Snips and Snipes 7 October 2014: The IBF, WBC, WBA getting together and important event for boxing

When the WBC, WBA and IBF sit down together it is an important event for boxing. No matter whether they are held in high regard or not their decision will affect all of their title fights and as in past cases will probably flow down to their other titles and into their members and their title fights. With Mauricio Sulaiman, Gilberto Mendoza and Daryl Peoples there you had people who could make decisions for their organisations. The use of instant replays to clarify controversial moments in fights is a step forward with one of its main advantages being in clarifying incidents such as cuts being caused by a punch or a clash of heads but other advantages will emerge with use. Check weighing will be carried out applying common practice by all three bodies with the day of the fight weight checking process to be examined for potential use by those not already practicing it. There will be a sharing of medical research data which again can only be beneficial for the sport. The proposal to try ½ pts scoring has some merit in that right now even if someone wins a round clearly it is still customary to score it 10-9 and if it was close then again 10-9 whereas the ½ pt could be used to differentiate between those two, 10-9 still if wide 10-9 ½ if close. A personal beef here. It will make a supervisors job more difficult as it is bad enough collating and adding up three scores in one minute without having to deal with fractions as well. In the end it does not matter what system you use. The system is only a tool and a tool is only as good as the knowledge, experience and integrity of the man using that tool. It is still opinion-based scoring relying on fallible humans. The talk of a world championship tournament is a non-starter no matter how much head scratching goes on. Promoters don’t want it, TV does not want it, and the public might think they want it but if one of their local heroes wins a WBA “regular” title they willing embrace him as a world champion. Try telling fans of Juan Carlos Reveco, Jamie McDonnell, Scott Quigg, Nicholas Walters or Juergen Braehmer that their guy is not a world champion. TV has gorged on “world” title fights and they need to be able to sell their boxing coverage on the basis that they are putting on a world title fight. Top class ten round non-title fights don’t sell like they used to and only one true world champion in each division would leave most promoters without a major title to promote and very little chance of getting to the one true champion as his promoter at the time would have him tied into options. In addition the fall-off in sanctioning fees from having only 17 world champions would bankrupt the sanctioning bodies (by the way I shed some crocodile tears at this point). Of course the intent could be to have one true world champion but the WBC/WBA/IBF to have their own champions as well and we are back to square one.

The WBO did their image no good by refusing to sit at the table. This process may not bring the hoped for improvements but at least they are making an effort whilst the WBO sulks in a corner. In this initiative Mauricio Sulaiman is following his father’s example of looking at and considering changes and improvements and it is the WBC who have been the main innovators in the past.

There was the also expected blast against the AIBA. Whilst I think the AIBA approach is wrong the fact remains that the Olympic Games are no longer for amateurs with millionaire sportsman competing and “Elite” athletes having their training funded and also entering competitions with high financial rewards making them professionals in all but name. The AIBA approach is wrong but the same outrage was aimed at the World Series of Boxing when it was first mooted and as a competition in itself it has not harmed the professional game and may even have led to better prepared boxers when they do turn professional. Let’s also not forget that it is not so long since the WBC talked about setting up its own amateur organisation and the AIBA could not sit back under that threat.

On a similar take it is not so long ago that people in professional boxing were moaning that the amateur sport was not producing high quality professionals (this was mainly due to the lack of American heavyweights coming through) and that the style in amateur boxing meant that when fighters turned pro they had a steep learning curve. Try telling that to Vasyl Lomachenko, Artur Beterbiev, Carl Frampton, Guillermo Rigondeaux etc.

I am not a true sadist at heart but occasionally the dark side comes out. It is definitely not nice to giggle with glee when someone propels a projectile into one of their lower extremities but when it is the WBA my sympathetic nature is AWOL. They really have shot themselves in the foot with their threefold world champions. They have a super, a regular and an interim which should be enough to cover all situations and maximize the sanctioning fees, which it is what it is really all about. However when Juan Carlos Payano beat Anselmo Moreno the wheels came off their title gravy train. To be a super champion you simultaneously need to hold a title of one of the other three major sanctioning bodies or have made five defences of your WBA regular title (they invented that last qualification when there were too few of their champions unifying the titles). Payano has just won the title from super champion Moreno and is only a WBA champion so does not qualify as a super champion. They already have a regular champion in Jamie McDonnell and an interim champion in Yonfrez Perez so Payano has won the “title with no name” and the WBA look stupid-again. The worst part is that they will come up with a new title and will suddenly realise that the door has opened for a fourth tier of champions- and more sanctioning fees, so they won’t mind looking stupid-situation normal.

The WBO are up to their tricks also. Last week Thai Knockout CP Freshmart won their interim strawweight title by beating Carlos Buitrago, getting the fight even though he had never appeared in their ratings. It seem that you have to be in the top 15 to fight for the title, but don’t have to be rated at all to fight for the interim title even though it confers the honour of being the champion whilst the real champion is indisposed (ok that was the original excuse now they don’t even pretend it has that validity). I‘ll pause for a moment as it is impossible to type and hold your head in your hands at the same time.

The Bermane Stiverne vs. Deontay Wilder fight is still not nailed down. The WBC have postponed the date for purse offers twice with both Stiverne’s promoter Don King and Wilder’s promoter Golden Boy ( and don’t think that Al Haymon is not in there somewhere) are said to be close to a deal. King is said to have made an offer to Golden Boy but it is short on details so needs firming up. It was never going to be easy with King involved. Stiverne is the one big fighter he has left in his fold and you can be sure that he is going to be looking to get options on Wilder as part of the deal. Hopefully it will be settled soon with neither part wanting to go to purse offers as the outcome is uncertain and there would be nothing to stop third party butting in.

King may have other things on his mind. When the Moscow fight between his fighter Guillermo Jones and Denis Lebedev was scrapped after Jones failed a pre-fight drug test when he, for the second time, tested positive for furosemide, World of Boxing, the promoters of the show said they were going to sue to recover their money. They took a big step in that aim when a Federal District Court in New York ruled that King was liable for breach of contract and the two parties will now try to negotiate a settlement of the damages. Two counter claims by King were dismissed by the court.

The fight between Jhonny Gonzalez and Jorge Arce was totally one-sided with figures being produced to show that Arce landed just 49 punches in the eleven rounds. Gonzalez was definitely soft-peddling which just dragged the pain out for Arce. Was it a worthwhile fight? Well it drew a 10,000 attendance and around 28 million viewers so it was worthwhile for someone.

Floyd Mayweather Jr made a quick trip to Moscow where he held a master class for young boxers and did some sparring and went through his warm-up routine. He turned up with a retinue of about 30 personnel but in a press conference ducked any question of a fight with Manny Pacquiao. Lenin and Stalin must have been spinning in their graves. The ultimate symbol of capitalism “Money” Mayweather feted in Moscow.

In the space of a couple of days two big fights fell out through injury. The ankle injury to Saul Alvarez cancelled his December 6 date and an injury to the left leg of Odlanier Solis has meant his return fight with Tony Thompson has been put back to November 22.

We could se a repeat of the Grigory Drozd vs. Krzys Wlodarczyk fight. Drozd won the WBC title but it seems that there was a return clause in the contract granting Wlodarczyk the right to challenge for his old title within eight months of losing it. That hardly gives Drozd the chance of a money making voluntary defence but as he was only rated No 4 by the WBC it could be that they will order a fight with No 1 Rakhim Chakhkiev, so nothing is certain.

Sauerland Event has moved quickly to fill the gap left by the end of their contract with ARD. They are about to announce the signing of an agreement with TV company SAT 1 to cover 8 shows a year. Reportedly SAT 1 are paying a lot less than ARD were, ARD were reportedly paying EU 750,000, but it is vital to have the security of a TV contract which allows you to plan ahead and get exposure for your fighters.

The fight between Matt Korobov and Andy Lee for the vacant WBO middle title is a winnable for both fighters which makes it interesting. Lee has had the usual reassessment by the WBO ratings guys. In their July ratings he was No 8 and by August was up to No 3 but it is not always clear when these ratings are published. This fight replaces the proposed Korobov vs. Demetrius Andrade fight which Andrade turned down as he preferred to stay at light middle.

Sergio Martinez is going into the theatre business. The former world champion has signed a contract to appear at theatres and reflect on his life as a boxer. He has been coy about whether he will box again, refusing to rule out the possibility.

Still on Argentina a gala is being put together which would see 300 competitors taking part in 150 contests on the same night. It is intended that there should be six rings. One each for boxing, K1, MMA, kick boxing, Muay Thai and wrestling. It could get confusing. I can envisage a boxer getting knocked out and saying when he come round “that punch felt like a kick in the head” only to be told he had strayed into the Muay Thai ring by mistake.

King Sports World promoted their first big show when they put on the Hassan N’Dam N’Jikam vs Curtis Stevens WBA eliminator last week. They had pinched the fight out from under the noses of Main Events with a surprise bid of $80,000 to Main Events bid of $62,000. To some extent they were gambling on a N’Jikam win and that gives them a seat at the table when Sam Solomon (or Jermain Taylor) are faced with a mandatory defence. King,s company are also involved in TV successes such as Wheel of Fortune and the Oprah Winfrey Show so have money behind them.

One of the top referees in the world passed away last week. Star Class referee Ray Solis was the first Mexican referee to handle a world heavyweight title fight and was also third man in the ring for so many great fights featuring champions such as Wilfredo Gomez, Sugar Ramos, Jose Napoles, Ruben Olivares, Miguel Canto, Frank Bruno, Jeff Fenech, Hilario Zapata and so many others. Ray was 93 at his passing. RIP Ray.

A Russian-based body calling itself the Eurasian Federation announced that they sanctioned Roy Jones’s fight in Krasnodar on 29 September and it was therefore not illegal. Since there is more than one boxing body in Russia it is a valid argument. However, I would not be in such a hurry to have my name associated with the farcical fight but they obviously believe there is no such thing as bad press.

Kazak-born Russian fight figure Wlademar Klyuh has been sentenced to three years for blackmail, extortion and attempted fraud. Klyuh was involved with the careers of Rakhim Chakhkiev, Ruslan Chagaev, Denis Boystov and others. The case concerned the sale by Klaus-Peter Kohl of his Universum boxing company to Klyuh. When the money for the sale was not forthcoming Kohl decided to go to court and he then received death threats in mobile phone messages.

Heavyweight David Tua is going to university at the age of 41. The Samoan-born New Zealander is enrolling at AucklandUniversity with his aim being a degree in Social Sciences. He has also said that his loss to Alex Ustinov in November was not necessarily his last fight.

Upcoming fights to look for: Good show in Chicago on 1 November will see Tomoki Kameda defending his WBO bantam title against Alejandro Hernandez with elder brother Koki facing Roberto Vasquez at bantam, Javier Fortuna taking on Abner Cotto in a Puerto Rico vs. Dominican Republic duel, Andrzej Fonfara facing Doudou Ngumbu and Roberto Garcia also on the bill. Anthony Mundine gets yet another chance to revive his career when he faces Sergey Rabchenko in Melbourne on 12 November. Rabchenko’s WBC Silver title will be on the line along with his WBC No 2 rating. If Mundine wins he could be in line for a fight for Floyd Mayweather’s WBC title. Best of luck in selling that one to Showtime. On 14 November in San Juan Puerto Rico unbeaten Jose Pedraza faces experienced Filipino Michael Farenas in an IBF super feather eliminator with the winner facing Rances Barthelemy in 2015. Evgeny Gradovich defends his IBF feather title against unbeaten Puerto Rican Jayson Velez (22-0) in Omaha on November 29. This is on the undercard of Terrence Crawford’s defence of his WBO light title against Ray Beltran. There is talk of a Brando Rios vs. Mike Alvarado fight but nothing definite yet. Ruslan Provodnikov will fight in Moscow on November 28 but no opponent named. It is almost three years he last fought in his home country. There is talk of Joan Guzman returning to action on 31 October with the venue to be a restaurant in Nashville which is owned by his new manager. No opponent nominated yet. With his weight-making troubles I am not sure that having a manager who owns a restaurant is such a good idea,

We all know boxing is a young mans game-sometimes. How about the show in Oklahoma City on 27 September in descending order the following boxer were in “action” Ron Aubrey-48, Yori Boy!! Campas-43, Grady Brewer-43, Ricardo Mayorga-41, Shannon Miller-39, Allan Medina 36, Julio Cesar Lanzas-36, Said Ouali-35 and Samuel Peter-34. There was limited car parking as the bath chairs took up most of the space and the medics were there to give the fighters oxygen-before the fights.