The WBC Bridgerweight title has failed to find recognition three years after being brought into existence by World Boxing Council President Mauricio Sulaiman.
Record keepers at BoxRec still refuse to give the new championship kudos. The situation arose after the WBC launched the gap bridger between cruiserweight and heavyweight.
Sulaiman had high hopes when launching the belt with good intentions after young Bridger Walker saved his four-year-old sister from a dog attack months earlier.
The rankings have been consistently short of the forty-strong in the significant weight divisions. No prominent boxers have been willing to enter the division to compound the lack of interest.
Deontay Wilder spurned the notion almost immediately despite having a two-weight world title chance. Wilder regularly scales around the bridgerweight limit and would have been approved for a title shot whenever he pleased.
WBC Bridgerweight title off BoxRec
However, the American wouldn’t be considered as Oscar Rivas became the inaugural champion in 2021. Rivas then moved back up to heavyweight and left the championship vacant.
Poland’s Lukas Rozanski knocked out Alen Babic in 130 seconds to become the new ruler in April. But the downside is that the consensus of records showing world titles and victories has not once mentioned the bridgerweight crown.
Rivas and Rozanski’s CVs only show they fought below the 224-pound limit. There’s no mention of a WBC bridgerweight title.
Considering that Sulaiman recently announced a partnership with BoxRec, it’s a wonder the organization hasn’t been able to negotiate a mention for the new classification.
WBC Governors voted for BoxRec to become the official registry for records and suspensions during the WBC’s 57th annual Convention in Cancun. The WBC Rankings mention BoxRec each month they get released.
Sulaiman also suggested measures like fight classification that eventually became the norm on the record-keeping site.
WBC/Boxrec Partnership
That was in 2019, a whole year before bridgerweight came to be. When giving Boxrec major props, it could have been assumed that any alterations to the WBC roster would be reciprocated.
It’s a blow that when fans look up a contest, they won’t see instantly that the WBC bridgerweight title even exists. Due to the fact the WBA, IBF, and WBO don’t have the weight class either, the WBC still faces a tough fight to secure a long-term future for the 224-pound division.
Initial plans to drop the cruiserweight limit to 190 pounds failed to materialize as part of the shake-up.
Adding a massive name into the mix, like a Deontay Wilder or Oleksandr Usyk at some point in time, would be an enormous coup. It could push towards a world with eighteen weight classes across the board.
Phil Jay is an experienced boxing news writer.
Editor of World Boxing News since 2010.
