On the same day it was reported that the WBC would welcome the request of the 45-year-old Manny Pacquiao to fight for their vacant welterweight title after three years of inactivity, the head of that organization, Mauricio Sulaiman, discussed their policies when it comes to ranking fighters.
For many fans, the rankings of the major sanctioning bodies have been puzzling because they don’t represent the form and accomplishments of the leading fighters in any given weight class.
For example, one glance at the heavyweight rankings will see Zhilei Zhang at number four, yet there is no place for Joseph Parker, who beat Zhang as recently as March. At cruiserweight, Noel Mikaelyan is listed as champion, but you won’t find the name of Jai Opetaia – widely regarded as the best fighter in the division – anywhere in the top 30.
The reasons for such instances have always been understood – any fighter who holds a belt with one sanctioning body will not be ranked by a rival sanctioning body. Parker holds the somewhat spurious WBO interim heavyweight strap while Opetaia presides over the IBF cruiserweight ranks. In short, it’s a conflict of interests to rate belt-holders from other organizations.
The WBC rankings guidelines state: “No champion from another boxing organization will be classified within the top 10 since their boxing obligations do not allow them to fight for a WBC title and therefore such opportunities will be granted to those fighters who are willing to fight for a WBC championship.”
Yet the omissions of certain champions from certain rankings means there is not a single sanctioning body in existence that mandates the best boxers to fight their closest rivals.
Would it not send the right message to fans if at least one of the organizations was at least appearing to try?
“They are not in the rankings because they have other commitments, it would be an intrusion to be in our ratings – if we rank them, they would be taking a spot of those who are eligible,” Sulaiman explained. “Their names are listed in the rankings [documents] as champions of other organizations so they can fight in unifications. We are always open to unifications.”
Yet there are those within the WBC who would like to see the policy of not ranking rivals’ champions change and, as such, the subject will be high on the agenda at the 2024 annual convention. The encyclopaedic Dean Lohuis, a leading member of the WBC ratings committee who spends hours studying fighters and their form, believes the sanctioning body’s rankings would gain more respect if all leading fighters were included within them.
“That’s my dream,” Lohuis said. “For many years I came up to Mauricio Sulaiman and said, ‘I want, for the sake of boxing, to change the rule that only boxers who are eligible to fight for the WBC title can be included in our rankings.’ We plan to discuss that at our next convention.”
Lohuis also insisted that the ranking of those who are eligible to fight for WBC titles is based largely on merit and not, like other organizations, for winning intercontinental-style baubles. On this day he was awake at 2am, catching up on as much recent action he could lay his hands on. “You can’t rate fighters without watching them fight,” he said. “We try to get fighters in the top 15 who are competitive against our champions. This is a very complicated process.”
That process, which is ongoing throughout the month, involves examining the fighters’ form, listening to testimonies from trainers, promoters and the media, and building a working document that is presented to the ratings committee before their monthly ratings meeting.
Without question, the process of creating 18 divisional rankings, each with 30 fighters within them, is a painstaking process. There is obvious pride in what they do.
However, what is unquestionably frustrating, at least from the outside looking in, is when special allowances are made that appear to circumvent the pages of rules and regulations and the processes each in the organization clearly hold dear.
Like Pacquiao coming back at the age of 45, five years after he last won a fight and four years since he announced his retirement following defeat by Yordenis Ugas.
Sulaiman, ever the optimist, responded to concerns about Pacquiao by referencing the successful comebacks of 31-year-old Sugar Ray Leonard – beating Marvin Hagler – and 37-year-old Vitali Klitschko, beating Samuel Peter, in bids for WBC titles in 1987 and 2008 respectively.
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