Andre Ward: WBC & WBA Champion

Despite the WBC being vocal in it's intent to strip boxers who choose to hold a belt from another organisation while in possession of their (the WBC's) version, Ward is apparently still the unified WBA and WBC 168lb champ.

Anyone have the faintest idea why Ward is given preferential treatment in comparison to Danny Garcia, Timbo Bradley and Kazuto Ioka?

Because they love Andre Ward?

Don't give the WBC too much credit here - they've already tried to strip Ward as he's shown little interest in fighting Anthony Dirrell, who was to be ranked as their number one contender at 168 lb. In fact, they did strip him very briefly, I believe, but only reinstated him as champion due to Dirrell being injured and unable to fight for the forseeable future.

I'm sure they'll come up with some comical reason to strip him for good pretty soon, though.

So doesn't this just isolate WBC if they insist their champ cannot hold any other belt at the same time? It would just mean that anyone wanting to unify the belts, and I am still naive enough to believe that is the goal of any real world class boxer, would ignore this belt or go for it first when they aren't a big draw.

Maybe because, I imagine that in light of the Super Six tournament and the subsequent Froch/Bute blowout, that Ward is so clearly the man at 168lb that the WBC recognise that to have their belt held by anyone other than Ward would cheapen it and reduce the credibility of the entire organisation.

Similar to the way that in the late 80's, every organisation wanted Tyson to be their champ and not one of them would consider stripping him. To do so would have just looked ridiculous in light of his utter domination of the division.

Yet, Ward is not Tyson, he is nowhere near as dominant or marketable, and the WBC have consistently and unashamedly acted in a way which discredits their organisation in the past and have seemed pretty untroubled by it.

So I guess don't really know. Good question though.

I don't really hold much stock by the WBC any more. WBA, IBF and.....dare I say it....WBO are the only real recognisable bodies

I prefer "the Ring" titles though,

As Chris said, they did try to strip him a few months ago so Im not sure they care too much if he is their champion or not.

My guess is they will wait to see the outcome of Ward/Dawson and if Ward wins then they will make him choose after that. If Dawson wins then he will hold the WBC belts for both SMW and LH so presumably will have to give up one in any case.

Hope they rescind this daft policy becuase all they seem to do now is strip legitimate champions for no reason. Ward, Nishioka, Martinez. They have become the worst of the big 4 in my opinion.

Would anyone bet against JCC moving up and being given the belt for free if he loses to Martinez?

manos de piedra wrote: If Dawson wins then he will hold the WBC belts for both SMW and LH so presumably will have to give up one in any case.

Would he have to? There are various examples of people holding titles at different weights at the same time, so it is not unprecedented. And given that his LH title is WBC, I can see them being keen on keeping him happy.

bhb001 wrote:

manos de piedra wrote: If Dawson wins then he will hold the WBC belts for both SMW and LH so presumably will have to give up one in any case.

Would he have to? There are various examples of people holding titles at different weights at the same time, so it is not unprecedented. And given that his LH title is WBC, I can see them being keen on keeping him happy.

Theoretically he could keep both I guess, but its quite rare that a boxer defends titles in two seperate weight classes for any kind of extended period. If he did win I would anticipate him deciding to vacate one and concentrate on one division or the other.

To be honest not sure any governing body gives a flying one about the credibility of their belts anymore, they would not have acted how they all have over the last few years if they did. Personally I believe they care about one thing and that is collecting sanctioning fees, as such my guess is they would prefer not to have someone like Ward as champion, he does things like flits up to light heavy for a fight and appears on PPV thus meaning he does not have to fight too often, probably better to have some no mark who will fight nice and regular and is not well known or regarded enough to tell you to shove your belt should he get bored of your nonsense.

i think maybe this "policy" might be aimed at the heavyweight division, once vitali goes it means that that belt would become free, and if wlad couldnt hold it then it means they would have the only belt in the division that the rest can fight for.

Isn't the WBC belt some mickey mouse title that also has other mickey mouse versions?

Last time I checked you can't hold more than one mickey mouse belt at a time...

BoxingFan88 wrote:Isn't the WBC belt some mickey mouse title that also has other mickey mouse versions?

Last time I checked you can't hold more than one mickey mouse belt at a time...

It's the main reason I don't fight in Disneyland

that and mini mouse pasted you last time out. embarrassing really.

Not really, she's got quite a temper on her. She was upset when she thought I was making fun of her teeth. I said she'd misheard and that I thought she was f*****g Goofy!

haha

im sure your will let her have it in the rematch

I imagine its to do with the fact he has a PPV fight coming up and theres no one in the division that can bring in the kind of sanctioning fees that he can right now, he might be stripped afterwards.