THE World Boxing Council (WBC) wants boxing fans to believe that American Devin Haney is still its super lightweight or junior welterweight (140 pounds) champion despite absorbing a 12-round beating from Ryan Garcia.
Haney kissed his unbeaten record goodbye after Garcia was awarded a majority decision in their recent showdown. Garcia knocked down Haney three times in the fight and was the clear winner.
Garcia, though, was not awarded Haney's WBC junior welterweight belt because he showed up overweight during the official weigh-in. Haney had the option to call off the fight but opted to continue.
Per the traditional rules, a win by Haney means he retains the crown. A loss to the overweight Garcia means the title will be declared vacant. Garcia will not be awarded the title even if he wins because he did not meet the weight limit. Well, things did not really turn out this way after the fight.
Despite getting bamboozled by Garcia, Haney is still being recognized by the WBC as its junior welterweight champion.
WBC President Mauricio Sulaiman of Mexico tried to justify the retention of Haney as WBC junior welterweight champion by citing a "precedent."
Sulaiman claimed that in the October 2005 fight between WBC lightweight (135 pounds) champion Jose Luis Castillo and challenger Diego Corrales, the champ Castillo showed up overweight and the fight was declared a nontitle fight. Castillo stopped Corrales but as Sulaiman puts it, even if Castillo lost he would have remained champion because his WBC title was not at stake. The fight, to reiterate, was a nontitle bout.
This so-called WBC "precedent" does not make any sense. Of course, when one is reminded that Castillo and then WBC head honcho Jose Sulaiman (Mauricio Sulaiman's father) hail from the same country (Mexico), one already has an idea why Castillo was allowed to keep the title even if he showed up overweight.
The popular and more accepted rule is that if the champion shows up overweight in the weigh-in, he will be stripped of the crown and the belt will only be at stake for the challenger who dutifully met the weight. Being stripped of the crown is a fitting penalty for the champ who did not bother to train hard to make the weight.
Castillo being allowed to keep the WBC lightweight title in 2005 despite being overweight against Corrales did not ruffle that many a feather because he did beat Corrales.
In the case of Haney, though, the defending champ was beaten to a pulp by Garcia. Yes, the WBC champ was decisively beaten but at the conclusion of the fight was announced as still the WBC champ. True enough, this decision of the WBC was met with a maelstrom of criticisms from boxing fans.
Boxing fans are saying that they were made to believe that Haney-Garcia was a title fight. The WBC should have immediately declared that the Haney-Garcia fight was already a nontitle bout after Garcia showed up overweight in the weigh-in. The WBC only made the announcement that the title was not at stake after Garcia beat Haney. Why the belated announcement? Well, had the WBC announced early that the WBC title was no longer at stake, it would have diminished interest in the fight. Boxing fans are known to show more interest in a fight if a world title is at stake.
The popular sentiment is that the WBC junior welterweight throne should have been declared vacant with Haney losing and Garcia being ineligible to get the crown despite winning. This is what many boxing fans are demanding: for the WBC to stop changing the rule and stick to the generally accepted one.
Haney does not deserve to still be recognized as WBC junior welterweight champion. It is the height of stupidity to still call him as champ because he was mugged in 12 rounds by Garcia. If Haney has any decency left, he would give up the crown because he obviously does not deserve it. Make no mistake, Garcia also does not deserve the title because he did not meet the weight.
From where this writer sits, the WBC junior welterweight title is vacant. Just because the WBC has this so-called "precedent" does not make it correct.
You do not need a precedent, only plain common sense, to know that Haney is no longer the WBC 140-pound champ.
Haney knows it. The fans know it. The WBC knows it but is opting to look the other way.
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