Your weekly random thoughts …
• As much as I've punished the awful WBA for its title lunacy (not to mention pitiful rankings), did you really think I would allow the dastardly WBC to escape my wrath for its latest attempt to further destroy boxing?
The WBC, which also loves having multiple so-called champions in the same division (although not nearly as much as the WBA), now has yet another belt it wants to hand out -- for a fee, of course.
And get this -- it won't even represent any particular weight division. Instead, the WBC, in an effort to drum up more sanctioning fees, has invented something called the "WBC Diamond Championship," which WBC president Jose Sulaiman describes (presumably with a straight face) as "an honorary championship exclusively for fights between elite boxers."
Translation: "How can we at the WBC muscle in on the action and grab a few bucks when superstars fight in catchweight bouts? How about we just make up some phony title to attach to the match?"
(And, by the way, one would think that any championship fight should be between elite boxers, right?)
Undoubtedly, the first fight the WBC will be trying to squeeze cash out of is the one between Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Juan Manuel Marquez, who are fighting Sept. 19 at 144 pounds without a title at stake.
Sulaiman said this new trinket was "approved by a unanimous vote of the WBC Board of Governors, and will actively participate to keep boxing as great as ever with new and exciting formats for the fans."
Translation: "We think boxing fans are stupid and we can make more money with this."
By the way, Sulaiman's "unanimous votes" have about as much credibility as the results from the recent Iranian presidential election.
Sulaiman went on to say, "The WBC believes that this belt will play a very important role in modern boxing as the fights between elite boxers called 'catchweight' fights have not been a complete success due to the fact that the advertising is only done for fans to know who is the best between two fighters and nothing else is at stake. The WBC will propose that the promotion renders homage to the two greatest fighters of such division, as they will be showcased in the belt."
Translation: "We'll do anything to make a buck, even something this stupid. Please, please, please, promoters and fighters -- give us your money!"
In conclusion, Sulaiman said, "I am very proud of this step taken by the WBC, as it will be in benefit of improving boxing, in benefit of the boxing fans of the world, as well as promoters, television and everybody involved in the sport of boxing."
Translation: "There's a sucker born every minute."
• Let's give credit where credit is due to promoter Gary Shaw. He has been criticized (including by me) for grabbing casino money and doing very little to help build a fan base for light heavyweight Chad Dawson. That's why, for example, Dawson fought in front of puny crowds in Las Vegas for his two fights with Antonio Tarver. Neither fight belonged there, and the pathetic gate receipts proved it. However, Shaw is taking a risk (because there are no financial guarantees) and bringing Dawson's Nov. 7 rematch with Glen Johnson to the XL Center in Hartford, Conn.; Dawson is from Connecticut. I hope Shaw and his staff get the word out so the risk pays off with a rocking crowd for an excellent fight. One downside, however, is that my pals at the WBC, which already has an active, uninjured titleholder in Jean Pascal, is sanctioning the fight for an interim title. Just what the world needs. Hey, at least it's not for the "Diamond Belt."
• The WBC hasn't limited itself to only interim titles and this "Diamond Belt" crap. Its rankings are equally disgusting. Take a look at the newest heavyweight rankings for just one example of how out of touch with reality they are. In another sign of the Apocalypse, the WBC ranks journeyman Ray Austin No. 2, meaning he looms as a possible mandatory challenger for the winner of the Vitali Klitschko-Cristobal Arreola bout. Isn't it bad enough that Austin already got one thoroughly undeserved title shot from the IBF and was obliterated by Wladimir Klitschko in two rounds in 2007?
• How about a few fights I hope happen: Tomasz Adamek versus Bernard Hopkins; Celestino Caballero versus Juan Manuel Lopez; any combination of fights between Timothy Bradley, Amir Khan and Devon Alexander; Edwin Valero versus Humberto Soto; and Hozumi Hasegawa versus Joseph "King Kong" Agbeko.
• There's supposed to be a purse bid Monday for Daniel Santos' junior middleweight mandatory title defense against Yuri Foreman. I think watching the bids be unsealed will be more exciting than the fight.
• Speaking of Santos-Foreman, you know a week can't go by without the wretched WBA making another horrific decision. The latest one is that it will sanction an Aug. 30 fight in Osaka, Japan, for an interim junior middleweight belt. Santos is supposed to defend against Foreman, but, hey, it's the WBA, so why not schedule yet another title bout in the same division? It's so much fun, right? In this case, the atrocity pits Japan's Nobuhiro Ishida (20-5-2, 7 KOs) against Marco Avendano (27-6-1, 19 KOs) of Venezuela in a rematch of a split decision Ishida won in December. Never mind that both fighters are utterly obscure and that neither journeyman even remotely deserves a title fight -- or even a title eliminator. But that doesn't matter, because the WBA won't be satisfied until it gives out multiple belts in all 17 divisions. After that happens, I'm sure the WBA will begin to create even more divisions so it can manufacture more garbage titles.
• We've got two pay-per-view cards Saturday, both priced at $34.95. One is headlined by Roy Jones Jr. against Jeff Lacy, and the other has Nonito Donaire against Rafael Concepcion. Have to be honest. Neither card really does much for me. As much as I like Donaire, I think he'll win easily. Other than the Steven Luevano-Bernabe Concepcion co-feature, the two other TV bouts are pathetic, especially when being asked to pay for them (Mark Melligen-Ernesto Zepeda and Anthony Peterson-Luis Arceo). Jones-Lacy would have really interested me about four years ago. The rest of the card is nothing to write home about: Danny Green versus Julio Cesar Dominguez in a cruiserweight fight I couldn't care less about, cruiserweight B.J. Flores facing a blown up and shot super middleweight in Epifanio Mendoza, and lightweight Verquan Kimbrough facing Jason Litzau, which figures to at least be decent. Ho hum.
• In case you missed it, the International Olympic Committee announced this week that women's boxing will be added to the schedule for the 2012 Olympic Games in London. Great. Now, we can bash the horrendous scoring system twice as much.
• And in case you missed this one, former junior featherweight and featherweight titleholder Oscar Larios announced his retirement from boxing. He should have called it quits after suffering a brain bleed in a brutal loss to Jorge Linares in Las Vegas in July 2007. Instead, Larios fought five more times. I'm glad he's seen finally the light. He made a lot of terrific fights, and I wish him well in the next phase of his life.
• I love HBO's "24/7" reality show as much as anyone, but I also miss the excellent 30-minute previews for its biggest fights. Since Kelly Pavlik-Paul Williams is the biggest fight on the fall schedule that doesn't have a "24/7" scheduled, I'd love to see "Countdown to Pavlik-Williams," but I won't hold my breath.
• DVD pick of the week: Instead of thinking too much about the old, faded Jones who fights Saturday night, I decided to delve into the archive to see him in better days. I wanted to see the electrifying Jones who dazzled every night out. So I went back to Feb. 2, 2002, in Miami, where Jones scored the knockout of the year. Granted, he was facing the less-than-stellar Glenn Kelly in one of the many horrible mandatories HBO put up with. But, still, it was Jones in his dominant light heavyweight championship form. Jones won every second of the fight before scoring an absolutely spectacular seventh-round knockout in which he went to the ropes, put his hands behind his back, juked to the right, to the left and back to the right again before unleashing a right hand from behind his back that cracked Kelly on the chin and knocked him down for the third time and out. That's the Jones I want to remember.
Dan Rafael
