Three time failed title challenger George Groves (25-3, 18 KOs) finds himself once more in for a title against former belt holder Fedor Chudinov (14-1, 10 KOs). Chudinov lost his title when he was flat out robbed in an early 2016 rematch against Felix Sturm, the man he took the title from to begin with. No date has been announced yet. Regardless of when, this will break a very long layoff for the Russian. Beyond that, let’s talk about the WBA, this title, and options going forward in dealing with their decisions.
First and most importantly, this is a good fight between two top ten fighters at 168. There are no complaints to be made about these two fighting one another. I am worried about rust here for Fedor Chudinov, but that is his decision to make. I do not believe this is likely to find US distribution, but it will be a fight worth finding for sure.
What I want to talk about is the WBA Super World Super Middleweight title that Sauerland is claiming will be on the line. On one hand, it makes a little bit of sense. The boxing universe is in agreement that Chudinov should have never lost it. After his unjust win, Sturm chose to vacate it in October citing injury. A PED investigation was swirling around him at the same time. Therefore Chudinov returning in a fight for a title he should have never lost makes sense.
The problem is the WBA and the mess it created over all its divisions in the last few years. The organization has been handing out three belts in each division, with the one marked the “Super World” being the true title. They also have been given out a regular “World” title and an “Interim” title for no reason. The educated boxing fan knows by now to view the “World” titlist as their number one ranked contender and the “Interim” titlist as their number two while the “Super World” titlist is their belt holder, but it is still an annoying, confusing mess.
Thankfully the WBA has been slowly cleaning it up as they announced they would. That is what makes this decision so frustrating. There is no “Interim” titlist at 168 rank now for the WBA, but they do have a regular “World” titlist in Germany’s Tyron Zeuge. Chudinov versus Zeuge would have cleared all this up in one fight, but instead they seem to be taking the stance that they need to clarify who their “Super World” (read: real) titlist is before unifying their own title picture. That is, of course, if they even intend to at all.
Good fight, stupid organization.
When I started this website I strongly considered ignoring the WBA outright. The boxing media, after all, is who legitimizes these organizations as world championship sanctioning bodies. It is only an opinion that mid level titles like the IBO and WBF belts don’t matter while say the WBA and WBO belts are credible, important world titles. It is entirely within the power of the boxing media to strip an organization like the WBA of its credibility due to its nonsense simply by ignoring it. Don’t report when its belts are on the line except like when one might report a NABF belt being on the line as a small note; don’t require its belt to talk about unification. I know on my own that I would accomplish nothing, but there must be a first somewhere.
I ultimately did not make the decision to ignore the WBA because the WBA publicly acknowledged the error of its ways and was actively cleaning up its mess, but I have made a concerted effort to only talk about the “Super World” title as the WBA belt. Elsewhere you will see reports of a fight for a “Vacant WBA title” when they create a bogus title, but not here. I will take a wait and see approach over the next few months on whether or not they continue to clean up their title pictures or start making fights like this one again. If Chudinov/Groves, again a good fight outside of this, is a beginning of a back slide back towards creating three titles in each division, then the WBA will have chosen to devalue their own titles to a level below the WBC, IBF, and WBO all on their own. It will be on us to report on them appropriately by not reporting on them at all.
