Boxing Odds and Ends: The Covid Scourge Strikes Again and the Tattered WBA

The latest important boxing card to unravel was headed to Phoenix on the last Saturday of this month. David Benavidez was paired against Jose Uzcategui in the featured bout. But yesterday (Wednesday, Aug. 11), Benavidez (pictured) tested positive for Covid-19.

The undefeated Benavidez (24-0, 21) is a former WBC 168-pound world title-holder – he actually had the belt twice and had it stripped from him twice, first for using cocaine and then for missing weight. He was 20 years old when he first won the diadem in 2017, making him the youngest world title-holder in the history of the division.

Uzcategui (31-4, 26 KOs) is also a former 168-pound world titlist. Whoever won this fight would have been well-positioned to enter the Canelo Alvarez sweepstakes.

Had the match been potted anywhere but Phoenix, the promoter would have likely found a replacement for David Benavidez so that the show could go forward. But Benavidez was the big ticket-seller. He’s the best fighter born and raised in Phoenix since Michael Carbajal and this was his homecoming fight, his first fight in the city he calls home. Two other Phoenix natives – welterweight Jose Benavidez Jr, David’s older brother, and featherweight Carlos Castro – would have appeared on the TV portion of the Showtime event which would have emanated from the city’s largest indoor venue, the home of the Phoenix Suns. A big crowd was expected.

The card hasn’t been officially cancelled but that seems a mere formality. At last glance Carlos Castro’s fight with Oscar Escandon was being bumped up one week. It now goes on Aug. 21 as part of the Pacquiao-Ugas pay-per-view from Las Vegas. BoxRec still has Jose Benavidez Jr fighting on the 28^th. But he has been out of the ring for almost three years since suffering his first pro defeat at the hands of Terence Crawford and his match with Argentina’s Francisco Torres was conceived as a mere confidence-booster. As the main event, Benavidez Jr vs. Torres wouldn’t draw flies, not even in Benavidez’s hometown.

Benavidez vs. Uzcategui is the third big fight to fall out in the last two months because of the Covid-19 scourge. Teofimo Lopez tested positive on June 15 wrecking his match with George Kambosos Jr. More famously, Tyson Fury tested positive, forcing the postponement of his July 24 reunion with Deontay Wilder. In both instances, one bad Covid test imploded the entire show.

Two recent bouts of note were salvaged when a boxer came down with Covid and in both cases the fellow biding his time on the extra board seized the opportunity to improve his stock. Undefeated heavyweight Michael Coffie was penciled in to meet Gerald Washington in the featured bout of a PBC card in Newark on July 31, but that match fell out when Washington tested positive. In stepped Jonnie Rice who dominated and stopped Coffie in a potential Upset of the Year.

Gabriel Maestre’s original opponent was Cody Crowley, an undefeated (19-0, 9 KOs) but lightly-regarded welterweight from Canada. Crowley’s failed Covid test opened the door to Mykal Fox who increased his stock enormously. Fox didn’t win, at least not on the scorecards, but he won legions of new fans in the most talked-about (after the fact) fight of the summer.

The Tattered WBA

It seemed inevitable that someday the much-maligned World Boxing Association would push the envelope too far and the stuff would really hit the fan. That day arrived on Aug. 7, 2021.

The FOX/PBC announcing crew and TV viewers were dumbfounded when the scores were announced following the 12-round welterweight contest between Gabriel Maestre and Mykal Fox. To say that the unanimous decision in favor of Maestre was hotly disputed would be an understatement. The reaction was a firestorm of outrage.

Of course, it was more than just the bizarre decision that sent the WBA scurrying off on a mission of damage control. The decision opened a Pandora’s box, bringing a harsher light to bear on the organization’s odious practices.

On April 9 of last year, as the pandemic was shutting down the sport, I posted a story on these pages wherein I suggested that this was a good time to sit back and hash out some needed reforms. I suggested that the head of an important state boxing commission would be doing the fans a favor if he defrocked the WBA, banning the organization from doing business in his state. Hopefully that would encourage other commissions to follow his lead.

I never thought that would happen. Besides regulating the sport, state boxing commissions are supposed to be engines of economic development and kicking out the WBA or one of its rivals would likely mean less tax money for state coffers. But lo and behold, something like that has happened.

As reported by Yahoo’s Kevin Iole, Mike Mazzulli, the president of the Association of Boxing Commissioners, has drafted a letter to WBA president Gilberto Mendoza Jr threatening sanctions if the organization does not mend its ways. If these reforms are not instituted in a satisfactory manner, Mazzulli would recommend to the ABC membership that they (1) no longer honor the WBA belt as sanctioned within the U.S.; (2) not accept WBA recommendations regarding the assignment of officials; and (3) not allow a WBA supervisor in the controlled area around the ring.

As Iole notes, if sanction (1) were put into place, if would effectively drive the WBA out of business.

In related matters, WBA President Mendoza announced that judge Gloria Martinez Rizzo has been suspended indefinitely after originally saying that her suspension would be for six months, has requested that the Minnesota commission change the outcome of the Maestre-Fox contest to a “no-decision,” and has ordered a rematch with a 50/50 purse split.

The furor won’t die down next week. In fact, it may even intensify as boxing journalists gather in Las Vegas for the Pacquiao-Ugas fight.

Yordenis Ugas won the WBA (regular) world welterweight title when he defeated Abel Ramos in September of last year. At the time, Pacquiao held the organization’s super world welterweight title, but he was stripped for inactivity and Ugas was shifted into this category. The current WBA (regular) world welterweight champion is Jamal James.

Things would be a lot less messy if Pacquiao were fighting Errol Spence.

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