Boxing would be far better off without sanctioning bodies. Period. End of story.
The latest example is the case of heavyweight champion Tyson Fury, the man who on Nov. 28 ended Wladimir Klitschko's nearly 10-year reign by winning a unanimous decision in an otherwise dreadful fight in Dusseldorf, Germany.
Fury was stripped of his IBF belt -- he still holds the WBA and WBO versions of the championship -- for failing to face Czar Glazkov, the IBF's No. 1 contender. Even when the IBF follows its rules, which it did in this case, the politics of boxing are putrid.
In order to get the title shot against Klitschko, Fury was required to sign a rematch clause in the event he won the fight. That meant that it would be Klitschko's option if the two would fight again in the wake of a Fury victory. And last week, Klitschko exercised his contractual right to the fight. If Fury went ahead with the fight with Glazkov, Klitschko would have sued and likely been able to prevent the bout.
Glazkov is a good but hardly great heavyweight who, ahem, solidified his top ranking in August when he knocked out Kertson Manswell in the fourth round of a fight in Russia. If you don't know who Manswell is, you're not alone (Heck, most don't know who Glazkov is, let alone Manswell).
Manswell was 38 and had lost three in a row and eight of nine when he faced Glazkov. Remember, his name, though, because he'll play another role in this story in just a bit.
The Klitschko-Fury fight was an abomination in the ring, but it was for the true heavyweight title, if you want to call it that. Putting sanctioning body politics aside, there was nobody in boxing who didn't consider Klitschko the man.
Fury beat the man and is contractually obligated to fight him again. He'll make a massive payday for the rematch, well into the millions, money he wouldn't have come close to making against Glazkov.
And for that, the IBF stripped him. And now, it's ordered Glazkov to fight Charles Martin, an unbeaten southpaw from St. Louis who in his last six fights has stopped Rafael Pedro, Manswell, Damon McCreary, Raphael Zumbano Love, Tom Dallas and Vicente Sandez. And to think, they referred to the men that Joe Louis beat as members of "The Bum of the Month" club.
The problem with all of this, of course, is fighters losing titles on paper and not in the ring. Yes, Glazkov was No. 1 in the IBF's ratings and its rules gave it the right to strip Fury.
But it's just wrong. Boxing is a sport which needs big fights, compelling fights, and the sanctioning bodies instead want to give us title fights like Glazkov-Martin. This is not meant as any disrespect toward Glazkov or Martin, either. It's just the reality that neither of them are as remotely deserving of a title shot against Fury as Klitschko.
Klitschko held the belt for nearly a decade and defended against all comers. There needs to be a way for a sanctioning body to recognize situations like this.
Of course, the threat of being stripped has to be there, because a champion theoretically could decline to fight a legitimately qualified, tough opponent and essentially sit on the title. At least by having rules that require the champion to face a mandatory, that keeps the title at play. Discretion is needed, but the problem in boxing is that discretion is almost exclusively given to the well-heeled and well-connected.
Because of that, we end up with ridiculous situations like this, where Fury is stripped of a title he won 10 days ago for fighting a tougher, more qualfied opponent than the IBF wanted him to face.
Most, though not all, fighters make more money as a result of having a sanctioning body's world title. As a result, if it means more money for the boxers, I'm generally in favor. But dealing with the sanctioning bodies leads to situations like this.
WBC president Mauricio Sulaiman has been trying to get all of the sanctioning bodies to work together to sort out issues like this that impact them all. Hopefully, this atrocity will lead to better rules that ensure that situations like this are avoided in the future.
Otherwise, titles will continue to be stripped and there will continue to be no logical way for fans to follow the sport. Title fights in boxing are like playoff games in other sports. A heavyweight championship is like the Super Bowl, generally.
A Glazkov-Martin fight, though, is neither a Super Bowl nor a playoff game.
What it is is an example of the extreme dysfunction of the system in place in boxing in the 21st century.
Article courtesy of Yahoo Sports