WBA: Not so wretched anymore?

Sanctioning body making promised progress on reducing titles

For many years I have been extremely hard on the WBA for handing out multiple titles in the same weight class — super titles, regular, interim, gold — to the point where I have openly campaigned and written that the organization should be eradicated from existence for such absurd activity many call criminal. You may have seen my tweets referring to it as the #wretchedWBA.

Years ago WBA president Gilberto Mendoza Jr., who I actually have always had a friendly and cordial relationship with but who was responsible for letting things get so out of control, told me he would try to reduce the number of belts. He told me that on multiple occasions.

At one point, for a little while at least, he seemed to be following through. Then things got even worse and then utterly out of control to the point where the WBA recently had 40-something titleholders in 17 weight classes — and that didn’t even include the gold titleholders. If you took the other three major sanctioning bodies and added all of their world titleholders together it came out to a little over 50.

In the WBA, however, everybody had a title and, of course, it took a 3 percent fee from the purse from every one of those fighters to line its pockets. The WBA did it with impunity, creating secondary, interim and gold titles nonstop. I am immersed in boxing every single day and even I could not keep track of all of the WBA titleholders, so how could a normal sports fan have any remote clue?

Interim titles are fine if there’s a bona fide injury to a champion. But long interim title reigns with several defenses? Absolutely not acceptable, but the promoters and networks looked the other way and paid to put those fights on. They also shoulder significant blame because without a buyer the seller would be out of business.

Finally, things came to a head on Aug. 7, when the WBA sanctioned a pointless vacant interim welterweight title fight in Minneapolis between Gabriel Maestre, who was 3-0 and belonged nowhere near a world title fight of any kind, and late replacement Mykal Fox.

When Fox was outright robbed of what should have been a lopsided decision win in the Premier Boxing Champions bout televised nationally on the Fox network, there was wide outrage, not only because of the heinous scoring from all three judges in favor of favored son Maestre, but also due to the absurdity of the title fight even existing in the first place.

From the ashes of that absolute train wreck, however, may have come a good thing. First, the WBA stripped Maestre and ordered a rematch (although Fox has declined). Then the WBA, fearful for its business, had no choice but to change its ways.

Besides intense pressure from fans and media came a letter from Association of Boxing Commissions president Mike Mazzulli that shook the WBA to its core and sent it into immediate damage control. In the letter (one that should have been sent years ago, by the way), Mazzulli spelled out in black and white what needed to happen.

Mazzulli wrote to the WBA that having at least three titles per division “is misleading to the public and the boxers” and added that if the WBA didn’t clean up its act the ABC would recommend to its membership — which is essentially every state and tribal commission in the United States and Canada — that it not recognize WBA-sanctioned bouts. If ABC members were to refuse to regulate WBA bouts that would essentially put the WBA out of business because it generates most of its revenue in the U.S.

Mazzulli’s letter also said it would consider recommending to its members barring the WBA from having any role in recommending officials for its bouts and from allowing its supervisors at ringside.

Then, last week, the WBA found religion and at long last seems to be taking things seriously when it comes to reducing the number of titles. It is doing this to save its business, not because it all of a sudden realized the damage it has done to the sport for so long. But, hey, whatever works.

On Aug. 25 — my birthday, so what a wonderful gift! — the sanctioning body announced that effective immediately it would terminate recognition of all of its interim titleholders.

The WBA had 11 interim titleholders in the 17 divisions and they were now all eliminated. The fighters stripped were:

• Heavyweight Daniel Dubois

• Light heavyweight Robin Krasniqi

• Middleweight Chris Eubank Jr.

• Junior welterweight Alberto Puello

• Lightweight Rolando Romero

• Junior lightweight Chris Colbert

• Featherweight Michael Conlan

• Junior featherweight Ra’eese Aleem

• Flyweight Luis Concepcion

• Junior flyweight Daniel Matellon

• Strawweight Erick Rosa

Further, the WBA said that the gold titleholders “will no longer appear ‘above the rankings.’” Instead, the WBA would list them among its rated fighters in each division in “another step in the plan to reduce titles.”

The WBA went on to say that “while the interim championships are no longer in effect and the interim title fights that had been approved will now be eliminator fights, the WBA has also announced a number of mandatory and box-off fights between selected fighters.”

It is actually going to follow its rules that govern mandatory fights and the timeframe in which they must occur. As part of that process, the WBA began to order its “regular” titleholders to face the now-stripped interim titleholders in mandatory defenses.

‘We are reducing our champions. We accept the criticism of the media; we accept the criticism of the fans.’ — WBA president Gilberto Mendoza Jr.

On Friday, it ordered featherweight titlist Leigh Wood, of England, and former interim titlist Conlan, of Northern Ireland, to meet. The winner will become the mandatory challenger to “super” titleholder Leo Santa Cruz, although Santa Cruz has not boxed at featherweight since February 2019, having fought his last two bouts at junior lightweight, and it remains to be seen if he will return to the division.

The WBA gave Wood and Conlan 30 days to negotiate. If they do not make a deal by Sept. 27, a purse bid will be called with the split being 55 percent for Wood and 45 percent for Conlan.

The WBA made the same order in the strawweight division, mandating that “regular” titlist Vic Saludar, of the Philippines, and now-former interim titlist Rosa, of the Dominican Republic, must fight. If they don’t make a deal by Sept. 26 a purse bid will be called with Saludar entitled to 55 percent and Rosa 45 percent. The winner would become the mandatory challenger for Thailand’s Knockout CP Freshmart, who is the “super” titleholder.

“We are reducing our champions,” Mendoza said in a recent Zoom call with media members. “We accept the criticism of the media; we accept the criticism of the fans.”

To assist in the reduction of titles, Mendoza announced on the same call the appointment of Gary Shaw as “chief of staff” to serve essentially as an adviser. In Shaw, Mendoza picked a no-nonsense guy. I’ve known Shaw for 21 years and he knows boxing and won’t pull any punches with Mendoza in my opinion. Shaw spent years on the New Jersey State Athletic Control Board and then was for many years one of the top promoters in the sport, although he has been in semi-retirement in recent years. But this is as good a reason to come out of retirement as I can think of, to help the WBA shape up.

In addition to dealing with the interim titleholders, the WBA is also finally getting around to cleaning up others aspects of its swampy title picture, such as forcing fighters with belts in multiple divisions to pick which the one they will keep.

To that end, the WBA notified Gervonta Davis, the “super” junior lightweight titlist and the “regular” titlist at lightweight and junior welterweight, that he had to pick. Davis sent an email to Mendoza over the weekend in which he vacated the junior lightweight belt (paving the way for “regular” titlist Roger Gutierrez to become the only titlist the WBA has in the division). Davis also asked that the WBA allow him to retain his other two belts until his next fight, which will be this fall but has not yet been scheduled. Davis said he would notify the WBA within 48 hours following his next fight (if he wins) which one he would keep. That is a very reasonable request and the WBA did the right thing by approving it.

The WBA is also dealing with Erislandy Lara, who holds the “regular” title at both junior middleweight and middleweight. It sent him a follow-up letter on Monday notifying him that if he does not get back to the organization by the 5 p.m. ET Tuesday to let it know which title he wants to keep the WBA will make the decision for him.

But there is more to do. The WBA also must get serious about ordering “super” titleholders and “regular” titleholders to fight. And it must accommodate boxers such as lightweight contender Michel Rivera, who on July 3 knocked out Jon Fernandez in a title eliminator and paid a sanctioning fee with the expectation he would get a mandatory shot at a world title.

So far, the WBA is off to a good start with its title reduction plan. I just hope it stays the course, because there is still work to be done.

Davis photo: Amanda Westcott/Showtime