Boxing News – July 04, 2019

4 lBOXING NEWSlJULY 4, 2019 http://www.boxingnewsonline.net

EDITOR’S LETTER

GIFTED:

Alvarez is

presented

with a

glove by

Sulaiman

WE WILL ALWAYS LOVE YOU

Coming

next time

l WE examine

one of the most

intriguing fights

of the year as

unbeaten duo

Daniel Dubois

and Nathan

Gorman do

battle for the

vacant British

heavyweight

title.

l THE

increasingly

bizarre bill

featuring

Amir Khan and

Hughie Fury in

Saudi Arabia

is also given

the preview

treatment.

l IT’S been

10 years since

Arturo Gatti

passed away.

We pay tribute

to the great

warrior.

l AVAILABLE to

download from

July 9 and the

print edition is

in stores on

July 11.

On the

website

l FASCINATING

interview with

a spitting mad

Jeff Fenech.

l WE identify

the best boxing

books.

l LOOKING back

on the ‘Bite

Fight’.

l FOR all the

day’s boxing

news, read Elliot

Worsell’s Boxing

News At Five.

The WBC’s latest gift to Canelo Alvarez is a gift too far

HE World Boxing
Council’s decision
to create a
Franchise title and
award it to Saul
“Canelo” Alvarez
as a replacement
for his world
middleweight belt is
beyond ludicrous.
The situation,
purely of the
sanctioning body’s
making, appears
to have been
triggered by the
latest round of
negotiations for the
Mexican superstar’s
next fight, scheduled to take place on
September 14 in Las Vegas. The sport’s
most marketable man is believed to
have targeted Gennady Golovkin, the
WBC’s No.1 middleweight contender,
before turning his attention to WBO
light-heavyweight champion Sergey
Kovalev after “GGG” raised some
objections to fighting Canelo in Sin City
for a third time. Two highly controversial
decisions inside the T-Mobile Arena
(a draw in 2017 and a loss in 2018)
certainly validate Golovkin’s concerns.
Not under consideration from Team
Canelo was Jermall Charlo, the owner of
the WBC’s bogus ‘Interim’ belt and their
mandatory contender at middleweight.
Alvarez’s failure to take on the leading
contenders at 160lbs should just have
resulted in the 28-year-old being
stripped. There is no need to muster up

some expensive tat to soften the blow.

After all, Canelo heading up to 175lbs is

a move that will only enhance his legacy

should he prove successful.

Canelo does not regard the WBC’s

world title as highly as the WBC regards

him - otherwise he’d make every effort

to defend it. Not a snub, necessarily,

just an admission that he’s moving on.

Rather than accepting this, the WBC go

out of their way to create a new belt

that he can take with him. A belt to

show Canelo that they will always love

him. In short, to admit that the fighter is

bigger than the organisation and, more

concerning, their rules and regulations.

From what Boxing News can gather,

the title basically gives Alvarez free reign

to do as he pleases, to ignore mandatory

commitments and to act as an

ambassador for the WBC. It also appears

to make total unification impossible.

The WBC have created extra

confusion in an already mind-boggling

landscape. One can only imagine how

Michael Buffer will feel when he is

forced to announce Canelo as Franchise

champion and the tuts and sniggers that

will follow at ringside.

The WBC’s president Mauricio

Sulaiman has always made it clear

that the interests of the boxers must

come first. In many ways, he should be

applauded for this, and his efforts to

ensure the sport is as safe as possible

cannot be matched by any of the

other sanctioning bodies. Indeed, his

war on drugs with the Clean Boxing

Programme was a huge step in the right

direction. He does so many great things

for the sport behind the scenes that go

unnoticed, too.

But the flipside is how Sulaiman

appears to have singled out Canelo,

boxing’s biggest cash cow, for special

treatment. Last year he was forgiven by

the WBC (and, in fairness, everyone with

a vested interest) for failing a drug test.

The whole contaminated meat excuse

was lapped up following an investigation

that simply could not have proved his

innocence. Furthermore, decisions to

create these nonsensical titles, to ensure

the richest and most influential boxers

are kept onside, does nothing to help

the organisation’s reputation nor, sadly,

the sport’s.

While we’re all for boxers getting as

much as they can from the trade, this

latest development is a step too far.

Those claiming to sanction and govern

the sport must be seen to be in control,

rather than handing that control to

certain fighters out of fear that they will

lose their association with them if they

do not.

Sulaiman is an exceptionally likeable

man, one who holds the sport close to

his heart and one who is deeply proud

of the WBC’s heritage. And one who

scoffed when BN recently put it to him

that the manufacturing of multiple belts

was no better than what the World

Boxing Association have been guilty

of in recent years with the creation of

‘Super’ and ‘Regular’ titles. Frankly, this

Franchise strap is the worst of the lot.

T

Matt

Christie

@MattCBoxingNews

Editor

Cover photography

RYAN HAFEY/PBC & TOM HOGAN/

HOGAN PHOTOS/GOLDEN BOY

Follow us and keep up to date

@BoxingNewsED BoxingNewsOnline