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Home » Sulaiman on impact of Haymon’s Premier Boxing Champions, possibility of PBC titles

Sulaiman on impact of Haymon’s Premier Boxing Champions, possibility of PBC titles

The move has courted much controversy following initial reports that world titles in eight weight divisions are set to be unveiled by the PBC in the near future, whilst current world champions continue to fight on PBC events without putting their belts on the line.

Recent fights involving WBA welterweight champion Keith Thurman, super lightweight title holders Danny Garcia and Lamont Peterson, along with the upcoming return of Andre Ward all have been arranged with none of their respective belts up for grabs.

This could be seen as a direct move to shun the respective organisations as the PBC move in the direction of crowning their own champions to keep everything in-house. Any such move would demean some of the other world champions who fight outside of Haymon’s none PPV organisation and could open up a whole new can of worms.

Sulaiman is still adamant that through arranging some great match-ups on terrestrial TV, the PBC have had a positive impact since their formation though and will monitor the title situation as it develops in order to keep the World Boxing Council as relevant as it has been since the 1960’s.

“The WBC has its priority to support anything that is good for the sport,” Sulaiman exclusively told World Boxing News about the PBC.

“The WBC has actively participated in the development of the sport in many countries and in many ways, including developing TV networks relationships to support the sport.

“Mexico is a perfect model to prove the great benefits of open TV. Every Saturday night, millions of fans watch fights on three and sometimes four different TV networks, so boxing in Mexico has flourished tremendously.

“The Premier Boxing Champions model has created great expectations with many different groups having opinions and has shaken the foundations of many of these groups. But the WBC will not rule or take actions on perceptions or gossip of any kind (regarding titles) of information which is not yet factual.

“The WBC board of governors has decided to be as supportive as possible to the PBC and will do its best efforts to have boxing benefit from this series, which is only one of the many components of the boxing world.

“We at the WBC have certain rules which we are closely monitoring to make sure they are respected and adhered to by the promoters when a WBC title is at stake on PBC,” he added.

Although the move by the PBC to bring in titles is still only hearsay, controversy is certain to follow should anything be officially announced – and will only have the boxing world shaking it’s head at the emergence of yet more belts in circulation.