World Boxing Organization President Paco Valcarcel gave a big shove to the edge of the cliff to the current secondary title mess haunting the sport of boxing.
Valcarcel, whose own sanctioning body released a “Global” title to add to their usual championship in recent years, singled out the WBA for their continued lack of action.
In 2013, then WBA Vice-President Gilberto Mendoza [now the President] told WBN the regular belts would be “phased out” in the coming years.
Eight years on, and the WBA have not only failed to do so, but they also added another strap in the “WBA Gold” title.
Wanting to clarify where they stood on the issue, Valcarcel said: Please be advised that the World Boxing Organization ONLY recognizes Naoya Inoue as WBA Bantamweight Champion.
“WBO will never unify with Regular, Interim nor In Recess. We ONLY acknowledge one World Champion per weight division.
“[We are] Waiting on Rigondeaux’ request to be classified accordingly.”
Reaction from some fans saw Valcarcel’s words well received.
“I have been saying this about the whole “Franchise, recess, gold, regular, interim” belts… That the other sanctioning bodies DO NOT recognize them.
“Thanks for helping out and keeping boxing sane a little bit.”
WORLD BOXING ORGANIZATION GLOBAL
But the WBO hasn’t been free of criticism as promoters begin using the “WBO Global” strap to add kudos to their events.
Eddie Hearn recently got questioned for his stance on WBO and WBA secondary belts.
“Just a quick one, a good while ago, you were slating Frank’s relationship with the WBO. The fact all his fighters only fight for the WBO titles.
“You now are promoting ‘WBO Global’ title fights…what even is that?”
Hearn recently added a headliner to his Fight Camp series where he stated a WBA “regular” title offering was a “world championship” fight.
We all know it’s not.
Whether Valcarcel is right or wrong for his statements, or whether he’s just hypocritical, will only be judged on how long he keeps those WBO Global belts in circulation.
The views expressed in this article are opinions of Phil Jay.
