SONAHR: July 12, 2015 – Not so long ago, in a boxing galaxy not so far away, the WBA ? one of four major world-championship sanctioning organizations ? decided to fracture its own titles. When a WBA title-holder wins a unification bout with the champion of another sanctioning body, instead of recognizing the unification, the WBC declared the winner a ?super? champion, and declares its ?regular? title to be vacant. It then designates a pair of contenders to contest for the ?regular? crown, leaving the WBA with two champions rather than one.
The idea probably sounded good on paper when the WBA?s bigwigs dreamed it up. But ?on paper? is where this notion should have stayed.
Of course, under the ?Super? champions policy, the organization benefits by collecting fat sanctioning fees from two title-holders in a division rather than just one. As well, fighters theoretically benefit from the availability of additional world-title belts to seek, not to mention more championship-level purses. Other than that, though, all the WBA?s ?super?-championship policy has accomplished is to create even more chaos and confusion in a sport that is far from short of either.
This past weekend provides a case in point, with two WBA ?regular? championships ? heavyweight and welterweight?on the line. Keith Thurman retained his 147-pound crown with an 8-round TKO of veteran Luis Collazo, and Ruslan Chagaev blew away the hapless Francesco Pianeta in a single heat. Thurman?s victory was also one-sided, but at least somewhat entertaining because of Collazo?s credible skills. Chagaev?s rapid demolition of Pianeta was hardly worth the price of admission.
As a rising star in the fistic firmament, Thurman deserves more than just a provisional world title. Fight after fight, he is proving himself to be one of the best bets to pick up the legacy Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao will soon leave behind. In Collazo, Thurman faced a crafty ex-champion who has several hard-luck losses on his record. No hard luck this time, though. Collazo was simply overwhelmed by a younger, supremely talented opponent who is in his prime. No disgrace in that.
On the other hand, ?disgrace? is a pretty appropriate description for the Chagaev-Pianeta fiasco. Instead of a world title fight, the encounter between these two should have been billed as a contest for the championship of the ?I Got My Ass Kicked by Wladimir Klitschko? club. Both Chagaev and Pianeta were flattened in futile challenges of the long-reigning WBA ?Super? champion. Realistically, their fight would have made for an interesting undercard bout. Yet somehow the WBA decided that this meeting of Klitschko victims was of title-fight caliber. So now Chagaev, who was an undistinguished belt-holder in the last decade, gets to call himself a world champion again.
Mind-boggling. Absolutely mind-boggling.
The whole concept of ?Super Champions? only makes sense if the WBA, WBC, IBF and WBO all buy into it, which is extremely unlikely to ever happen. With the WBA?s misguided policy of undoing the title-unifications fight fans crave, the sport of boxing continues to succeed at punching itself in the face.
Charles R. Saunders is the author of several books including Sweat and Soul: The Saga of Black Boxers in the Maritimes from the Halifax Forum to Caesars Palace, as well as the Imaro series of fantasy/adventure novels. Considered by many to be one of the leading authorities on boxing in Canada, he is the current Vice-President of Boxing for the Society of North American Sports Historians and Researchers. His novels, Imaro, Damballa, and Abengoni: First Calling are available at Amazon.com.
