Mauricio Sulaiman is no stranger to unpopular concepts.
The head of the World Boxing Council sanctioning body recently tried – for the nth time – to explain the rationale behind the franchise champion concept he introduced in 2018. Initially devised to give elite champions, such as Canelo Alvarez, a degree of latitude and flexibility “with respect to his or her mandatory obligations, holding multiple titles and competing for titles of other organizations,” the concept has instead only left many observers of the sport shaking their head at the lack of transparency.
“Any change brings resistance,” Sulaiman told a group of reporters during a media conference call. “Whe WBC has changed so many things in the history of the sport…so we introduced a new concept, and as any new concept it will continue to evolve to find the perfection or best scenario possible.
“What is the franchise designation? Basically to attend to those very few fighters of the highest level to [engage] in the great fights that the fans want to see. Canelo was the first one. Canelo, as a franchise [champion], he went on to super middleweight, then light heavyweight, then came back, then requested for the WBC vacant championship. He did, and he did not use the franchise designation.”
But the concept has become a lightning rod of controversy, particularly as it relates to the lightweight division, as the idea of the franchise belt has muddled the far more important and pressing idea of a unified champion, the term used to refer to the fighter who has trinkets from all four major sanctioning bodies (WBC, WBA, WBO, IBF).
The problem started in 2020, when then unified lightweight champion Vasiliy Lomachenko, ahead of his unification bout with Teofimo Lopez, decided to relinquish his WBC belt to become the organization’s franchise champion; the WBC title proper then went to Devin Haney by default. When Lomachenko lost, the designation was then passed onto Lopez, who then went on to call himself “undisputed” for the next year, much to the objection of Haney, until this past November, when Lopez lost his belts to George Kambosos in an upset.
So is Kambosos, the WBC’s franchise champion, also the undisputed lightweight champion? What would that make Haney, then?
Sulaiman tried his hand at answering such tangled questions.
“The other one, lightweight, as I explained it yesterday — it was very complicated three years ago,” Sulaiman said. “Mikey Garcia keeping the title frozen for a year when he moved up. We ordered several series of fights, some didn’t happen, some did happen. We ended with an interim championship. Then Lomachenko requests to fight for the vacant title which is a great honor. We granted that. He defeated (Luke) Campbell, then he requested franchise in order to go in and unify the division. We accepted that he fought [Teofimo] Lopez, and Lopez requested to be franchise if he defeated Lomachenko — that’s the first change in the rule that we had.
“We adjusted where the designation can be exchanged in a high profile fight as it was with that fight and it was with the Kambosos. What happened with the franchise [designation] in the lightweights? You can look at it today. It gave us eight, seven fights at the greatest level and it will continue to give many good fights. I am sorry for the confusion that some fans may have. I’m sorry for the confusion the media may have. I’m sorry for those who wrote the statistics like maniacs and say ‘Oh my god, what is this?’
In a seemingly contradictory explanation, perhaps out of a desire to be diplomatic, Sulaiman said Kambosos should be treated as the lightweight division’s undisputed champion, a condition that would, on the other hand, completely undermine the WBC title proper and Haney’s status in the division.
“Devin Haney has the WBC lightweight title,” Sulaiman said. “He is the pride of the WBC champion. He has grown into being a tremendous champion. He defeated Gamboa, defeated Linares, just had a great outing with JoJo Diaz. As I’ve said, it’s a new concept. Kambosos defeated Lopez who defeated Lomachenko, so I do believe [Kambosos] is due recognition as undisputed champion…”
By Sean Nam (BoxingScene)