From Dan Rafael's blog today at ESPN.COM/Boxing
I won't even get into the fact that the WBC has positioned Oleg Maskaev as the mandatory heavyweight challenger for Vitali Klitschko, even though Maskaev was knocked out by Samuel Peter a year ago to lose the title and since then has earned nothing but a pair of inconsequential wins against guys who wouldn't rank in the top 50.
Today, let's simply take a look at the junior middleweight division, where the WBC has created such nonsensical rankings that upon first look you might think they were just a mistake. Sadly, they aren't.
Vernon Forrest holds the title and Sergio Martinez holds the interim belt, yet the organization has allowed them both to keep fighting others without taking a stand and ordering a direct fight between them. Put that aside for a moment, though, and scroll through the top 10. I can barely get past the top three because they're so horrendous.
No. 1 is Alfredo Angulo. He is one of my favorite prospects and an absolute delight to watch because of his all-action style. But he has yet to fight anyone of serious quality, so to rank him as the No. 1 contender at 154 pounds is simply a joke. Unfortunately, it's not as cruel a joke as the next two so-called contenders.
No. 2 is Ricardo Mayorga, a former titleholder who pulled out of a February HBO bout against Angulo at the last minute, screwing up the card and disappointing a lot of people. But that isn't even the point. Get this: The WBC ranks Mayorga second in the world (I don't have him in the top 10), even though he hasn't won a fight at 154 pounds since a 2005 decision against Michele Piccirillo.
Since that fight four years ago, Mayorga has fought only three times. In those bouts, he is 1-2. He was thrashed and knocked out by Oscar De La Hoya in May 2006, won a decision in a super middleweight fight against the totally shot Fernando Vargas in November 2007, then got drilled by Shane Mosley in September. For these accomplishments, Mayorga deserves the No. 2 rank in the world? Maybe in bizarro world.
No. 3 is Julio Cesar Chavez Jr., which is one of the single worst rankings I have ever seen. In any division. In any organization. Ever.
This is clearly just the Mexico-based WBC sucking up to Julio Cesar Chavez Sr., the kid's father and one of the all-time Mexican greats, who held various WBC titles during his career.
To rank Chavez Jr. third in the world is an insult to anyone who believes rankings should be fair. Chavez shouldn't rank in the top 20, and that's being generous.
Chavez Jr. is undefeated, but he has faced nobody of remote quality in his career. Even his own handlers at Top Rank admit to pushing him extraordinarily slowly because he generates enormous money despite his limitations as a fighter. That's fine. Chavez headlines a Top Rank pay-per-view card on Saturday night from Tijuana, Mexico, against the thoroughly obscure Luciano Cuello. It's a card that could be pretty entertaining, but those who are going to buy it will do so because they enjoy watching Chavez fight or because they are interested in undercard bouts involving Fernando Montiel, Humberto Soto and Antonio Diaz.
Nobody -- and I repeat, nobody -- is going to buy the pay-per-view because they believe Chavez is the second coming of his father or will be facing a dangerous, world-class opponent.
Well, nobody except maybe the WBC.
