By Miguel Rivera
Gilberto Jesus Mendoza, president of the WBA, does not agree with the way the World Boxing Council handled the this week's controversial situation with the Puerto Rican star Miguel Cotto.
The organization derecognized Cotto as the middleweight champion earlier this week, after both sides were unable to reach a deal on the sanctioning fee for Saturday's fight with Saul "Canelo" Alvarez at the Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas.
The WBC has recently made some questionable moves by selecting fighters who were champions of other organizations - and making them mandatory challengers.
In a move that has never been done in the past, the WBC sanctioned a "unification" between their interim-champion Marco Antonio Rubio and WBA/IBO champion Gennady Golovkin.
Golovkin, who KO'd Rubio and then captured the IBF title in October, is a three belt champion and sits as the mandatory of the WBC.
Mendoza says the WBC made a big mistake by getting involved in the step-aside negotiations between Cotto and Golovkin.
Cotto became furious after having to pay Golovkin $800,000 just to step-aside and then the WBC wanted an additional $300,000 to sanction the fight. Cotto was only willing to pay Golovkin his fee and an additional $125,000. Neither side budged from their positions.
"I think we are going to be seeing more big name boxers making these decisions. My intention is not to criticize what the Council did or did not, but the decision was a little off. I do not agree with the decision that was made. They should have found a solution, perhaps after the fight. Cotto for me is a serious person who has nothing to hide. But I also wonder what and who was involved in the step aside agreement. I think that the WBC did not handle it well and that is my feeling and I will let [Maurcio Sulaiman] know at our next meeting," Mendoza told ESPN Deportes.
"To me all of this seems a bit unethical, and I know Miguel respected world titles. As sanctioning bodies, we can not get into private agreements. Doing so will detract the public."
