By Keith Terceira
On May 7, 2003 Graciano Rocchigiani sat quietly in a US Federal Court as the judge ruled in his lawsuit against the WBC. When the verdict was announced Graciano was 30 million richer at least on paper and David had prevailed against a corrupt Goliath. The following day the WBC filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy and before all was said and done Graciano was forced to settle for a fraction of the money he had been awarded.
In 2005 WBC gave Javier Castillejo an ultimatum, box Ricardo Mayorga as mandatory at super welterweight rather than Fernando Vargas or be stripped of the title. Mayorga had never fought at light middle and had lost two of his last three fights. Castillejo was stripped of his title.
The WBC and Don King have a long history of questionable conduct and a great many have voiced their concern about that relationship and until this weekend none have actually taken steps to take that relationship out of the equation or care about the boxers caught in the middle.
Not Congress, not a ABC President, or a commission representing a major Mecca of boxing , instead it was a little known commissioner in a small southern state that stepped to the plate and said enough is enough, not on my watch.
Backed by th e rule of law, a deep love of how people see his state, and a concern for boxing Jon Lewis bucked the stasis quo and said not only no but “hell no” . Many writers in the boxing community who cry out that something needs to be done about bad judging and corruption in the sport suddenly turned judas and fired shots at the one and only person that has actually taken a stand to do that.
“I have a problem with an organization that has a financial interest in the outcome of a match attempting to dictate who judges a match” Lewis stated in a recent interview.
Fight fans lets be real here this is what we all have been saying for years only a little less eloquently .
Had someone stepped to the plate last November in New York, would it have been Casamayor losing to Juan Manuel Marquez, or would it have been Jose Armando Santa Cruz who was robbed in his WBC interim lightweight title bout at Madison Square Garden against Joel.
Count for me the amount of fights recently that you say to yourself what the hell fight was that judge watching.
Six months later do you remember who the judges were or even at times do you remember the sanctioning body that seats the judges, I think not but you remember the state, city, or venue. You say to yourself remember when Pacman fought Marquez in Vegas and Marquez got robbed. That was a WBC super featherweight title fight.
In my opinion Jon Lewis was well within his legal, moral, and ethical rights to say you are not going to be saying so and so got robbed in Mississippi. Furthermore Lewis was very clear on how he handles judges that call questionable fights. They get fired!
I for one could care less if one of the alphabet belts disappeared all together. Lord only knows that we have way to many of them and you can barely keep track of all the title holders.
In the end it was the WBC who blinked from the pressure and not the Mississippi Commissioner, we had a title fight and Timothy Bradley left no doubt as to how the fight went with Edner Cherry. What we didn’t have this time is that one judge that comes out of left field and calls the fight contrary to the other two.
It’s hard to side with an organization like the WBC who installed Mike Tyson as the number one contender when Tyson was released from a four year prison term, thus ignoring all the fighters who had sweated and bled for a title shot while Mike ate bologna sandwiches and watched Oprah in a 6 x 9 foot cell.
Let’s address the other controversy in Biloxi this weekend!
Joan Guzman who had eight weeks to train for a fight, seems to have spent more time shooting his mouth o ff than actually training. Seems all the hype about what he was going to do to Campbell was more important than him doing some roadwork. Last November Guzman weighed in at 129 ½ against Humberto Soto for the WBO super featherweight title. This weekend he came in nearly four pounds over for a 135 pound title challenge. Claiming that he was de-hydrated and unable to compete even at a higher weight after his re-hydration. Folks he de-hydrated from lack of regard for his sport and not a proper traiining regime, period.
His total lack of respect for the fight fan totally amazes me. We the people who lay out our hard earn money in a bad economy to but a buck in the pocket of our favorite fighter demand better treatment than this from these athletes and the men that say they train and manage them.
Suspensions shouldn’t stop at Guzman who had more than adequate time to prepare for this fight but should go all the way up the ladder. Every guy with his hand in Guzman’s pocket had a responsibility to guarantee that Joan made weight but as they say money runs up hill and the blame runs down. Well they say another word but blame will do.
Floyd Mayweather Sr. for the last two months has been in the news daily with comments, with controversy over whether he would train De La Hoya or Hatton or both. How about training Joan Guzman enough to make weight.
Every entity that would have taken a piece of the purse had Guzman fought should be subject to fines and suspensions. The manager who gets his 33 % the trainer with his 10 or so and Guzman’s promoter. They all have a responsibility to insure that “THEIR” guy fulfills a contract . Instead the fighter takes all the blame eats all the bad press. It’s only their guy when they win or need to hype a fight.
While I agree it was ultimately Joan’s mess, Mayweather and Guzman’s management have a responsibility to warn the public through the commission that problems exist that may effect a title bout and fix those problems, not just money problems but problems within the team. They didn’t even have the respect for the sport to come back to the weigh in and say “We can’t make weight” . Instead they left everyone hanging around with their fingers up their microphones for two hours.
In the past I have had fighters at the very last minute pull out of fights for various medical reasons most recently Cory Phelps pulled out of a NBA World Junior title fight with Ronson Frank due to the flu the night before the weigh-in. While it fries your butt and causes fits and seizures for a show, one common sense opinion prevails. No one wants to see a fighter hurt because he fought ill. I have never seen a commission suspend a fighter that produces verifiable medical ca use not to perform. That means a doctors agreement PRIOR to the fight that a fighter is unable to compete.
I have had promoters demand that the fighter appear before commission doctors and or a doctor of the promoters choosing. This is stipulated in most all contracts. As this situation evolves over the next several days we will see just what the true physical condition was of Joan Guzman and how the Mississippi commission will handle it.
If Guzman did not receive a medical release from performance I truly hope that Jon Lewis will step to the plate once again and buck the establishment . Hopefully he will suspend and fine all the parties with a financial interest in Joan and not just Guzman. Perhaps if trainers knew they could be suspended for failing to fulfill their end of the training issue and managers were held accountable for managing to get their fighters on weight we would see an end to this in boxing.
Wishing that someone would do something to clean up boxing ain’t got it done folks, it requires actual action by someone in a position of authority. Perhaps Jon Lewis needs a bigger position of authority , if he can make the WBC say uncle maybe we have someone to hang a hope on. Frankly we need a person who can walk tall , carry a big stick, and not just beat up on fighters with huge medical requirements while promoters continuously ignore the boxer safety act and the Ali Act.
In the words of our current ABC President Tim Lueckenhoff in a recent interview;
“I have monthly complaints of Ali Act violations and can get no US attorney to prosecute the violators”
I say we need someone who doesn’t mind taking on the stasis quo and so far that guy is Jon Lewis, let‘s see how he handles the Guzman situation and if its fair an equitable, holding all parties culpable. I’ll fill you in when I talk to Mr. Lewis this week.
Keith Terceira is a long time BoxingScene staff member, UBC North American and Ratings Chairman, and the Co-Host of the TalkinBoxing with Billy C radio show. Forward replies to Kterceira@aol.com