As first reported by Fight News early today, the WBC stripped Timothy Bradley of his WBC Super Lightweight (140 lbs.) title. It is quite ironic that Bradley just recently unified his WBC title with the WBO after defeating Kendall Holt a couple of weeks ago. The WBC claimed that Bradley is reneging on an earlier agreement that he will be defending his title against the WBC mandatory, Devon Alexander. There were no TV buyers for a Bradley-Alexander fight which made the fight financially not practical for Bradley. According to Bradley, the commitment the WBC is looking from him is to drop the WBO title. The WBC seem to be discouraging title unification. I wish the sanctioning bodies will start opeining their eyes and realize that title unification is needed to determine the real champion and that is what fight fans are looking for. In fairness, I know that they actually made an effort to change their policies to accomodate title unifications but things seem to be changing as they are gradually backing off from that concept. Well, mainly because they are losing their grasp on declaring their mandatory challengers because unified titleholders have longer voluntary periods due to their multiple titles. Oh man. The politics of boxing sanctioning bodies. It's a never ending dilemma.
Just an additional note that I find quite funny. The WBC and in particular Jose Sulaiman did not appropriately compose their press release on the stripping. They stated that the reason Bradley is not fighting Alexander is because he is "probably afraid". That sounded more like it was written by a disgruntled message board poster. They need to hire a speech/press release writer or replace him/her if they already have one.
By the way, the vacant title will eventually be decided between #1 ranked Alexander and former titleholder who Bradley dethroned, Junior Witter.
Below is the updated tally with one less title for the US.
Just an additional note that I find quite funny. The WBC and in particular Jose Sulaiman did not appropriately compose their press release on the stripping. They stated that the reason Bradley is not fighting Alexander is because he is "probably afraid". That sounded more like it was written by a disgruntled message board poster. They need to hire a speech/press release writer or replace him/her if they already have one.
By the way, the vacant title will eventually be decided between #1 ranked Alexander and former titleholder who Bradley dethroned, Junior Witter.
Below is the updated tally with one less title for the US.
As of Apr. 28, 2009
Rank | Country | No. of Titles | Title Holders |
1st | USA | 11 |
|
2nd | Mexico | 9 |
|
3rd | Puerto Rico | 7 |
|
4th | Ukraine | 5 |
|
5th (3 are tied) | Armenia | 4 |
|
5th (3 are tied) | Japan | 4 |
|
5th (3 are tied) | Panama | 4 |
|
8th | Argentina | 3 |
|
9th (7 are tied) | Hungary | 2 |
|
9th (7 are tied) | Philippines | 2 |
|
9th (7 are tied) | Poland | 2 |
|
9th (7 are tied) | Romania | 2 |
|
9th (7 are tied) | Thailand | 2 |
|
9th (7 are tied) | UK | 2 |
|
9th (7 are tied) | Venezuela | 2 |
|
16th (10 are tied) | Colombia | 1 |
|
16th (10 are tied) | Denmark | 1 |
|
16th (10 are tied) | Germany | 1 |
|
16th (10 are tied) | Ghana | 1 |
|
16th (10 are tied) | Indonesia | 1 |
|
16th (10 are tied) | Italy | 1 |
|
16th (10 are tied) | Nicaragua | 1 |
|
16th (10 are tied) | Russia | 1 |
|
16th (10 are tied) | South Africa | 1 |
|
16th (10 are tied) | Uzbekistan | 1 |
|
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