In a recent article, the Executive Director of Seminole Warriors Boxing, Leon Margules, told us that WBO heavyweight titlist Sultan Ibragimov, if successful in his fight with IBF belt holder Wladimir Klitschko on February 23 wanted to continue to unify the titles. He went on to say that if mandated by the IBF, Sultan would fight Alexander Povetkin, who recently earned #1 mandatory status from that sanctioning body by defeating Eddie Chambers.
I asked about the WBO mandatory challenger Tony Thompson and Leon replied, “Well the WBO gives a unified champion 18 months to defend against their mandatory as their “Super Champion.”
Within a couple of days I received an email from Dan Goossen, Tony Thompsons’s promoter, which read in part:
…as it relates to Tony Thompson’s WBO mandatory, and Leon’s quote…”Well, the WBO gives a unified champion 18 months to defend against their mandatory, as their “Super Champion” this is completely inaccurate. Leon knows it incorrect, but continues to mislead reporters.
WBO rule, Section 7, titled Unification Bouts and Unification Tournaments As Mandatory Title Bouts, specifically states 9 months from the date of the Unification Bout.
Tony Thompson will fight for the title in 2008 and believe me when I say to you he is a very young 37.
Dan Goossen
The last sentence was in reference to my commentary that Thompson turns 37 in October and didn’t have 18 months to spare. Leon had indicated that Sultan would get to him “sooner or later,” and my concern was that “later” would be too late.
After my interview with Margules I read the WBO “Regulations of World Championship Contests,” because to be perfectly honest, I couldn’t think of a single Super Champion from the WBO, only the
WBA. It turns out, according to the WBO website that Ivan Calderon, Juan Diaz, and Joe Calzaghe are WBO “Super Champions.”
Under Section 14, “Super Champions,” the WBO lists the criteria for achieving this status. About 10-12 possible criteria are listed, none of which met the standards except for 14H (see below).
So I sent off my reply to Dan and a couple of hours later, he returned it with a response which included in part:
Swann: I looked up Section 7 in my WBO rulebook after my interview with Leon and you are correct. (Section 5 actually states 12 months for heavyweight defenses from the date of acquisition))
Goossen: THAT IS CORRECT. SULTAN BEAT BRIGGS ON JUNE 2, 2007…THOMPSON’S ORIGINAL MANDATORY (PRIOR TO THE UNIFICATION) WOULD HAVE BEEN IN JUNE 2008.
Swann: My assumption is that he must be planning to apply for Super Champion status on the basis of Section 14 H, which reads “A boxer who has unified the championships of more than one(1) of the four (4) major sanctioning bodies shall be strongly considered for Super Champion status.”
Goossen: FIRST, HE HASN’T UNIFIED ANYTHING YET (IF HE LOSES, LEON WILL HAVE HIS 18 MONTHS…ON THE BENCH). SO FOR LEON TO BLATANTLY STATE THAT THEY HAVE 18 MONTHS IS WRONG AND UNETHICAL TO STATE. WE ALL KNOW THE ORGANIZATIONS CAN ULTIMATELY DO WHAT THEY WANT, ALTHOUGH THE WBO HAS BEEN VERY CONSISTENT IN FOLLOWING THEIR RULE BOOK AND UNDERSTANDING AN INDIVIDUAL FIGHTER’S POSITION, I.E., THOMPSON FIGHTING AN ELIMINATION BOUT, ANTICIPATING A JUNE WORLD TITLE BOUT, ONLY TO HAVE THE UNIFICATION PUSH IT BACK FURTHER (WHICH IS CLEAR CUT IN THE RULE BOOK, AS COMPARED TO WORDING IN THE SUPER CHAMPION LANGUAGE THAT DOES NOT HAVE A DEFINITIVE DIRECTION).
Swann: Under “Privileges Afforded Super Champions” , “A” states that “The championship committee may extend a Super Champion’s mandatory title defense for good cause shown one or more times beyond the time provided for in the WBO regulations …by giving a Super Champion opportunity or opportunities to unify the titles of more than one major sanctioning body in a unification bout…or any important match that the committee determines would contribute to the Super Champion’s legacy or be of great interest to boxing fans.”
Goossen: THIS IS CORRECT, BUT DEPENDENT ON ANOTHER UNIFICATION AFTER THIS ONE (CERTAINLY NO OTHER MEANINGFUL FIGHT FOR SULTAN OUT THERE OTHER THAN UNIFICATION)…REMEMBER, WBC IS LOCKED UP WITH A VITALI KLITSCHKO MANDATORY POSITION FIGHTING THE WINNER OF PETER-MASKAEV AND THE WBA HAS THEIR OWN ELIMINATION BETWEEN VALUEV-LYAKHOVICH ON FEBRUARY 16 TO FIGHT CHAGAEV (HIS MANDATORY IS DUE IN APRIL).
Swann: If that were the case and approved by the WBO, that comes out to 18 months.
Goossen: YOU’VE GOT BETTER COUNTING SKILLS THAN I DO APPARENTLY, BECAUSE TO ME IT DOESN’T ADD UP TO ANYTHING, BECAUSE 1) HE ISN’T A UNIFIED CHAMPION 2) HE WOULD NEED A HIGH PROFILE FIGHT OR ANOTHER UNIFICATION BOUT TO BE EVEN CONSIDERED FOR AN EXEMPTION 3) FROM THE FEBRUARY 23 DATE THE UNIFIED CHAMPION HAS UNTIL NOVEMBER 23, 2008 TO DO ANY OTHER POSSIBLE HIGH PROFILE/UNIFICATION BOUT (MEANING THERE IS NO REASON TO GRANT SUPER CHAMPION EXTENSION STATUS, BECAUSE THE SUPER CHAMPION HAS 9 MONTHS LOOKING IN FRONT OF THEM WITHOUT THOMPSON BREATHING DOWN THEIR NECK).
TONY REALLY IS AN EXTRAORDINARY MAN. I REALLY BELIEVE THAT HE HAS A FEW GOOD YEARS IN FRONT OF HIM DEFENDING HIS TITLE AS A SUPER CHAMPION (THOUGHT I WOULD THROW THAT ONE IN).
I just want to take a moment to say how wonderful life could be if I could cut and paste every interview.
So I called Goossen the next day and we talked about Paul Williams, his outstanding WBO welterweight title holder who was a major topic in our Tuesday column, “He says, She says…” We also spoke at length about Tony Thompson and his quest for the title shot that he earned, indeed paid for with sanctioning fees, thereby winning the right to be the WBO’s #1 mandatory challenger.
Dan began, “I hate to be one of those promoters but — if Leon wants to say that Tony Thompson is a bum, I don’t care, but the facts are the facts and I have to say something.
“As Thompson’s promoter, the criteria of the decision by the WBO [as regards Super Champion status] is common sense and is an ethical one. The fact is that it applies to neither fighter [Klitschko and Ibragimov] unless they fight another unified champion.
“I don’t complain about that — you live by the rules and you die by the rules. [The rules call for] 10 defenses, reputable challengers –if he [Sultan] did win Klitschko would be his first reputable challenger.
“I don’t believe all the criteria will be there so you’ve got until November, actually September to do all of your bouts because the rule book states no fights 60 days before the mandatory.”
I asked Goossen about a fight for Tony as the rules state that he too must fight.
“We’re working on something right now that would allow us to work within the rules,” he replied. “The heavyweight division is thin and there’s not a lot of high profile bouts available. Davarryl Williamson, John Ruiz, Andrew Golota, Hasim Rahman — they weren’t that great in their primes, so it’s hard to impress the fans.
“Let Leon say what he wants. I’m moving ahead 100% with Tony. If Ibragimov wins, I’ll congratulate him and Leon, but I’ll fight to the death for Tony’s rights to be upheld in November. I don’t care if they fight Povetkin next, I can’t stop them from fighting. But from a rulebook standpoint, I want my fight by November.”
Leon Margules was contacted for the opportunity to counter Goossen’s argument, but declined to comment.
“I don’t really care,” he said. “I’m not going to argue.”