But we can see now that was purely myth. Vitali and Maskeavs achievements as WBC champion have been identical. Identical. In fact, Maskaev beat a better fighter than Vitlay did to get the title. I don't believe the WBC has a "woulda, coulda, shoulda" clause in its rules and regulations. It might though, nothing would surprise me.
The winner would be the one to get the most pull-outs/no shows/broken promises done in the least amount of time. Currently, their record on this is- 3. Lewis: Verbally agreed to fight Vitali, but didn't. 2. Maskaev: Signed to fight Peter, but pulled out with about 3 weeks to go. 1. Vitali: The runaway leader- signed to fight McCline once and pulled out; signed to fight Rahman on about five times and didn't face him once; refused to show for the 10th round against the hard-punching Chris Byrd.
I like it. How about, the number of days holding the title, divided by number of defences? Most days per defence is the winner. (Winning the title as challenger doesn't count - so defences only) You also have a 30 day deduction for every mandatory taken on, as that quite obviously is not the done thing anymore.
If he has herniated discs in his back he's finished. There will be no emeritus status just back operations, pain pills and traction therapy. What a way to go. :verysad
I don't get the whole "champion emeritus" thing anyway, if you want to "retire" with the belt, then you lose the belt...Because it's not like you "LOST" it anyway, you retired with it, and thus the belt must re-enter the heavyweight divison. The only thing the "champion emeritus" does is give some guy an excuse to not defend his belt, only to come back two years later and get a title shot he hasn't done ANYTHING for. If you're going to duck your mandatory, then be a man and ditch the belt - don't fake a retirement only to come back and challenge either A. the same guy when he is years older/slower/weaker or B. some other champion that you think you can beat What seperates today's HW divison from the past is that these guys don't HAVE to fight anybody, you can build your legacy off 2x Rahman and SSS, grab a belt, then "retire" whenever your mandatory isn't president of the bum of the month club, so that you can bide your time until you make your "comeback" Even if these guys have legitimate injuries (As they probably do), if the champion CANNOT FIGHT then he shouldn't be holding the belt. Vitali lost HOW many years to "injuries"? It's not like he got a cut and had to push a fight back 3-4 weeks...he took several years off IN RETIREMENT...and the clowns at the WBC let him keep his belt? atsch
I agree it's ****ing ****. The WBC didn't give Kostya Tszyu 'emeritus' status with his injury enforced layoff. KT was undisputed division at the time too, not just a belt holder. KT came back as well. Unlike certain giant Eastern Euros.
Its just another way for the organizations to make money thats all it is.Similar to how the WBA has its "superchampion" status going on.A loada **** IMO.
That's not my (admittedly tongue in cheek) point though. My point is this. Why did the WBC fly so rapidly into the whole Emeritus thing in the first place? What makes Vitlay so different to every other fighter that there has been in the past. And it's a sly dig at the fact that Vitlay's record as a WBC champ really is no better than Olegs. Vitlay Beat Corrie "one shot" Sanders in a title fight (vacant belt) Beat Danny "Legend Killer" Williams in a title fight (voluntary defence) Oleg Beat Hasim "used to be undisputed champ you know" Rahman (Rahman champ) Beat Peter "WHO?" Okhello in title fight (voluntary) And that's it. Losing challenges (no matter how 'valiant' *cough* ) don't count here. Essentially, Vitlay has a 66% record in WBC title fights. Oleg, 100%
no ! it's one thing is you've been active as champion and fans can see that you're interested in building your status as champion further and been prepared to bring on new fights within a reasonable period of time after winning the title however - if you've been inactive and then when you finally do get around to fighting again you get injured, then that's too bad ...
31 Months and the WBC has had zero financial gain from this mess (or at least we are told). atsch I thought these guys wanted to make money. I think it's time we start investigating some backhand pocket exchanges between Jose Suliman and some Eastern Euro connections.