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[blackbelt2003]

http://www.fightnews.com/Boxing/wbc-to-san...s-barrios-90970


According to the above, Erik Morales could be in line to get himself a title shot. With Bradley moving up to welter and Alexander apparently doing the same, good ol' El Terrible is in line to get the title shot vs Jorge Barrios.


Personally I'd like to see Morales at lightweight (I'm sure he'd get the same shot for Soto's old belt) as he'd be slimmer and sharper at the weight, but considering Barrios himself is a shopworn veteran, this is a winnable fight for him.



So I guess Khan-Morales for the undisputed title is in the foreseeable future maybe?




Black

[Guest_ViperSniper_*]

n a transparent, boldly biased, and rather pathetic move, the WBC has chosen to sanction a junior welterweight title fight between Erik Morales and Jorge Barrios on the September 17 Mayweather vs Ortiz pay-per-view undercard.

Let's count the ways that this sucks and not pretend that it doesn't.

First off, Timothy Bradley held the title. Fine, nobody likes Tim Bradley right now. But he was within his mandatory period. He just won the belt in January when he beat Devon Alexander. By the WBC's rules, there is no valid reason to strip Bradley of the belt right now. None. Zero. Zilch. Nada.

Q: Why is the WBC stripping Timothy Bradley?
A: Because it benefits Erik Morales.

I hate to say this about Erik Morales, because I love him as a fighter. He's one of my absolute favorite fighters ever. And he still fights hard when he gets in the ring, and he's proven that his comeback wasn't quite as ill-advised as we all thought. He's a true boxing warrior. We all love Erik Morales.

But this is an obvious plot by the WBC to put their 140-pound belt on Morales, which would make him the first ever four-division "champion" in Mexican boxing history. It's cheap, it's obvious, and it sucks. Morales vs Barrios is a good fight, really. It should have plenty of action and be exciting, and might well steal the show on the card.

Star-divide

Here's the reality, though: Morales is ranked No. 3 by the WBC. This is silly enough (they also have Humberto Soto automatically ranked No. 4), but let's go a bit deeper. Let's talk about Barrios. He's never fought at 140 pounds. Ever. Not even once. And he's not a WBC "champion" moving up, either. He's not even ranked at 135 pounds -- not in their top 40. We're talking about a rankings list that includes the likes of Humberto Toledo, Dejan Zlaticanin, Logan McGuinness, and others.

I'm not intending to dump on those fighters, but what I'm saying is that obviously it's not exactly hard to be ranked by the WBC in a top 40, and frankly it's not THAT hard to get ranked in a legitimate, unbiased top 40 in any division either. Barrios, for the record, is definitely one of the 40 top lightweights in the world. Top 20, even, arguably top 15. But we're not dealing with unbiased rankings. We're dealing with the WBC's rankings.

But he has never fought at 140, and he has no business fighting for a vacant title. It does not add up. This is pure, unfiltered bias from the WBC, and anyone can see it. If Morales wins, the WBC and Golden Boy and probably HBO will celebrate and go nuts, but it will be an empty fourth title, and it will diminish what should have been a momentous moment, even in an era of useless title belts that are thrown around willy nilly.

And if the WBC weren't showing bias here, and they decided to wrongly strip Timothy Bradley of the belt anyway, the fight that should be for the vacant title is the already-scheduled eliminator on September 30 between Ali Chebah and Ajose Olusegun. I said all of this yesterday, but it's worth repeating. And certainly, this is all just my opinion. You are free to disagree if you wish, and praise Morales vs Barrios as a great title fight, and that's fine, I guess, but I just can't get on board with this. It even lessens my excitement for what IS, again, a GOOD FIGHT that should be fun to watch. Because they've tacked on this belt and will completely ignore that it's an obvious, cheap tactic to crown Erik Morales. If anyone deserves to be cheaply crowned, sure, it's someone like Erik Morales.

But I don't think he deserves the backlash that this news will bring from people who know what it really is, either. This is criticism that should be directed at the WBC. All Morales and Golden Boy did was take advantage


http://www.badlefthook.com/2011/7/28/23012...ortiz-undercard

Great post!

I understand Bradley is going through promotional issues and is also not going through negotiations with Khan in a chance to get an even bigger fight, but he fought only 6 months ago. Is that long enough for him to be stripped?

Anyways, I don't think Morales-Barrios deserves to fight for the WBC title. Matthyess, Maidana or even Kotelnik would be more worthy of fighting for a world title at 140.

This post has been edited by ViperSniper: Jul 30 2011, 03:41 AM

[Jack 1000]

Great post!

I understand Bradley is going through promotional issues and is also not going through negotiations with Khan in a chance to get an even bigger fight, but he fought only 6 months ago. Is that long enough for him to be stripped?

Anyways, I don't think Morales-Barrios deserves to fight for the WBC title. Matthyess, Maidana or even Kotelnik would be more worthy of fighting for a world title at 140.

As I understand it. Tim Bradley won't be stripped. He will be a champion in recess. I am still not sure what that means. I think that Barrios-Morales could be a great fight! But for a world title? FUCK NO!

Jack

[Cshel86]

As I understand it. Tim Bradley won't be stripped. He will be a champion in recess. I am still not sure what that means. I think that Barrios-Morales could be a great fight! But for a world title? FUCK NO!

Jack

"Champion in recess" is similar to a cop pulling you over and giving you a "citation". In other words, he is being stripped...slowly. It's not like the WBC hasn't stripped/forced him to vacate that title before. Yeah he only fought 6 months ago, but his delusional ego and recent words probably led up to this as well as the litigation. He messed up when he started running off at the mouth saying, "Forget Khan, I want Mayweather and Pacquiao"...translation..."I dont care if Im holding two major titles while slowing down the progress of the division. Im just gonna sit on my ass, hold the titles, and wait til I get what I want...then Im gonna drop those bitches and leave the division for something better...all just to get my ass kicked and have nowhere else to turn". It's obvious that Khan is going to fight one more time before the end of the year, and Bradley has on intentions on fighting him (as he stated in delusional rant), so Bradley would be inactive when January rolls around. Who wants two titles held up for a whole year, and the fighter is inactive.

Most think that Morales doesn't deserve a shot at the title, but I disagree. Think about it, who at 140, has headlined a PPV event? Morales had to bring his old ass back into the game and do what these "promising and rising stars" have failed to do. Of course, he picked a great and dangerous opponent (Maidana) to make that PPV happen as well. All of these other idiots have left us floating in the wind and wondering who the champ will be at 140, while they only think of themselves and scream for May or Pac (IMG:style_emoticons/default/dntknw.gif) I have to give it to Morales, now he will be on the undercard of the hugest PPV of the year, fighting for a title, and paving the way for bigger and better things for this latter stage of his career. Let's face it, not many of these young guys in the division (or boxing as of lately) can put asses in seats, so the aging veterans have to continue to stick their necks out there and make it happen for the fans.

Somebody mentioned the irony of Mexicans getting a shot at vacant WBC titles, and I see where that is going. Let's not forget that Mexicans have the biggest fan base in boxing...translation...more viewers and money to be made for the sport. Morales and Alvarez will do a pretty good job defending vacant titles and keeping viewers on the edge of their seats...besides, Alvarez sold out (or damn near sold out) that arena in Mexico for the Rhodes fight back in June, and I believe it was between 10-12k people there. Margarito stunk it up against Pac for that vacant 154 lb title (though neither of them campaigned at 154), and for the life of me, I will never understand why people even watch Julio Casear Chavez Jr fight, smh.

This post has been edited by cshel86: Jul 29 2011, 08:50 AM