I was just thinking about it. Stripping Ali for giving Liston a rematch made no sense from the commercial point. WBA probably knew withdrawing the recognition from the real champion may backfire. Because, really, how many people thought of Terrell as the champ? Literally nobody. But maybe WBA had to do it. They wanted to test how much authority they had in the boxing landscape after WBC just formed to challenged them. They had good enough reason (at least in their minds) to do it because of the illegal rematch clause, so they just rolled the dice. They failed miserably, but think about this. If it worked, maybe WBC would never be regarded as highly as it was in the 70s and 80s. If they could crown the new champion completely abandoning the lineage and somehow convince people they are doing the right thing, they could have been the only kingmakers in boxing. What do you think?
What I’ve always wanted to know is why Ali went 15 mo the without defending his title after the first Liston fight.
I know the Liston rematch was scheduled much sooner but Ali had an emergency hernia operation that sidelined him for a bit
I don’t know the full extend of it but always when I read about that hernia operation I am amazed that he had a career like that after that.
There is a bit of background information which should serve as a necessary pre-requisite in understanding the situation of the heavyweight landscape at this time. When Floyd Patterson was the world's heavyweight champion, his manager - the sly Cus D'Amato - virtually held the title hostage by handpicking challengers and avoiding dangerous prospects to protect his fighter's interest. WBA (then NBA) began to grow frustrated at these actions and the IBC even offered a large bounty to Patterson if he was willing to put his belt on the line against Sonny Liston. D'Amato goaded Patterson to decline the offer thus further infuriating the sanctioning body and the promoters' club. But this wasn't it. D'Amato went a step further - he forced Brian London to sign a rematch agreement before he could square off against Floyd for the title in 1959. Cus wasn't confident in Floyd's win, so he was ensuring a backup mechanism for Patterson to win the title back, should there be an upset. This was rendered useless, as Floyd won by knockout. Patterson's rate of title defenses was poor - he had defended the belt only four times in about three years. The NBA ordered Floyd to defend his crown against their number one ranked contender Ingemar Johansson (one of the first instances of a 'mandatory' challenge in heavyweight history) and the cunning Cus was at it again, asking Johansson to sign a rematch contract. This time around Floyd lost, and the rematch clause came into effect, resulting in a trilogy. When Patterson took matters into his own hands in 1962, accepting a challenge from Sonny Liston, D'Amato got into the act again, with another rematch clause which was brought into fruition as Patterson was demolished by Liston. At this point, the WBA announced that they would strip any future champion of his title if they were to give automatic rematches. The Ali-Liston stripping affair was a direct consequence of this decision by the WBA. It wasn't the only reason though - Liston had a run-in with the law while Ali was associated with 'black Muslims', both of which generated significant negative press. But in the long run the decision hurt WBA, and they had to arrange for a unification fight.
The purpose of bodies isn't commercial in any regard. The way in which the WBC formed made it impossible for the WBA to in anyway squeeze them out or fail to recognize them. The corruption in boxing literally can not exist if there is no sanctioning body to corrupt. You guys blame them like as if it is possible they are the source of their own corruption. At most you're willing to blame them and promoters but never the fighters themselves. I promise it's the fighters who want over paid for easy fights on an easy schedule, not the guys making the rules or the money based on their successes, it is them.
