Help Me Out: Why Did Martinez lose WBC title (not diamond) after Williams?

[ILLuminato]

It is killing me and I cannot find it on Google. Everything I find relates to the "Diamond" belt.

[LA_2_Vegas]

I believe Sebastian Zbik was the interim champ for a while...and when the WBC elevated Sergio to diamond champ (ie. stripped & robbed him), they simply gave it to Zbik and he went on to lose to JR.

[El Angel]

His mandatory for WBC was Sebastian Zbik, he was requested to face him in his next fight or get stripped. Martinez had/has an exclusive contract with HBO to show his fights for x number of fights. (Can't remember exact number) HBO said Zbik wasn't well known enough and refused to show that fight. Martinez was stripped for not making a mandatory defense and Chavez Jr. vs Zbik was made for the vacant title.

Chavez Jr. won and Martinez was named Champion Emeritus, meaning he gets next shot against the champ. For the time being he fought Sergei Dzinziruk, a fighter HBO had promised to showcase based on a contract with Gary Shaw for Timothy Bradley vs Devon Alexander. He KO'd Dzinziruk easily. Next WBC said Chavez could first defense against Manfredo and Martinez was definitely next. Then they name Marco Antonio Rubio mandatory and said Martinez was next. Then Chavez Jr. signed to fight Andy Lee, also signing a contract with the WBC that he would be stipped if he didn't fight Martinez directly after fighting Lee. He signed to fight Martinez and here we are.

[Hougigo]

Lost it because WBC said he had to fight Zbik, but HBO said we don't want you to fight him.

[LA_2_Vegas]

His mandatory for WBC was Sebastian Zbik, he was requested to face him in his next fight or get stripped. Martinez had/has an exclusive contract with HBO to show his fights for x number of fights. (Can't remember exact number) HBO said Zbik wasn't well known enough and refused to show that fight. Martinez was stripped for not making a mandatory defense and Chavez Jr. vs Zbik was made for the vacant title.

Chavez Jr. won and Martinez was named Champion Emeritus, meaning he gets next shot against the champ. For the time being he fought Sergei Dzinziruk, a fighter HBO had promised to showcase based on a contract with Gary Shaw for Timothy Bradley vs Devon Alexander. He KO'd Dzinziruk easily. Next WBC said Chavez could first defense against Manfredo and Martinez was definitely next. Then they name Marco Antonio Rubio mandatory and said Martinez was next. Then Chavez Jr. signed to fight Andy Lee, also signing a contract with the WBC that he would be stipped if he didn't fight Martinez directly after fighting Lee. He signed to fight Martinez and here we are.

good one. circumstances even worse than I remember, i forgot about hbo's involvement

[El Angel]

good one. circumstances even worse than I remember, i forgot about hbo's involvement

Plain and clear example of corruption and we accept it as everyday BS in boxing. Any other sport would be all over the news, but in boxing it's common place. Sad really.

[littlechamp]

Since HBO didn't approve Martinez vs Zbik, but they did end up putting money to show Chavez vs Zbik, does that mean they had something to do with helping the WBC just hand over the belt to Julito?

[SUPREME.]

His mandatory for WBC was Sebastian Zbik, he was requested to face him in his next fight or get stripped. Martinez had/has an exclusive contract with HBO to show his fights for x number of fights. (Can't remember exact number) HBO said Zbik wasn't well known enough and refused to show that fight. Martinez was stripped for not making a mandatory defense and Chavez Jr. vs Zbik was made for the vacant title.

Chavez Jr. won and Martinez was named Champion Emeritus, meaning he gets next shot against the champ. For the time being he fought Sergei Dzinziruk, a fighter HBO had promised to showcase based on a contract with Gary Shaw for Timothy Bradley vs Devon Alexander. He KO'd Dzinziruk easily. Next WBC said Chavez could first defense against Manfredo and Martinez was definitely next. Then they name Marco Antonio Rubio mandatory and said Martinez was next. Then Chavez Jr. signed to fight Andy Lee, also signing a contract with the WBC that he would be stipped if he didn't fight Martinez directly after fighting Lee. He signed to fight Martinez and here we are.

Excellent post.

So in a situation where fighter has signed a contract to only fight on HBO, but HBO does not approve of the fighter's mandatory, he would have no choice but to be stripped because he signed a contract and couldn't go to another network?

[El Angel]

Excellent post.

So in a situation where fighter has signed a contract to only fight on HBO, but HBO does not approve of the fighter's mandatory, he would have no choice but to be stripped because he signed a contract and couldn't go to another network?

Pretty much. Networks wield more power than sanctioning bodies now, they pay for nationwide exposure, sanctioning bodies take it for an ever diluting title in the fan's eyes. I also think it's essentially breach of contract unless they negotiated something to not fight on the network in your next fight, but I may be wrong.

I firmly believe HBO rejected Zbik for Martinez because they wanted to give Dzinziruk the fight he was owed on the network sooner rather than later. This was also right after Arum took Pacquiao-Mosley down the road to Showtime, which got Ross Greenburg fired from his head job at HBO boxing. They wanted to make Arum and TR happy, which screwed Martinez 100%.

[boliodogs]

The WBC wanted Chavez to be champ but they did not think he could beat Martinez. They took the tittle from Martinez and gave it to Zbik, a guy they thought Chavez could beat. The WBC ignores their own rules and does whatever it wants to. They are based in Mexico and like Mexican champions.