HOUSTON -- Your weekly random thoughts …
• Just when you thought a sanctioning body could get no more repulsive, the WBA has exceeded even my brutally low expectations.
The WBA already had become a farce with its so-called "super champion" designation. The WBA claims it elevates its titleholders to super champion status when that beltholder unifies titles with any of the other most recognized organizations. It then declares the "regular" title vacant and matches two of the leading contenders in its horrid rankings. The WBA says it is to give the unified titleholder more time to make a mandatory defense. People with a clue see it for what it is -- an opportunity for the WBA to grab a second sanctioning fee in the same division.
As bad as that situation is -- and don't even get me started about the fact the WBA also sometimes has an interim titleholder, giving it three so-called champions in some divisions -- the WBA has sunk to deeper lows, something I didn't even think was possible.
When Nate Campbell failed to make weight for his Feb. 14 lightweight title defense against Ali Funeka, all of his belts were vacated -- the IBF, WBO and WBA "super" title.
The IBF and WBO have both ordered fights to fill their vacancies. The IBF belt will be filled by a match between Joan Guzman and Yuri Romanov. The WBO's vacant trinket will be an added bonus Saturday night when lineal champion Juan Manuel Marquez defends the real title against Juan Diaz in a great matchup, one that certainly doesn't need alphabet soup poured all over it. But if the WBO wants to sanction the fight, fine. At least it's a match between the world's two best lightweights.
However, what the WBA is doing is such a joke, and so reprehensible, that the organization should immediately be disallowed from doing business in the United States because of its fraudulent nature.
While Campbell was the WBA's super champion, an unknown fighter named Paulus Moses (whom I do not rank among the world's 10 best lightweights) won the WBA regular title from the similarly obscure Yusuke Kobori in January.
Once Campbell vacated his other alphabet belts, he was no longer a unified titleholder. Therefore the WBA's super title in the lightweight division no longer existed and Moses became the one and only WBA titleholder. That means the only way another WBA super champion could be created was by having Moses fight another titleholder, with the unified winner gaining that designation.
But leave it to the WBA to get creative in an obvious attempt to squeeze out a few more bucks. What did it do? Gilberto Mendoza Sr. sanctioned Marquez-Diaz to be fought for the vacant super title, completely ignoring the rules under which the super title exists in the first place.
The WBA is an evil organization, but the blame for this atrocity must also fall at the feet of Golden Boy Promotions, which facilitated the sanction with the WBA, and the fighters for agreeing to pay part of their purses to take part in such a ridiculous sham.
• I aspire to someday be a unified interim super champion emeritus in recess. Or better yet, how about a unified super emeritus interim champion in recess?
• Whatever you may have thought about the Top Rank pay-per-view card this past week headlined by Kelly Pavlik and Miguel Cotto in separate bouts from different cities -- Pavlik in Youngstown, Ohio, and Cotto in New York -- you have to give huge props to Top Rank for flawlessly pulling off such a challenging event and turning it into an event that received a lot of buzz. Keep in mind that Top Rank is a small company and is not a television network, yet it is the only promotional outfit with the moxie to even attempt such a difficult event on its own with no network support, no network production money and a staff split between two cities. Bob Arum and Todd duBoef are not beholden to any network and aren't afraid to take risks and spend their money in an effort to stick to their business model. It's expensive to produce a telecast like that, especially with HD production trucks and standard trucks in both cities and giant screens installed in each arena to show the other's main event. I visited the truck outside Madison Square Garden for a few minutes before the show went on the air and it was controlled chaos under the steady guiding hand of producer Rick "Coconut" Seara. After the show was over and they had pulled it off, Seara told me that when the idea of the split-site show -- a logistical nightmare -- was presented to him, he was a little concerned. No need to worry. It went off without a hitch.
• How popular is Pavlik? In Youngstown for his fight this past week, which was sold out with a building-record 7,288, the live gate was $1.2 million, according to Arum. That's amazing for such a depressed area. In contrast, Cotto's fight against Jennings the same night at Madison Square Garden drew 11,120 fans and a gate just short of $1 million.
• How's this for pathetic: The NCAA is bullying Roy Jones' Square Ring because Jones' March 21 pay-per-view fight with Omar Sheika is titled "March Badness," a tag line numerous boxing matches have used over the years. The NCAA is threatening legal action against Jones' company for using the title because it believes it is a trademark infringement on "March Madness." Though the NCAA never has gone after any other fight with that title, this is a typical example of the organization's draconian nature. As if anyone on the planet would possibly confuse the promotion for a combined boxing and mixed martial arts card with college basketball. … The NCAA's actions make it look about as cool as the WBA.
• When I saw Cuban bantamweight sensation Guillermo Rigondeaux fight in the 2000 and 2004 Olympics, where he won gold medals in both tournaments, I believed he was the best amateur fighter on earth -- even better than teammates Yuriorkis Gamboa and the great Mario Kindelan. Now that Rigondeaux has finally escaped Cuba (after multiple attempts), defected to Miami and signed with Arena Box-Promotion -- the same company that represents other Cuban defectors such as Gamboa, Odlanier Solis and Erislandy Lara -- I am quite interested to see what he can do as a professional. However, pardon me if my enthusiasm is a bit dampened because Rigondeaux, who left behind a wife and two children, is now 28 and hasn't boxed since being kicked off the Cuban national team 18 months ago after an unsuccessful defection attempt during the Pan-American Games. Had Rigondeaux not been booted, he would have been the clear favorite for Olympic gold in Beijing last summer. But after being away from the sport for so long, and with a ton of mileage on his boxing odometer already, I have my doubts that he can be as good as he may have been had he found his way here five years ago. But I wish him good luck.
• A note of condolence to former welterweight champ Ike Quartey. According to Quartey's promoter, Lou DiBella, the fighter's wife, Barbara Quartey, died suddenly over the weekend in their native Ghana after experiencing problems breathing. Quartey has always been as tough as they come. Hopefully, he'll be strong enough to get through this horrible situation.
• If Arum is serious about trying to build toward a Pavlik-Arthur Abraham fight late this year, and about his desire to put Abraham on Pavlik's next undercard in June or July in Cleveland, that's something to look forward to. So if Pavlik is facing John Duddy, Vernon Forrest or Sergio Mora -- the three leading candidates for the fight, according to Arum -- how about matching Abraham with someone like American Randy Griffin, a legitimate contender who gave Felix Sturm (the other German middleweight titleholder) two tough fights in a draw and a decision loss? It probably wouldn't hurt that he's from Ohio border state Kentucky.
• Since there won't be a Cotto-Shane Mosley rematch in June, I want to see Cotto face Joshua Clottey. He's the best available opponent, it's a fight that can easily be made because Top Rank promotes both fighters, it's a fight both HBO and Showtime would obviously be interested in, and I believe it would be a good fight. And how about Mosley facing fellow titleholder Andre Berto? After all, their promoters were close to putting that fight together for January until Antonio Margarito came around and accepted a fight with Mosley.
• Rocky Juarez has had four world-title shots: one at featherweight and three at junior lightweight. If he can't grab the brass ring when he challenges featherweight titleholder Chris John on Saturday night, I don't think he'll get another opportunity. How many shots should one fighter get?
• I know I've ripped British fans more than once for their disgusting booing of "The Star Spangled Banner" before Ricky Hatton fights in America. But the pigs who booed "God Save the Queen" before England's Michael Jennings faced Cotto on Saturday night in New York showed no class, either.
• As much as I love the Hatton-Manny Pacquiao fight, I beg that Golden Boy and Top Rank put on a strong undercard, not the crap they put on under Pacquiao-Oscar De La Hoya in December.
• A thumbs-up to HBO, which finally showed round-card girls during its Feb. 14 "Boxing After Dark" telecast, for the first time in years. They used to be a staple of the telecast until somebody apparently got all prudish, which never made sense on a network that offers such fare as "G-String Divas." Anyway, their return was a welcome sight.
• The Wladimir Klitschko-David Haye fight at least has a fighting chance to happen now that Golden Boy's Richard Schaefer, Haye's American promoter, has stepped into the talks to undo all the damage done by Haye trainer and manager David Booth. Maybe now sanity will prevail.
• With Showtime stalwart Chad Dawson making the jump to HBO for his light heavyweight title rematch with Antonio Tarver, and with Showtime picking up HBO staple Jermain Taylor's super middleweight title challenge of Carl Froch, doesn't it seem like the networks simply traded franchise players? In terms of the fights they're getting, Showtime got the better end of the deal by a lot. But in terms of the future prospects of both fighters, HBO probably got the fighter with a greater upside.
• It's only February, but at the end of the year, middleweight Matvey Korobov's sick one-punch knockout of Cory Jones, who went to sleep face-first in the fourth round on Saturday, will certainly receive knockout of the year consideration. It was absolutely spectacular. I love Korobov's potential, and a huge knockout like that one is just one of many reasons to be high on him.
• Paging Mikkel Kessler.
• DVD pick of the week: In honor of Floyd Mayweather's 32nd birthday on Tuesday, I dipped into the archive for what I consider the greatest performance of his career. I was ringside for his stellar 10th-round TKO of the late Diego "Chico" Corrales on Jan. 20, 2001, when Mayweather just shook Corrales in what looked like an effortless performance. Mayweather, defending the junior lightweight championship against Corrales, who was 33-0 at the time and favored by many to win, scored five knockdowns before Corrales' corner finally threw in the towel in the 10th round. Corrales would go on to win other titles and beat other excellent fighters, but he could do nothing against Mayweather. At 32, Mayweather isn't getting any younger and has been out of the ring since December 2007, but I still think he will end his retirement at some point. But even if he does, the win over Corrales probably will remain his greatest night in a prize ring.
Dan Rafael
