Georgy Yunovidov vs. Evgeny Romanov for the Final WBA World Title Eliminator.

Winner of this will be the WBA Bridgerweight mandatory. The Bridgerweight division just keeps on giving!

 

If the top fighters actually fight more than once a year, it will instantly be the best division in boxing.

 

Allen cabbage to fight the winner

 

...with Romanov coming off a kayo loss and thirteen months inactivity. Grand.

 

Wow, two Russians competing to be #1 for the Russian who is holding a belt held hostage by a Russian novice who works for the IBA, a Russian organization. Who would have thought?

Well, I kind of did...now five of seven invited to be part of title fights or eliminators will be Russians...

https://www.boxingforum24.com/threa...ly-bought-the-wba-bridgerweight-title.725121/

I was just thinking of this.

When the title was created, they more or less coronated Evgeny Tischenko, a poor cruiser and dodgy gold-medalist, as champ by matching him against Leo Harth, a complete no-hoper. Of course, even in the crappy Bridgerweight rankings there are two guys more deserving of a shot. They picked Tischenko for no reason--accept maybe that is Russian and affiliated with the IBA--and got him one of the worst guys available as an opponent.

Then Tischenko got popped and they stripped him.

So how did they fill the spot?

They matched Evgeny Romanov, another Russian fighter with a light professional pedigree, against Zhaoxin Zhang for an eliminator. Now again, you have two guys who are by no means the best in the ratings, but I can see it a little bit, because Romanov has the reputation for having knocked out Deontay Wilder in the amateurs, so he's sellible. But, as so often happens in boxing, the wrong guy won, and Zhang went on to get the shot.

So, who was Zhang paired with for the title...another Russian, Muslim Gahdzimagomedov, an Olympic Silver medalist and IBA champion WITH THREE PROFESSIONAL FIGHTS!

That's right, three professional fights fighting for a "world title." And of course he won.

That is three out of five Russians competing for this thing, none of them with the professional record to justify it. Also in the ratings are Badou Jack, and more proven cruiser/heavies such as Andrew Tabiti and Ryad Mehry (this is the bridgers, after all...not saying they are great, just more proven).

So why did this occur to me?

1) Because I have been watching some of Gazhimagomedov's amateur fights on Youtube, and every single one of them have people accusing him in the comments section of benefiting from IBA/Russian corruption in obtaining his accoalades. In fact, a couple directly compared him to Tischenko!

And...

2) When researching who his next opponent will be, hoping it was Jack, Tabiti, or Merhy, I found that it will most likely be that no-hoper Leo Harth, since he is now supposedly owed a shot based on Tischenko pissing hot.

It seems they really want Gazhimagomedov being a champ without ever actually accomplishing anything, like beating a good, credible fighter.

By the way, I was watching his fights because I actually took a liking to Gazhimagomedov...I hardly think he will be great, but he's got defensive skills and throws a lot of punches. But something is wrong here when three of the five guys invited to be part of championship fights or eliminators are Russians who just don't deserve it, and the other two are also guys they found near the bottom of the barrel.

Anyone have some ideas on this?