"The 140lb division, and the Champion Emeritus"

Recently the WBC has seen fit to strip "Undisputed" 140 LB. Super Lightweight Champion Kostya Tszyu of his WBC version of the three titles he owns. The reasons stated for this being a lack of mandatory defenses. Wow the one person the WBC stips for this happens to be Undisputed Champion.
The #1 Challenger for Kostya Tszyu's title was Gianluca Branco ( Ever heard of him? Don't worry neither has anyone else.) A man who has no defining, potential displaying fight. A man who hasn't fought anyone worth remembering, or ever knowing for that matter.
Now don't get me wrong I am in favor of mandatory defenses, but the point of the mandatory defense was to assure that the top fighters got shot's at the title. Gianluca Branco is in no way the top challenger in the 140 lb Super Lightweight division.
Tszyu has stated his reason for not fighting Gianluca Branco as being his unworthyness. Now granted most champion's who are avoinding their mandatory challengers state the same ( Lennox Lewis stated Vitali Klitschko was unworthy for a year and a half before barely surviving their long awaiting bout.) while the champion continues to fight sub-par / mediocre opponents. This is not the case with Kostya Tszyu, Tszyu has consistently fought ( aside from frequent sidelining due to injuries ) top ten fighters , Ben Tackie, Sharmba Mitchell, and Zab Judah just to name a few. The fight Tszyu signed onto instead of Branco this time, was a much deserved rematch for Sharmba Mitchell, who had to retire early from the previous bout due to partial ligament tear in his left knee. Upon recovery Mitchell has returned to win his last five fights against such opponents as Vince Phillips and Ben Tackie (Both far superior fighter's to any of Gianluca Branco's opponents, just to prove a point Gianluca's last opponent had the impressively horrible record of 5 wins 8 losses and 1 draw, the fighter before this boasted a record of 31-22-4, top quality opponents? I don't think so.) Having such unworthy mandatories, takes away from the stature of the belt, especially when you consider the fighters not named #1, Arturo Gatti, Vivian Harris, Ricky Hatton, Miguel Cotto, Paul Spadafora, Panchito Bojado. There is an endless amount of talent in this division, why is such a sub-par fighter ranked top fighter?
Upon deciding to vacate Tszyu's title the WBC decided to create a rank especially for Kostya Tszyu. "Champion Emeritus of the World". Which by definition means "Retired but retaining an honorary title corresponding to that held immediately before retirement." This also means that even though he holds no official WBC title, Kostya Tszyu will be honored as champion forever. This move means much more than just whats stated, since Kostya no longer holds the official WBC title, he is no longer considered "Undisputed" Champion. Tszyu's status know "Unified WBA, IBF champion.
The WBC has decided to pit #1 contender Gianluca Branco vs. #2 contender Arturo Gatti, Gatti, coming off 3 of the best ever bouts versus retired but never forgotten Micky Ward, is argueable one of (if not the) most popular fighters in any weight division south of Heavyweight. As a champion Arturo Gatti would bring in the biggest T.V. ratings of any fighter in the division, and would bring in mainstream occasional boxing watchers, as well as die-hard boxing fans.
When you couple this with the fact that the WBC has also mandated a #1 contender fight between Europe's most popular fighter Ricky "The Hitman" Hatton versus relatively unknown, untested fight Oktay Urkal, who by all accounts is supposed to lose this fight. Were left with a PPV evtravaganza of a fight for Boxing's Die-Hards. Ricky "The Hitman" Hatton VS. Arturo "Thunder" Gatti for the WBC belt.
One question that I keep wondering is why Kostya Tszyu wasn't named "Super Champion". Although just a silly ploy to attain extra sanctioning fees, this option allows Tszyu to keep his belt and Undisputed status, he worked so hard to attain and maintain. In this case Gatti vs. Branco would be for an interim title with Kostya Tszyu fighting the winner of the bout. ( barring any huge upset Arturo Gatti will be the winner) In this scenario the Hatton - Gatti bout is foregone for a Tszyu - Gatti fight, for the Undisputed Champion of 140lb Super Lightweight division.
It is my opinion that an Undisputed Champion should not be stripped of his titles except in extreme cases, this case is no where near that severity in my opinion. To strip a fighter who chose to fight the TRUE top contender (Sharmba Mitchell) rather than the mandated "fringe" contender is just sheer ignorance. Who can forget (I'm sure we all want to) the Bernard Hopkins vs. Morrade Hakkar mandatory fight, in which Hakkar literally ran away from Hopkins for the first few rounds leaving Bernard Hopkins to chase after him and try to land a punch before Hakkar turned away and sprinted across the ring.
In order for the #1 contender mandatory to work correctly, there has to be some rules and regulations, regarding the ranking system. Such as a fighter can't break into the Top 10 rankings until he fights AND DEFEATS another top 10 fighter. Another rule could be something to the effect of, in order to achieve #1 contender status a fighter must fight and defeat the highest available ranked fighter (For example for Gianluca Branco to gain official #1 contendership he must defeat current #2 contender Arturo Gatti, should Gatti be unavailable the #3 contender Ricky Hatton is the fighter to defeat. ) There is a similar rule in effect but it is rarely used. I also believe that the WBC should not profit, from the gross of a fight ( currently sanctioning bodies get a "cut" of a fighter's purse) rather a standard fee should be established, not to be exceeded for any circumstances. Profiting from the gross of a fighter's purse created a conflict of interest, and promotes crookedness and tampering. Of course the WBC would want Gatti to be champion, coming off the spectacular Gatti - Ward fights, Arturo is a huge meal ticket for the WBC, whereas Kostya Tszyu remains relatively unknown in the world of occasional fight watchers, therefore making substantially less money for the WBC.
Having Gatti as the #1 contender brings up an interesting question. Is Arturo Gatti the rightful #1 contender? Sure Gatti is coming off 3 of the most exciting fights in boxing history, in which both Gatti and Ward's incredible chin, heart, strength, defense and speed were on display for the world to marvel at, but Micky Ward had a record of 38 wins and 13 losses, including the 2 losses to Arturo Gatti, and losses to fighters such as Jesse James Leija, and Zab Judah. These record could define Micky Ward as a massively skilled and entertaining journeyman. Arturo Gatti himself has a modest record of 36 wins and 6 losses with losses to fighters such as Oscar DeLaHoya, Angel Manfredy, Ivan Robinson and previously mentioned "Irish" Micky Ward. Given these facts, it is possible to argue that Gatti - Ward was nothing more than a highly entertaining mid-card journeyman bout. I personally think that, this was how they originally started out but with the incredible showcase of these 2 fighters, I am left to think that these 2 fighters didn't show their true potential in earlier fights. Unfortunately for Micky Ward his true potential was realized too late in his career. But for Arturo Gatti, he has been able to gain one more shot at greatness, and with that I end this long article, and I anxiously await your opinions, and criticisms.
Posted by DjNecrogenic