This isn't new. Most of the time when a champ moves up he can pretty much fight for a title even if he hasn't fought at that weight. agree that margarito didnt even deserve all of this
These are much better examples of what you meant by commonplace. Because you used Mayweather and his fights with castillo and oscar as a initial example I was a bit confused. But yeah this has gone on for decades.
Is the WBC authorizing this? You need to ask the WBC why they sanctioned this fight for the 154 belt.
Boxing really needs to limit the number of championships floating about to stop things like this happening. I've always thought highly of the WBC but with things like this and the whole diamond belt bollocks they are coming across quite bad.
Just because he is ranked highly means he deserves a shot? He was banned from the sport for a year, after being knocked out by Mosley at 147lbs. He comes back and picks up the WBC International title, which he didn't deserve a shot at...and you believe he deserves a shot at the title more than Pacquiao? Did Cotto not deserve a shot at Foreman when he recently moved up to 154lbs? You can argue it's a vacant belt, but this happens all the time...an accomplished boxer moves up in weight and almost automatically, if not after a good win, gets a title shot or jumps high up the ranks. Whereas a disgraced boxer in Margarito comes back after suspension, and in only his second bout back...not only gets to fight for a vacant title, but also gets a shot at the P4P#1 because he happens to have the same promoter. Bollocks Margarito deserves a shot at this title more than Pacquiao.