beating AJ Banal. At the time, Conception was ranked #7 by the WBA, Banal #4. Both are rated

Conception defends his interim title again – on the same night Nashiro and Kono fight for the vacant regular title.  

Why on earth is Conception not given a shot at the regular title (with Nashiro his opponent) and the interim title done away with? By definition the interim title should be exactly that. What better time is there for Conception to be given his shot than the 15th of September? If the interim champion is ready to fight, and the #1 is ready to fight, then what’s the problem? If there are promotional difficulties for the figtht, then the WBA should assert which side is stalling on negotiations, and remove their right to a title shot.

The WBA have not yet responded to my request to clarify the situation as to why three “champions” are necessary in these circumstances. 

They will no doubt be rather more efficient in cashing three cheques that will be arriving WBA HQ in the space of three weeks, for three sanctioning fees, for three “champions” in three divisions.

Integrity? I think that went under with Atlantis.

Although the record may seem adequate at first glance, Castro lost his last fight – to 2-7 Robert Meza – in February. He also lost a decision to Marlon Chavarria last September.

Back in ’05 Castro lost to Roman Gonzalez by KO (Gonzalez challenges for the WBA version at 105 in September) while more recently he drew with Hector Elizabeth, who subsequently has gone on a run of four straight losses. Those to inflict defeat on Elizabeth include Chavarria (who those of you taking notes will recognise as the chap who beat Castro last year). Chavarria in turn has lost by KO to Yader Escobar, who for good measure has beaten Elizabeth too.

On paper, Castro seems the poorest of the three if you compare him, Chavarria and Escobar. Escobar certainly seems to be operating at a higher level. This is reflected in his boxrec ranking – #24 to Castro’s #74 (Chavarria is #38).

The IBO’s objective rankings meanwhile have Escobar at #19. Castro does not make the IBO’s top 50.

Why then, do the WBO see fit to rank Castro (#9!) ahead of Escobar (#11) in their rankings? According to their ratings criteria, there should be a “special emphasis on boxers recent activities.” A loss to 2-7 Meza, who was previously KOd in 1 round by Escobar, does not seem to me the sort of recent activity that should be getting you a title shot or putting you higher in the ratings than someone who is clearly a better boxer.

Current WBC champion Samuel Peter takes on “champion emeritus” Vitali Klitschko in October. Vladimir Virchis meanwhile takes on Juan Carlos Gomez around the same time in another WBC eliminator (Gomez had previously beaten Oliver McCall last time out in a non-final WBC eliminator).

Peter will have to fight the Gomez/Virchis winner at some point in 2009. If the WBC mandates the Klitschko/Peter must take this opponent next, it is unlikely, even with a smooth purse-bid phase and promotional relations, that the fight would take place before April. If Peter were to win the fight, he would presumably have a 12 month (?) period in which to fulfill his next mandatory. That means the Tua/Arreola winner may not get a shot at the WBC title until 2010.

In the interim (prophetic wording) the Tua/Arreola winner could be injured, or be upset in a ‘keep busy’ fight. It is also possible - particularly in Tua’s case – that innactivity and “the ageing process” (Tua will be 37 by the time a shot at the WBC might be handed to him ) may combine to create a mandatory challenger unworthy of the status when he enters the ring. It is also a distinct possibility that over the next 12-18 months, more worthy challengers will emerge.

Tua is anyway ranked #28 by the WBC.

Gonzalez fought then IBF champion Clinton Woods back in 2005. Gonzalez was the mandatory challenger. Despite losing, the Mexican was put forward by the IBF to fight in an IBF eliminator in his very next fight – against Jason DeLisle. This helped the Mexican become mandatory to Woods once again. But despite losing to Woods again, and then to Reggie Johnson this February, Gonzalez once again finds himself one step away from a world title crack.

Given that Gonzalez is now ranked #10 by the IBF, this means that presumably Roy Jones Junior, Clinton Woods, Glencoffe Johnson, Yuri Barashain, Reggie Johnson and Thomas Ulrich were all offerred, and all passed up the chance to vie for the IBF’s #1 spot, since they are all rated above Gonzalez, and there seems little reason why Gonzalez would be considered before them

I’d like to thank Arena Box for their prompt and full reply.

“First of all I want to apologize for all the confusion in this fight. And I want to point out that I never meant to cheat on Danny ion any way. If it would have been my goal to steal the victory from him I wouldn’t have thrown in the towel at a point were Konstantin was leading on all scorecards.

After all I hope that Danny gives Konstantin a rematch one day after he recovers from his broken hand because I think Konstantin deserves it as he really showed a hack of a fight which shouldn’t be forgotten besides all the anger and confusion.”