WBA on verge of being wretched again if it allows Santa Cruz-Vargas unification fight
And tons more random thoughts: A dream fantasy fight; props to Chisora, Pulev; Paul-Rahman fun; poor Madrimov; Broner-Figueroa: No thanks; stuff on Bivol, 'Bam', Teofimo, Joyce, Loma; much more
A whole bunch of boxing random thoughts…
I’ve spent the past year trying to give the WBA the benefit of the doubt in its slog toward eliminating the extraneous world titles it has infected boxing with for years.
Finally, last summer, at the risk of being barred from having its fights sanctioned in the United States — where most of its revenue is generated — the WBA finally decided it would get serious about title reduction.
It terminated all interim titles on the same day and placed the fighters who held them in mandatory positions or ordered them to fight title eliminators. It also promised to order its “super” champions” to face corresponding “regular champions” with the ultimate outcome being one titleholder per division. The way it’s supposed to be, not the three (and sometimes four) titleholders it had sanctioned to make a mockery of itself and the sport.
Keep in mind that the WBA didn’t do this because it found religion and wanted to do the right thing. The WBA promised title reduction as a matter of enabling its business to survive. But as far as I was concerned whatever worked — as long as the end result was one champion per division and normalcy.
WBA president Gilberto Mendoza went so far as to bring Gary Shaw, once one of boxing’s most powerful promoters and previously part of the New Jersey commission, out of retirement to serve as his chief of staff. Shaw certainly didn’t need the gig and had been enjoying his retirement poolside in South Florida.
For a while all seemed well. The interim titles were eliminated and several fights between “super” and “regular” titleholders took place. As of today, the WBA has two titleholders in nine of the 17 divisions. Although that is a vast improvement from a year ago, the process is not moving as quickly as it should.
As best as I can tell, for example, there is zero reason for light heavyweight “super” titlist Arsen Goulamirian and “regular” titlist Ryad Merhy to not have been ordered to fight. The same goes for strawweight “super” titlist Knockout CP Freshmart and regular titlist Erik Rosa. I could go on.
Mendoza was on a good roll, but now he is backsliding. He is doing things on his own, not listening to his team and going rogue at every opportunity.
When it comes to the featherweight division, the WBA (Mendoza) did order “super” titleholder Leo Santa Cruz and “regular” titlist Leigh Wood to fight. But instead of a straight forward negotiating period followed by a purse bid if there was no deal, there has been a lot of nonsense spewed about what the split should be when those things are already in the rules and rarely fluctuate. Still, it has taken weeks and the issue is still not resolved. And now I am told the WBA (Mendoza) is inclined to approve a unification fight between Santa Cruz and newly crowned WBC titleholder Rey Vargas instead of following through with the order it already made for Santa Cruz-Wood. Santa Cruz-Vargas as a unification fight is simply unacceptable.
If Premier Boxing Champions, which works with Santa Cruz and Vargas, wants to make the match, great. It’s a worthwhile bout, but it’s certainly not some mega fight for which the WBA (Mendoza) should ignore a mandatory order already made.
If that fight is permitted as a unification match it would be the WBA (Mendoza) going back on everything promised over the past year and it would stain what has already been accomplished.
The WBA (Mendoza) has absurdly allowed Santa Cruz to keep the featherweight title despite having not defended it since February 2019. Since then, Santa Cruz has fought three times as a junior lightweight and even won the WBA title at 130 pounds. He was allowed to simultaneously hold both belts, which is against WBA rules, and then lost the junior lightweight title by brutal knockout to Gervonta Davis in October 2020.
The WBA (Mendoza) finally told Santa Cruz to decide which division he would fight and he said several months ago that he would return to featherweight and make the mandatory defense against Wood but that he would like a warm-up fight to shake off the rust of his long layoff. The WBA (Mendoza) granted it and Santa Cruz beat Keenan Carbajal in a February nontitle bout. And now he is obligated to face Wood.
But PBC apparently has other plans with Santa Cruz-Vargas very much in the picture.
If the WBA (Mendoza) permits Santa Cruz, for whom it has already bent over backwards for for years, to do anything other than fight Wood and still retain the featherweight title, it would show that the WBA (Mendoza) is not at all serious about its title reduction promise.
It would show that after all these months of giving the WBA (Mendoza) the benefit of the doubt that it is really what it showed itself to be during the height of the three-champions-per-division lunacy: wretched.
Fantasy fights are always fun to think about. Just imagine Julio Cesar Chavez vs. Roberto Duran at lightweight. I dare say that might be one of the greatest fights of all time.