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Devin Haney hasn’t had a tough fight, so for the WBC to mandate that he steps it up after gifting him a belt sounds pretty fair. He had two title defenses against a 12-0 unknown fighter and against Gamboa, who was coming off an injury.
To discredit Teo as a champion for the WBC is ridiculous. The WBC franchise title I believe is intended to work the same way as the WBA Super title because the champ doesn’t have “mandatories,” but can fight someone in the top ten in either sanctioning body.
Max Kellerman explained it well. These “Super” or “franchise” titles are so that fighters with multiple belts can manage them better since it becomes almost impossible to fight every mandatory for every sanctioning body. This allows for the “unified” or “undisputed” champ to pick a ranked opponent to defend the titles. I think it would be unfair if Haney got another Gamboa-like opponent.
Teofimo paid his dues though, so him having to fight mandatories as a unified champ isn’t really unfair because his track record so far shows us that he doesn’t take soft touches, even if he had the option to. He beat Nakatani, who has now proven to be good, Richard Commey, and Lomachenko. I know he wanted to fight the Ramirez/Taylor winner, but he needs an in between fight due to the timing issue. If he manages to land a $10M fight with Kambosos, that’s not so much of a soft touch as the ones Haney has been given. In fact, if the roles were reversed and Haney chose to fight Kambosos, that would be his best opponent to date.
To discredit Teo as a champion for the WBC is ridiculous. The WBC franchise title I believe is intended to work the same way as the WBA Super title because the champ doesn’t have “mandatories,” but can fight someone in the top ten in either sanctioning body.
Max Kellerman explained it well. These “Super” or “franchise” titles are so that fighters with multiple belts can manage them better since it becomes almost impossible to fight every mandatory for every sanctioning body. This allows for the “unified” or “undisputed” champ to pick a ranked opponent to defend the titles. I think it would be unfair if Haney got another Gamboa-like opponent.
Teofimo paid his dues though, so him having to fight mandatories as a unified champ isn’t really unfair because his track record so far shows us that he doesn’t take soft touches, even if he had the option to. He beat Nakatani, who has now proven to be good, Richard Commey, and Lomachenko. I know he wanted to fight the Ramirez/Taylor winner, but he needs an in between fight due to the timing issue. If he manages to land a $10M fight with Kambosos, that’s not so much of a soft touch as the ones Haney has been given. In fact, if the roles were reversed and Haney chose to fight Kambosos, that would be his best opponent to date.
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