Why didn't Wlad go for the WBC belt after Vitali retired

Vitali retired at the end of 2013. And as other's mentioned there was talk of it. But, something seemingly has been missed out in the replies here. Anyway, this is my understanding of how things went down.

2013, Aug, Vitali was injured and couldn't defend until 2014. Stiverne after beating Arreola in April of that year (his second WBC title eliminator) complains that he isn't being given a WBC title shot, and if Vitali is effectively retired then he should be stripped. Then in Dec, 2013, Vitali retires and the belt goes vacant. At which point, Wladimir declares his intention to go for Undisputed. May, 2014, Stiverne beats Arreola for the WBC title, and it's made public that Wladimir wants to fight Stiverne next.

This is where the problems begin, though. Wilder somehow got to become mandatory challenger for the WBC title by fighting his friend Scott (who had recently been stopped by Chisora). Not only should have Scott been nowhere near a final eliminator, but he blatantly took a dive against his friend, Wilder.

Stiverne wanted to fight Klitschko for Undisputed. But Wilder wouldn't step aside. The WBC vetoed Undisputed, threatening to strip Stiverne if he tried to make an optional defence against Wlad.
i.e. they forced Stiverne to make a mandatory title defence against Wilder in his very first defence. So much for undisputed trumping mandatory...
note: They were also extremely lenient with Wilder on his own mandatory defences.

Then finally, after Wilder won the title, he had no interest in making the Undisputed fight against Klitschko (see what others posted about what Finkel said).

The end.

So yeah, WBC/PBC/Wilder seem to share the blame on this.

 

And now think of all of the instances where the WBC have allowed unifications to take precedent over mandatory obligations. And the times when the vacant belt has been on the line for fights where one of the combatant is already a world champion with either the WBA, WBO, or IBF.

It was blatant corruption back in 2014.

 

Well, it's all a matter of perspective. The WBC, clearly allowed PBC to choose Wilder's final eliminator opponent, when he somehow got to fight Malik Scott. They seemingly also allowed PBC to choose Stiverne's first title defence too. They allowed the PBC to choose Breazeale "final eliminator" opponent, when he was matched with Molina instead of Whyte. They allowed the PBC to pick and choose when Wilder would make mandatory defences, and even who those mandatory defences would be against.

So, why not Wladimir?

The trouble is when we see how WBC deal with guys they don't want to hold their title. The obvious go to guy is Whyte, but who wants to argue about that all over again. So instead, let's look at the hoops they are making Kabayel jump through. Kabayel beat the WBC #3 guy in Makhmudov. Kabayel followed that up by beating the WBC #2 guy in Sanchez. Now he has to fight Zhang in a final eliminator. LOL

 

Definitely. His whole title reign was marred by it.
My memory is a bit hazy on this now, but I think it was something like the top guy in charge of the Barclays Centre (anyway, it was one of the venues where Wilder kept making defences) was also an advisor to the PBC, and also on the board at the WBC. There were a lot of vested interests in keeping Wilder as champion.

 

It isn't perspective. Wlad had no say on who did or did not fight for the vacant title.

 

No, I completely agree. My point was more that I have often found that PBC fans (particular those of Wilder) have a different perspective on to what great an extent they expect fighters (and their promoters) to be able to influence the decisions of orgs. And they are probably correct, to a degree. But it was obviously not the case here for Wlad. Quite the opposite.

 

I don't think people are fans of promotional outfits are they?

Like you might have Wilder fans, or AJ fans. But they won't be fans of PBC or Hearn surely.

 

That is 100% exactly what happens. At the ratings conventions promoters speak on behalf of the fighters to the bodies to secure position for fights. Someone asked for Bermane. Some one asked for Nipples. Wlad waited for them to come to him.

You think the WBA sanctioned Wlad vs Joshua just out of the blue? Nope, k2 asked for it.

 

Absolute nonsense.

 

Sure, here's an example from the last WBC

– Heavyweight – Lee Eaton, representing Queensberry Promotions, was speaking about Lawrence Okolie being pushed up from number five. He was also looking to get Moses Itauma ranked in the top 10, Fabio Wardley to keep his position ahead of “a massive fight” in April, and to push David Adeleye and Vladyslav Sirenko into the top 15.

Okolie was present. Sulaiman asked if Okolie could go above Martin Bakole, who is fourth, and because Bakole is set to fight Efe Ajagba in an IBF eliminator, the switch was approved.

Matchroom also petitioned for Johnny Fisher to move into the top 15.

– Cruiserweight – Roman Fress, ranked 14th, was on hand to request a top-10 position.

Manager Jake McGuigan and Chris Billam-Smith, fourth, called for a fight between Billam-Smith and Badou Jack, and hoped that would be considered.

Three Lions, for Ryan Rozicki, asked to be moved back from second to first, despite waiting for a fight with Noel Mikaelian. Rozicki had fought to a draw with the third-ranked Yamil Alberto Peralta, and Michal Cieslak jumped to first.

But Rozicki was moved to first, Peralta to second and Cieslak, who also had a representative present making his case to fight for a title, was moved

down to third. Peralta also had a representative arguing on his behalf.

Eaton argued for Alloys Junior to be moved into the top 15, and Matchroom requested Cheavon Clarke be moved from sixth to ahead of the fifth-rankedBrandon Glanton. Clarke fights before Christmas, so there was no movement.

Badou Jack, the WBC’s champion in recess, also pressed his claims to fight after being out of the ring for more than a year. “Noel Mikaelian, let’s get it on,” he said. He wants to go straight back into a title fight

The ninth-ranked Ilunga Makabu was represented, and said if he defeated Wagdy Attia on December 21 he should be rated in the top five.

 

You defeat your own argument there tbh.

Wlad was already champion for the WBA, IBF, WBO, he has never held a WBC title, he wasn't ranked by the WBC.

 

I just showed you an example of how ratings work. We can be done here, seems to me you either lack the cognitive capacity to understand the context of your conversation, or you lack the maturity to admit a mistake. Either way, have fun today buddy, just not with me.

 

I know and one of your examples directly referenced fighters being ranked with other organisations therefore being usurped for the WBC.

I will have fun, but not with your false dichotomy.

Wlad didn't choose who fought for the WBC title. I know, you know, you don't need to say it on here though, it's ok.

 

He did a number of times. Right after Vitali retired he petitioned to fight for their vacant title but they decided instead to have Arreola and Stiverne fight for it. He then tried to make a unification with Stiverne but they gave the fight to Wilder. Wilder and his management team then shamelessly ducked Wlad.

Despite having a good relationship with Vitali, the WBC seemed determined not to let Wlad have the opportunity to unify.

 

Yep PBC needed the belt for relevancy and the WBC obliged.