The World Boxing Council once again proved that, among other elite organizations in the world of martial arts, it is perhaps the most politicized. It was the WBC who first announced the cancellation of fights in Russia in February.

A few years earlier, in the context of the meldonium attack on our sport, Alexander Povetkin fell under the distribution, who was not only not allowed to compete for the championship belt, but was generally excluded from the ratings. Now all Russian boxers are under attack – their belts and ratings will be taken away from them.

True, the main star is not touched.

WBC gave up

The WBC is one of the four most influential organizations in the world of professional boxing. World Boxing Council champions at different times were such legends as Muhammad Ali, Mike Tyson, Lennox Lewis, Roy Jones Jr., Vitali Klitschko, Tyson Fury, Floyd Mayweather Jr., Gennady Golovkin, Oscar De La Hoya.

There were also Russians among the lucky owners of championship belts. Here it is worth remembering Konstantin Tszyu, Oleg Maskaev, Grigory Drozd. In October 2019, Artur Beterbiev, who still holds the light heavyweight title, joined the list. Other Russian WBC champions are not expected in the foreseeable future. Unfortunately, politics interferes deeply even in professional sports. And if the UFC or the NHL take a hit, the World Boxing Council has given up.

– According to WBC rules, all boxers from Russia and Belarus will be immediately removed from the rating. The WBC stands for peace, – American journalist Lance Pugmire reported on social networks the words of the head of the WBC Mauricio Suleiman.

Temptation from Suleiman

The main Russian star in the WBC, of ​​course, is Artur Beterbiev. However, no one will remove him from the ratings, and our light heavyweight will not lose the championship belt. On the website of the organization, a native of Dagestan is listed as a Canadian, which means there is nothing to punish him for.

Artur Beterbiev / Photo: © Mikey Williams/Top Rank Inc / Contributor / Getty Images Sport / Gettyimages.ru

Other Russian boxers may avoid demotion for similar reasons. WBC Silver champion Arslanbek Makhmudov, like Beterbiev, lives in Montreal. If he wants to keep the title and stay in the rankings, he will try to become a Canadian. The offender of Sergei Kovalev, Igor Mikhalkin, is listed as a citizen of Germany and Russia in the latest light heavyweight rating. After the innovations, the athlete living in Hamburg will probably turn into just a German. It is possible that Kovalev himself will be tempted, although some time ago he claimed that he did not plan to receive US citizenship.

However, not every rated Russian boxer lives abroad and can change his passport relatively easily. For example, the leader of the WBC bridgeweight rating Evgeny Romanov lives and trains in Russia. Magomed Kurbanov, Shigabudin Aliyev, Zaur Abdullaev, Pavel Silyagin, Alexander Besputin and our other athletes who are in relatively high rating positions found themselves in a similar situation.

Suleiman only allows these and our other boxers to file a petition for a review of the decision “depending on their ties with Russia.” What this will mean in practice is not entirely clear – is it a banal renunciation of citizenship, or some kind of political statement that will allow them to exclude themselves from the number of “bad” Russians?

Bivol and Beterbiev in Russia

Of course, there is nothing good in the decision of the head of the WBC. And the further development of events largely depends on how the other three titans of world boxing behave. After the February decision of the World Boxing Council to cancel fights under its auspices in Russia, WBO, WBA and IBF also stopped recognizing fights on our territory. If something similar happens again, then our professionals will face a difficult choice – they will have to give up either the country or the opportunity to fight with the strongest rivals for prestigious awards.

Of course, Russia will not be left without professional boxing in any case. Even now, during the period of boycotts, fights are held in our country. There are championship belts like RBF Intercontinental or Eurasian Boxing Parliament. Relatively strong guests from abroad even come to us. For example, in November in Yekaterinburg, Evgeny Tishchenko planned to fight with Cuban Mike Perez, an ex-contender for the WBC championship belt, who boxed with Povetkin and Briedis. True, the other day, due to the health of the Cuban, the fight was postponed to 2023. However, with all the positives, you should not expect that athletes of the level of Canelo Alvarez or Tyson Fury will drop by in the near future.

Photo: © Dmitry Golubovich / Russian Look / Global Look Press

In any case, don’t give up. Realizing that we are facing a severe crisis, we must try to do everything possible so that an analogue of the WBC, not subject to stupid political decisions, appears in Russia. If not today, then the day after tomorrow, it is necessary to work in this direction in any case. There is spectator interest in the country, there should be no problems with the organization either. And everything is not so bad with fees, judging by the fact that tens of millions of rubles are paid for “fair” fights according to boxing rules. A conditional duel between Bivol and Beterbiev in Russia, which the titans of world boxing find it difficult to organize, would be good advertising for a hypothetical WBC competitor. And at the same time, a painful response to all overly politicized sports functionaries.