Notebook: Team Pacquiao rips WBA over title being stripped and wait for belt

Bivol interested in Zurdo; Paul-Woodley details; Quick hits

When the WBA stripped Manny Pacquiao of its welterweight “super” title on Jan. 29 and re-classified him as a “champion in recess” it came as a surprise to Pacquiao and his team and without warning, and they are still upset by the move.

With Pacquiao stripped, Yordenis Ugas was promoted from “regular” titlist to “super” titleholder. But with Pacquiao (62-7-2, 39 KOs) set to challenge WBC/IBF welterweight titleholder Errol Spence Jr. (27-0, 21 KOs) on Aug. 21 (Fox PPV) at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Pacquiao’s team petitioned the WBA to be re-instated as titleholder but was denied — even though by fighting next month Pacquiao will no longer be “in recess,” not to mention that Ugas has not fought since he won the vacant secondary belt in September 2020.

The WBA’s supposed reason for stripping Pacquiao was inactivity. He has not fought since outpointing Keith Thurman in July 2019 to win the WBA “super” title and become the oldest welterweight titlist in history at age 40. The inactivity is largely due to the corona virus pandemic, which has caused numerous fighters to have lengthy layoffs.

Pacquiao and his team are upset about the situation, especially after paying hundreds of thousands of dollars to the WBA to sanction the fight with Thurman. Further, according to Sean Gibbons, president of Pacquiao’s MP Promotions, he never even received his WBA belt until this past weekend prior to the news conference he had with Spence on Sunday in Los Angeles.

“I can tell you what Manny didn’t receive — due process and respect,” Gibbons said on Monday. “It took two years to get the world title belt he earned inside the ring by beating the undefeated super champion Keith Thurman. Hell, Manny only received that belt on Saturday. The WBA never inquired about Manny’s title defense plans. The WBA never warned us Manny’s super champion status could be in jeopardy. The WBA never informed us that Manny had been designated its champion in recess. We had to read the WBA’s press release on that on the internet.

“And speaking of Keith Thurman, the WBA had no concern about his lack of activity when he went over 22 months between title defenses (Danny Garcia on March 4, 2017, and Josesito Lopez on January 26, 2019). Recess is over. The two best fighters in the welterweight division are facing each other. It should be celebrated and properly recognized. The Ring (magazine) is even blessing the winner as its welterweight champion. (The WBA) is not a sanctioning group. It is a used car lot. Take my advice. Before paying the WBA a sanctioning fee, kick the tires and read the warranty. Perhaps their new slogan should be caveat emptor.”

Pacquiao: Spence better than Floyd

Pacquiao and Spence came face to face for their nationally televised kickoff press conference ahead of their Aug. 21 Fox Sports PPV fight — the biggest bout of the summer — on Sunday at the Fox studios in Los Angeles.

Pacquiao and Spence kept things highly professional but there was one ear-catching, eyebrow-raising comment from Pacquiao, who said he thought Spence was better than Floyd Mayweather, the retired pound-for-pound great, who beat Pacquiao in their 2015 record-breaking mega event.

Mayweather recently said he was pulling for Spence and that he would call him and offer him pointers on how to beat Pacquiao.

I wrote about that and the news conference for World Boxing News. Please read that story here: https://www.worldboxingnews.net/2021/07/12/manny-pacquiao-spence-floyd-mayweather/

Bivol-Ramirez?

Immediately after light heavyweight contender Gilberto “Zurdo” Ramirez destroyed Sullivan Barrera with an overwhelming body assault in an impressive fourth-round knockout victory on Friday night at the Banc of California Stadium in Los Angeles, he called out world titleholder Dmitry Bivol.

“I think my performance was great. I’m taking souls. Bivol, you’re next,” Ramirez said in the ring after the fight, calling out a fighter nobody calls out.

Asked specifically if he was ready to fight Bivol, Ramirez, a former super middleweight world titlist, who has won all three of his fights since moving up to light heavyweight, replied, “You have to ask him is he ready for me?”

As it turns out, Bivol (18-0, 11 KOs), 30, of Russia, who knocked out Barrera (22-4, 14 KOs) in the 12th round of a March 2018 title defense in New York, is also interested in fighting Ramirez (42-0, 28 KOs), 30, a southpaw from Mexico.

“Congratulations on your confident victory. I hope we can make out fight happen soon,” Bivol said about Barrera to Fight Freaks Unite.

Vadim Kornilov, Bivol’s manager, said he and his fighter are on the same page as he also wants to make the fight, which has no broadcaster issues as both fight on DAZN, which would get a marquee match if the fight is made.

“We are definitely interested in the fight,” Kornilov said. “We hope that someone is willing to make the fight happen. Bivol has called Zurdo put before as well.”

Golden Boy, which signed Barrera in February, and Bivol promoter Eddie Hearn of Matchroom Boxing, spoke about the prospect of the fight for later in the year as long as both men prevailed in interim fights.

Those interim fights have now taken place and both have been victorious with Ramirez easily knocking out Barrera and Bivol outpointing Craig Richards on May 1 in Manchester, England to retain his 175-pound title for the seventh time.

Ramirez has also professed interest in challenging unified world champion Artur Beterbiev or titlist Joe Smith Jr., although Bivol is his most desired foe. Kornilov said Bivol has other options but likes the Ramirez fight.

Paul-Woodley card update

The date and site for the eight-round fight between popular social media personality and novice cruiserweight Jake Paul (3-0, 3 KOs), 24, of Los Angeles, and former UFC star Tyron Woodley, 39, of St. Louis, is set.

Showtime, which will carry the card on Showtime PPV, announced on Monday that that the fight will take place on Aug. 29 (a Sunday, beginning at 8 p.m. ET) — confirming last week’s report by Fight Freaks Unite — at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse in Cleveland, Ohio. Paul grew up in the Cleveland suburbs.

Also announced was that unified women’s featherweight titlist Amanda Serrano (40-1-1, 30 KOs), 32, a Puerto Rico native fighting out of Brooklyn, New York, will defend her belts against junior featherweight titlist Yamileth Mercado (18-2, 5 KOs), 23, of Mexico, on the undercard.  

“I grew up going to Cavs, Browns and Indians games on the weekends, dreaming as a little kid of one day being in a position to put on a show for my hometown like they did,” said Paul, whose Most Valuable Promotions is promoting the card. “On Aug. 29, that dream comes true. My biggest challenge to date, in front of the city that made me, on pay-per-view for the world to see me knockout a UFC champion. I’m also thrilled to have Amanda Serrano on this card. She stands out as the most prolific KO artist in women’s boxing.”

Woodley, who held a UFC title from 2016 to 2019, will be making his professional boxing debut in the fight contracted at 190 pounds and will be Paul’s second fight in a row against a former UFC star, having knocked out Ben Askren, a good friend of Woodley’s, in the first round on April 17.

“I'm a grown ass man,” Woodley said. “I don't play games with kids. They brought me in to take the trash out. You're welcome!”

Quick hits

Per sources, super middleweight Vladimir Shishkin (12-0, 7 KOs), 29, who is trained by SugarHill Steward and was in the Tyson Fury training camp in Las Vegas, is one of the several people in the camp to come down with Covid-19. For that reason, Shishkin has been forced to withdraw from an IBF title elimination bout against Russian countryman Evgeny Shvedenko (15-0, 6 KOs), 30, that was slated to take place July 31 in Eggenstein, Germany. Salita Promotions, Shishkin’s promoter, recently defaulted on its $355,000 winning purse bid, which allowed Shvedenko promoter Facher Sport to take over promotional rights as the underbidder at $277,308.

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Three-division boxing champion Claressa Shields, the reigning undisputed women’s junior middleweight world champion, will be back in action for her second MMA fight on a PFL card on Aug. 19 (ESPN) at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Hollywood, Florida, manager Mark Taffet told Fight Freaks Unite. Shields, 26, of Flint, Michigan, won her MMA debut with a comeback third-round knockout of Brittney Elkin in their 155-pound main event on June 10 at the Ocean Casino Resort in Atlantic City, New Jersey. After the August bout, Shields will look toward a boxing match in the fall.

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Former lightweight world titlist Ray Beltran (36-9-1, 22 KOs), 39, is scheduled to return to the ring on a hometown club card at the Legends Event Center in Phoenix on Friday night. He is due to fight Daniel Perales Osorio (12-20-2, 6 KOs), 29, of Mexico, in an eight-round junior welterweight bout. Beltran, who is a free agent following the expiration of his promotional deal with Top Rank, has not fought since then-lightweight world titlist Richard Commey knocked him out in the eighth round in June 2019.

Show and tell

I’ve been enjoying collecting the 100-card Muhammad Ali “The People’s Champ” set being put out by Topps on its website, where two new cards are offered for one week beginning each Tuesday throughout the year. When the new cards for the week are unveiled Topps releases the print runs of the previous week’s cards, which have been as high as 4,043 for card No. 1 and as low as 860 for card No. 46, which depicts Ali making the trip to Zaire to fight George Foreman.

The design of the cards are changed every few cards to a look like a classic Topps card set. The set, which goes chronologically through Ali’s career, has reached card No. 50. Here is card No. 33 in my collection. Its design is based on the 1971 Topps football set and is one of the cards that depicts Ali’s first legendary fight with Joe Frazier. So far, I like the set. While it has featured many great photos the one downside is there is little in the way of action shots, which I believe has to do with Topps not having the rights to show most of his opponents. Nonetheless, if you’re an Ali fan or love boxing cards it’s a worthy set to collect.

Pacquiao photos: Ryan Hafey/PBC