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Let me tell you something about the WBA and their seedy "relationship" with German Promoters.
WBA has "worked" together with German Promoters through shady middlemen and obscure lawyers many times in the past.
Some examples
1.) Felix Sturm
Back in 2005 a young Felix Sturm suddenly got the chance to fight for the WBA belt, even though he wasnt even ranked by the WBA but somehow Sturm got the chance to fight the extremely beatable WBA champion from New Zealond Masoe, who just won the vacant title.
In his very next fight Sturm, in his first defense he lost the WBA belt against Castillejo by knockout, Sturm fought another unknown guy from Australia and then suddenly got to fight for the WBA belt again this time getting a close, controversial decision win in Germany against the 39 year old Castillejo.
Since 2006 Sturm fights exclusively in germany and he defends his WBA belt for over 6 years, he fought mostly mismatches and when he had to face a mandatory he always had the judges on his side, there were many decisions he should have lost, but he always got the close UD, SD or a Draw.
Golovkin and Sturm
Back then another Middleweight also fights under the same German Promoter Universum as Sturm, the name is Gennady Golovkin. Quickly GGG raises the WBA rankings and becomes mandatory for Sturm. GGG will never get a title shot though, the WBA makes sure of it.
GGG also never really gets a chance for a big fight in Germany because Abraham and Sturm are the "German" stars and GGG is too dangerous for both of them, Sturm and Abraham are more "German" than GGG, even though Abraham is Armenian and Sturm from Bosnia.
When GGG finally got out of this promotional contract and joined K2 and found his trainer Abel Sanchez, they tried to put more pressure on Sturm and the mandatory. Sturm was then forced to either fight GGG.. but then Ahmet Öner came into play. He knew Universum and Sturm and also some Executives from the WBA.
Sturm's shady deal with the WBA and his demise
He arranged a really shady deal with another lawyer, the WBA and Sturm. They bought Sturm the WBA Super Champion Status plus Belt for $600.000 and this way could circument the GGG mandatory and keep fighting handpicked opponents in his backyard.
After some time Sturm didn't want to continue paying the fee to defend his Super Belt because GGG already moved on and it was a big amount every time he fought. In the very next fight he fought Daniel Geale, Sturm's luck had run out. He felt that he won the fight like all the close fights he got scored for him in the past, but Geale was announced as the winner. Sturm probably only then realized that he really angered the WBA by not paying his fees. The title was gone.
2. Feigenbutz / Zeuge
Feigenbutz was a young unranked German prospect and suddenly got the chance to fight for the, of course, vacant WBA belt, against another weak contender, De Carolis. Feigenbutz clearly lost that fight but the judges scored it for him.. There was alot of boos and drama because of the decision so they had to make the rematch and Feigenbutz got knocked out in the rematch.
The poor Italian is part of the deal though, he is basically in the pockets from the German Promoter and the WBA, he is forced to fight as many Sauerland (name of the German Promoter) fighters as possible until he eventually loses his WBA belt.
Next in line was Tyron Zeuge for the same belt, another undeserving German prospect, he just fought De Carolis, the fight was declared a draw, it was a bad fighter, nobody deserved to win but the Italian was much better and should have won.
Sauerland already said that again one of their fighters will fight Carolis next (because they basically bought him), either Zeuge rematch or Abraham or even Groves. Carolis would lose to Abraham I think, and to Groves for sure.
3.) Jürgen Braehmer
Another "Great" German WBA Champion.
In 2013 Braehmer suddenly got the chance to fight for the, yes you know it, vacant WBA belt, again totally undeserving, against a very beatable opponent of course. Marcus Oliveira with no notable wins, of course the fight was in Germany, as all of Braehmer's fights are. Since then Braehmer fought handpicked opponent after handpicked opponent, the WBA of course never pressued Braehmer to face the top mandatory. A little $$ from Sauerland made it possible.
Kovalev would have gladly fought Braehmer, even in Germany, for some time, but Braehmer surely never wanted that fight nor did the WBA want to order it when Kovalev was looking for a good opponent.
Just now, when Kovalev can't possibly fight Braehmer anytime soon because of the Ward fight in November, the WBA suddenly comes out and orders Braehmer to fight Kovalev, 30 days limit etc..
If you count 2 and 2 together, you know excactly what happened. Again some $$$ from Sauerland goes into the direction of the WBA, the time is perfect, they might even sell Braehmer as the guy that forces Kovalev to drop the belt to the German fans, Braehmer the unified World Light Heavyweight Champion who terrorizes the whole division.
4.) Daniel Jacobs and GGG
Not long ago there were a couple articles, official Tweets etc by the WBA and even Gilberto Mendoza that they would order Jacobs vs GGG for the full WBA Belt, because "they want to reduce the number of belts". So a little later it came out that Jacobs wasn't really interested to face GGG anytime soon, maybe in 18 months when the money is bigger etc.
It's also quite obvious, that Haymon is in no rush to have Jacobs face GGG. One might think, what changes the WBA's mind to suddenly no being interested to order the Jacobs vs GGG fight? You can be pretty sure some $$ towards the WBA again made it happen.
WBA has "worked" together with German Promoters through shady middlemen and obscure lawyers many times in the past.
- They helped getting undeserving German fighters a chance to fight for a vacant WBA Belt.
- They even specifically ordered fights of other WBA champions when they knew fighters had to drop the belt, so one of the German clients can pick up a title fight.
- They helped picking beatable opponents for German fighters, even awarded these fighters a higher ranking in the WBA.
- They made sure they had the right judges in Germany on fight night who would score the fight "properly" for the German prospect or champion.
- They even sold Super Belts and additional Belts to German fighters to avoid specific mandatories.
Some examples
1.) Felix Sturm
Back in 2005 a young Felix Sturm suddenly got the chance to fight for the WBA belt, even though he wasnt even ranked by the WBA but somehow Sturm got the chance to fight the extremely beatable WBA champion from New Zealond Masoe, who just won the vacant title.
In his very next fight Sturm, in his first defense he lost the WBA belt against Castillejo by knockout, Sturm fought another unknown guy from Australia and then suddenly got to fight for the WBA belt again this time getting a close, controversial decision win in Germany against the 39 year old Castillejo.
Since 2006 Sturm fights exclusively in germany and he defends his WBA belt for over 6 years, he fought mostly mismatches and when he had to face a mandatory he always had the judges on his side, there were many decisions he should have lost, but he always got the close UD, SD or a Draw.
Golovkin and Sturm
Back then another Middleweight also fights under the same German Promoter Universum as Sturm, the name is Gennady Golovkin. Quickly GGG raises the WBA rankings and becomes mandatory for Sturm. GGG will never get a title shot though, the WBA makes sure of it.
GGG also never really gets a chance for a big fight in Germany because Abraham and Sturm are the "German" stars and GGG is too dangerous for both of them, Sturm and Abraham are more "German" than GGG, even though Abraham is Armenian and Sturm from Bosnia.
When GGG finally got out of this promotional contract and joined K2 and found his trainer Abel Sanchez, they tried to put more pressure on Sturm and the mandatory. Sturm was then forced to either fight GGG.. but then Ahmet Öner came into play. He knew Universum and Sturm and also some Executives from the WBA.
Sturm's shady deal with the WBA and his demise
He arranged a really shady deal with another lawyer, the WBA and Sturm. They bought Sturm the WBA Super Champion Status plus Belt for $600.000 and this way could circument the GGG mandatory and keep fighting handpicked opponents in his backyard.
After some time Sturm didn't want to continue paying the fee to defend his Super Belt because GGG already moved on and it was a big amount every time he fought. In the very next fight he fought Daniel Geale, Sturm's luck had run out. He felt that he won the fight like all the close fights he got scored for him in the past, but Geale was announced as the winner. Sturm probably only then realized that he really angered the WBA by not paying his fees. The title was gone.
2. Feigenbutz / Zeuge
Feigenbutz was a young unranked German prospect and suddenly got the chance to fight for the, of course, vacant WBA belt, against another weak contender, De Carolis. Feigenbutz clearly lost that fight but the judges scored it for him.. There was alot of boos and drama because of the decision so they had to make the rematch and Feigenbutz got knocked out in the rematch.
The poor Italian is part of the deal though, he is basically in the pockets from the German Promoter and the WBA, he is forced to fight as many Sauerland (name of the German Promoter) fighters as possible until he eventually loses his WBA belt.
Next in line was Tyron Zeuge for the same belt, another undeserving German prospect, he just fought De Carolis, the fight was declared a draw, it was a bad fighter, nobody deserved to win but the Italian was much better and should have won.
Sauerland already said that again one of their fighters will fight Carolis next (because they basically bought him), either Zeuge rematch or Abraham or even Groves. Carolis would lose to Abraham I think, and to Groves for sure.
3.) Jürgen Braehmer
Another "Great" German WBA Champion.
In 2013 Braehmer suddenly got the chance to fight for the, yes you know it, vacant WBA belt, again totally undeserving, against a very beatable opponent of course. Marcus Oliveira with no notable wins, of course the fight was in Germany, as all of Braehmer's fights are. Since then Braehmer fought handpicked opponent after handpicked opponent, the WBA of course never pressued Braehmer to face the top mandatory. A little $$ from Sauerland made it possible.
Kovalev would have gladly fought Braehmer, even in Germany, for some time, but Braehmer surely never wanted that fight nor did the WBA want to order it when Kovalev was looking for a good opponent.
Just now, when Kovalev can't possibly fight Braehmer anytime soon because of the Ward fight in November, the WBA suddenly comes out and orders Braehmer to fight Kovalev, 30 days limit etc..
If you count 2 and 2 together, you know excactly what happened. Again some $$$ from Sauerland goes into the direction of the WBA, the time is perfect, they might even sell Braehmer as the guy that forces Kovalev to drop the belt to the German fans, Braehmer the unified World Light Heavyweight Champion who terrorizes the whole division.
4.) Daniel Jacobs and GGG
Not long ago there were a couple articles, official Tweets etc by the WBA and even Gilberto Mendoza that they would order Jacobs vs GGG for the full WBA Belt, because "they want to reduce the number of belts". So a little later it came out that Jacobs wasn't really interested to face GGG anytime soon, maybe in 18 months when the money is bigger etc.
It's also quite obvious, that Haymon is in no rush to have Jacobs face GGG. One might think, what changes the WBA's mind to suddenly no being interested to order the Jacobs vs GGG fight? You can be pretty sure some $$ towards the WBA again made it happen.
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