The International Boxing Federation is infiltrating the titleholder business like no other this year. It dethroned heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk just days after he became the division’s first undisputed champion. Then took off the belt from none other than Saul”Canelo” Alvarez.
More than two decades after the corruption trial that found former IBF boss Bob Lee guilty of bribery. The sanctioning body has acted as the largest jammer among others – WBC, WBA, WBO – with respect to compliance with mandatory title defense regulations and related obligations.
This week, the IBF ruled that new junior lightweight titleholder Anthony Cacace had deviated from the rules by agreeing to fight former featherweight champion Josh Warrington.
In response, the IBF not only ruled that Cacace-Warrington It was a fight without a position. But it is also said that Cacace will lose his belt with the defeat. With mandatory opponent Eduardo Nunez now out, Cacace will have to fight Nunez by the end of the year or lose his belt.
In further discussion of the IBF’s tough response on ProBox TV’s “Top Stories” on Tuesday. Former world title holders Chris Algieri and Paulie Malignaggi try to understand the policy missteps in which sanctions agencies bend to make – or not make – decisions that have consequences.
“The IBF is the quickest way to take it off… I hope there are standards set for everyone,” Malignaggi said.
Algieri said he was confused by Cacace’s treatment, asking “Why is his belt free if he loses?” The belt isn’t even in the strap.”
The discretionary rule reminded Algieri of his own poor treatment by the WBO, which originally gave him the green light as 140-pound title holder in 2014 to fight WBO welterweight belt holder Manny Pakia. W then reversed course and informed Algieri several days before the fight that he He would probably be stripped naked as soon as he stepped into the ring with Pacquiao.
“There are always things. It’s always happening in the background. In terms of why this fighter was stripped naked. And why this fighter holds on to it: It’s a big green (money),” Algieri said.
“Cacace is not marketable, it seems like (IBF) is encouraging him to lose money. It all looks fishy. I don’t trust it. It doesn’t pass the sniff test. This is boxing. I know how this thing works.”
The sanctioning agency collects a 3 percent fee from the fighting wallet, so the more popular the title holder, the better. The bigger the wallet, the bigger it will be. And the disenfranchisement of organizations will only become more complete.
The situation has been repeatedly pointed out as a key factor in why the WBC will not strip Alvarez of his super middleweight belt, even though former super middleweight champion David Benavidez The highest ranked WBC and has never lost to anyone before.
Benavidez (29-0, 24 KO) is very tired of his process of moving up to light heavyweight, hoping the WBC will support his efforts to fight the winner of the Undisputed title fight on Oct. 12 between Dmitry Bivol and Artur Beterbiev in Saudi Arabia.
That’s why Malignaggi is wondering why the IBF was so slow to strip Alvarez of his belt for not fighting William Scull, who will now fight for the 168-pound belt against Russia’s Vladmir Shishkin next month in Germany.
“They undressed Usyk so quickly because they wanted (Anthony Joshua and Daniel Dubois) to fight (Saturday in front of more than 90,000 fans at Wembley Stadium) … it made You think,” Malinacki said. “That’s where the double standards come from.”
“I’m ready to take down strippers when they don’t fight the regulations and keep their wheels turning. I think that’s what happened in the division. (Alvarez’s) was absolutely shameful. But there is a proper way to do it.”
The IBF found its ranking system to be horribly distorted in the case of unbeaten welterweight titleholder Jaron “Boots” Brown. Less than two years after routing Karen Chukadzian with three 120-108 scores, it is now necessary to fight him again in a title defense.
Sanctioning agencies often do not include belt holders of competing organizations in their own rankings. Make integration difficult and leads to special treatment
“The frustrating thing about sanctioning agencies is that there is no consistency,” Malignaggi said.
One interesting case today is how the WBO will treat “Ultimate” champion Terrence Crawford (41-0, 31 KO), who is facing less than 10 days on the clock. To inform WBO/WBC junior middleweight belt holder Sebastian Fundora that he intends to fight him by the end of the year.
But Crawford still wants a shot at Alvarez, who may not get back to Crawford in this shortened time frame.
While whether or not Crawford should be held accountable for the decision is under the deadline, a WBO official told BoxingScene this week that “Both sides can certainly request an extension of time.”
“The problem is that boxing is like real life. It’s networking. It’s all connected. It’s nepotism,” Malignaggi said. “So if you have good relationships or if you bring in more money, Suddenly you see the rules are distorted. while others may be removed immediately I don’t mind being consistent with the standards I hold myself to.”
Lance Pugmire is a senior writer for BoxingScene in the United States. and an associate producer for ProBox TV, Pugmire has covered boxing since the early 2000s, first at the Los Angeles Times, then at The Athletic and USA Today. He received the Boxing Writers Association of America’s Nat Fleischer Award in 2022 for coverage. Excellent in the profession
