Per Dan Ambrose: Champions like Jermall Charlo, Errol Spence Jr and Gennadiy Golovkin have been sitting on their titles without defending them for years, without sanctioning bodies stripping them of their titles.
As Chris Mannix and Keith Idec point out, Charlo, Spence and Golovkin can’t just sit on their titles, fighting once a year or every other year. For the sanctioning bodies to allow these three champions to do so, the careers of candidates waiting for their title shot come to a standstill.
The real question is, why haven’t the sanctioning bodies yet intervened to strip all these champions of their belts? They are leaving these champions sitting on their belts forever, seemingly not defending them.
In a glaring example, Jermall Charlo hasn’t defended his WBC middleweight title in nearly two years.
While it’s disappointing to hear that the 32-year-old Charlo (32-0, 23 KOs) reportedly had personal issues that kept him from returning to the ring, that still doesn’t mean he should be allowed to freeze his belt for two solid years.
For normal people, if you have issues that keep you from working for a solid year or two, chances are you’ll get fired.
Charlo & Spence holding bonds hostage
“(Jermall) Charlo is supposedly coming back in June. It will be two years off. Are you buying Charlo going back to 160? What is his way back to relevance again?” Chris Mannix told The Volume.
“You cannot allow these guys, whatever is going on in their personal lives or whatever is going on physically with their injuries, you cannot allow these guys to hold these titles hostage, for years on end,” said Keith Idec.
“He (Jermall Charlo) hasn’t fought in two years. When he fights in June, it will be exactly two years since he last fought. He didn’t look particularly good against Juan Macias Montiel, who Carlos Adames later destroyed.
“Carlos Adames is the interim champion (WBC 160-lb) and mandatory for Charlo’s title. He certainly won’t fight Carlos Adames in June, and he might not want to fight Carlos Adames at all.
“If that’s the case, he’s within his rights to do that, but then vacate the title and move up or do whatever you want. Give Carlos Adames the opportunity to be the full champion because it’s similar to what’s happening with Errol Spence.
“Spence is holding these welterweight titles hostage. He couldn’t understand Crawford’s struggle. Okay, you tried. It seems a lot now that this might not happen. He shouldn’t have been allowed to retain the IBF, WBA and WBC titles and fight Keith Thurman in a 154 pound fight. This is ridiculous. This simply shouldn’t be.
Contenders having their careers held back
“Whether the activity level is once a year or once every two years, the rest of the fighters in your division and their careers shouldn’t be held back for long, long periods of time,” said Mannix. “The same applies to Golovkin. Go figure out how you’re going to maximize your dollars in your next fight. It’s your business, you can do what you want, but you can’t keep the titles either.
“In his (Golovkin’s) case, the sanctioning bodies that held his titles (IBF and WBA middleweight) did the right thing. The IBF ordered a mandatory fight, and Golovkin opted not to go through with it, and the belt was gone.
“The WBA, at some point, is going to order (Erislandy) Lara to fight, and that belt will probably go away. In those cases I would praise, rare praise, the sanctioning bodies for doing the right thing.
“The WBC, I think the title of this episode should be ‘The WBC Sucks’ because of all the things they’ve done that we’re beating them for. The WBC, if Charlo wants to come back, great. If he wants to defend the title, great. It should be against Carlos Adames.
“The WBC said they would investigate what is happening with (Jermall) Charlo in November. It’s been three months. Charlo said he was coming back,” Mannix said.
“There’s really nothing to investigate. Regis Prograis said he had some personal issues and is dealing with them”, said Idec about Jermall. “He kind of glossed over this in an Instagram post a few weeks ago. I understand. People go through difficult situations in their lives, and he just wasn’t in the right frame of mind to fight.”
Jermall must vacate his WBC title
“Of course, pull yourself together and go back to camp,” said Idec. “Again, he can do it. He’s within his rights to do that, but not holding the title hostage at the same time. He shouldn’t be allowed to do that, especially if he’s going up anyway.
“From his point of view, nobody cares if you’re the WBC champion or not, because you’re not fighting the people in the middleweight division that people want to see you fight. I’m not saying it’s necessarily all his fault because you tried to fight Munguia last year, and we’ve all been there because that fell apart.
“So he tried to fight some guys, but if he’s not going to fight opponents that people are interested in, why does it really matter if he’s the WBC champion? Who cares? So give up the title and save some money.
“Why give the WBC three percent of a seven-figure purse just because,” said Idec. “One thing I failed to mention about this Golovkin thing. Do you know who the WBA No. 2 contender is? Sergio Martinez. Sergio Martinez is 48 years old, and if there is someone in Argentina with a lot of money and wants to squander it, maybe they can play Sergio Martinez against Gennadiy Golovkin in Buenos Aires.”
“Ten years after Lou DiBella said ‘Absolutely not,’ Sergio Martinez versus Gennadiy Golovkin, maybe they could do it,” said Chris Mannix. “If you want to have fun and you’re a boxing fan, check out the WBA monthly rankings.
“I remember doing that when Alexis Rocha was going to fight George Ashie. George Ashie was Rocha’s late replacement. I started thinking, ‘Who is Ashie?’ I looked at the WBA rankings in December, and George Ashie, who had zero fights in the 147-pound division.
“He fought above 140 pounds once. He fought a guy at 150, officially making it a junior middleweight fight. Zero official fights at 147 pounds, and he was ranked 13th by the WBA in their rankings. Alexis Roach, a longtime welterweight, has not been ranked in the WBA rankings.
“How are they put together? Pulling names out of a hat? I can’t. Sergio Martinez, #2 at 160. Sergio Martinez despite battling a series of stumbles in his return to boxing. Bring Golovkin to Sergio Martinez and the middleweight title in Buenos Aires,” said Mannix.
“I’m just saying if there’s anyone in Buenos Aires willing to pay for this, would any of us be surprised if it ended? Even if Golovkin doesn’t have a title, it means more to Martinez if he does.
“I don’t want to worry about Sergio Martinez’s health, even against a 41-year-old Golovkin or a 42-year-old, whatever it is. It’s not a good idea, but it usually doesn’t stop them,” Idec said.
“You probably got the same phone calls from Lou DiBella back then, when Golovkin was chasing Sergio, and Lou DiBella was saying, ‘Absolutely not, I’m not going to set my guy up with that guy. No chance on earth.
“It would be fitting for the two guys, over 40 years old, to finally see them face each other,” Mannix said.
“And Lou is no longer involved in Sergio’s career, so he’s not there to put an end to it,” said Idec.
“I don’t know if I want to see that,” Mannix said.