Mauricio Sulaiman, Chairman of the World Boxing Council (WBC), acknowledged in an interview that the entity he chairs will review and improve the mandatory challenger rule to avoid legal trouble.
“The mandatory challenger rule is one that has worked over the years to bring justice to the sport and for mandatory challengers to win a title,” Sulaiman told ESPN Digital.
He added that “this rule has not been revised for many years and there are times when the regulation restricts you in legal matters because the official challenger gets rights. struggle, we must have a review and update process “.
Sulaiman’s statements come just four days after the mandatory WBC fight between Mexican Saúl ‘Canelo’ Álvarez (55-1-2, 37 KOs) and Turkey challenger Avni Yildirim (21-3, 12 KOs).
That super middleweight bout, and where the World Boxing Association (WBA) and The Ring Magazine belt was also on the line, ended in just three rounds by a technical knockout favorable to the champion.
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Carlos Nava talks about how the WBC allowed Canelo Álvarez to face off against challengers who didn’t deserve to fight for the title.
The low quality of the Turkish fighter at Miami’s Hard Rock Stadium sparked numerous criticisms of the Mexican boxer and the WBC.
“In this case, there was a situation that changed dramatically, namely the inactivity caused by the pandemic and the consequences of the pandemic. So we ended up ordering the official challenger so that his rights were respected,” the Mexican manager continued.
“In this case, two years passed and it wasn’t anyone’s fault, it wasn’t the Turk or the body’s fault, but a pandemic. Before the pandemic he went to fight and they canceled the fight, these are things that When extraordinary things happen, we must resort to not being caught completely by an ordinance, ”concluded Sulaimán.