There was a time when the WBC heavyweight title was considered to be the most legitimate of all belts. When Ali was stripped of his boxing license, this organization did not outrightly deny Ali of his title unlike it's A counterpart. Frazier was recognized as their champion only when he beat Jimmy Ellis to unify all the alphabet titles of the time. The organization's credibility took a hit however, when Ken Norton was awarded the belt without having to win it inside the ring. This was repeated again, first in 1992 when Lennox Lewis was awarded the belt and then again in 2005 when Hasim Rahman was 'upgraded' as champion following Vitali Klitschko's first retirement. But WBC was the one which had Larry Holmes as it's champion when lesser boxers played musical chairs with the WBA belt. Since Vitali Klitschko's return however, WBC has turned increasingly protectionist when it comes to their heavyweight champions. The organization has tried to stay away from unifying it's belt with those of the other sanctioning bodies. In fact, the belt has never been unified with another major belt since Lennox Lewis was stripped of his IBF strap at the start of this millennium (and has never been unified with any belt since Lennox's retirement). Even more maddeningly frustrating is the list of challengers when we consider it's most successful champions in recent history. Vitali defended his belt (during his second reign) against Williams, Peter, Gomez, Arreola, Johnson, Sosnowski, Briggs, Solis, Adamek, Chisora and Charr. Wilder's list of defenses is not much greater - Molina, Duhaupas, Szpilka, Arreola, Washington, Stiverne, Ortiz, Fury (draw), Breazeale and Ortiz. Thankfully (and hopefully), we will see an end to this protectionist business by Wilder Boxing Corporation, as Fury will finally try to unify the titles against Usyk. But what caused the WBC to turn protectionist?
Stop wasting my time You know what I want You know what I need Or maybe you don’t Do I have to come right flat out and tell you everything Gimme some money This content is protected
You seem to be consciously leaving a lot out. First, Jose Sulaiman was the head of the WBC when most of the "stripping" took place. He's deceased. So changes will occur when there is a change at the top. Second, the WBC isn't the reason the heavyweight title isn't unified. They didn't strip Lennox Lewis of any belts when he won them all. They aren't planning to strip the winner of Fury-Usyk a couple days after their unification ... that would be the IBF. The WBC used to regularly strip its champions, and fans weren't necessarily happy about it. The WBC stripped the legitimate World Heavyweight Champion Leon Spinks for making his first defense against Ali instead of its number-one contender, Ken Norton, in 1978. (Ken couldn't win his next fight, regardless.) You mentioned how the WBC recognized Holmes. However, they only did so until 1983. The WBC was going to strip the legitimate World Heavyweight Champion Larry Holmes for refusing to fight its number-one contender, Greg Page, in 1983. So Holmes vacated. (Page couldn't win the vacant belt anyway.) The WBC also refused to recognize the legitimate World Heavyweight Champion Buster Douglas in 1990, because Don King insisted there had been a long count in Buster's win over Mike Tyson. In fact, the WBC withheld recognition from Douglas for several days until the PR disaster just blew up on them. The WBC was going to strip legitimate World Heavyweight Champion Riddick Bowe in 1992, because Bowe refused to fight its number-one contender, Lennox Lewis. So Bowe vacated. (Lewis picked it up.) The WBC also ordered Mike Tyson to defend his WBC heavyweight title against Lennox Lewis in 1996, but Mike Tyson wanted to unify with Bruce Seldon instead. So Mike Tyson vacated the WBC title. (Lewis snatched it again.) At that point, maybe the WBC just figured stripping heavyweight champs every couple years for not following rules wasn't the best practice. *It's a lesson the other three orgs have yet to grasp.* The WBC really hasn't forced a heavyweight champion to vacate since 1996 ... nearly 30 years. (Unlike the IBF, which stripped Fury 10 days after he beat Wlad and plans to strip the Fury-Usyk winner days after their unification in a few weeks.) When Lennox Lewis unified with Holyfield, the WBC held fast to Lewis. You said the IBF stripped Lewis. The IBF didn't strip Lewis, the WBA did (for refusing to fight their top contender John Ruiz). Lewis later vacated the IBF belt (because he didn't want to fight the IBF's top contender Chris Byrd) after Don King agreed to pay him $1 million and a Range Rover to drop the strap. Again, the WBC continued to recognize Lewis because Lewis was the real champion. They didn't demand he fight anyone. When Vitali Klitschko was WBC champ, he didn't want to unify the titles with his brother and business partner Wlad, because their company owned all the belts anyway and they didn't want to fight each other. The WBC wasn't protecting Vitali. There's no rule that says you have to unify with the other champs. The WBC never stripped Lewis, Rahman, Maskaev, Peter, Vitali, Stiverne, Wilder, Fury for failing to meet a top contender ... which is why they've had the most consistent string of champions. Still, Lewis fought Vitali. Wilder fought Fury three times. Fury fought Wlad, Wilder three times and, next up, Usyk twice. You tend to have to beat their champs in the ring, not at a board meeting. If you want to blame someone for all the belts not being unified at heavyweight, don't blame the org that hasn't stripped any heavyweight of the title this century. Blame the orgs that continue to strip heavyweight champions and have already announced plans that they will do it again next month.
Money, they realized if they didnt play ball and accomodate the golden goose, their belt was just going to be vacated. Bowe did it, Tyson did it 3 years later. Even Canelo did it a few years ago.
Sulaiman is actually on record stating he believes the heavyweight champ should be from America if this isn’t bias I’m not sure what is complete corruption should be titled Wilder’s Bodyguard Company
In fairness to Sulaiman, I'm pretty sure he said this because America was where the big bucks were. These days, I reckon he'd consult the Saudis on who they want.
He said it while Wilder was the champ and regardless of where the money is that shouldn’t determine where your champion is from but you know boxing is very corrupt
