Japanese undisputed 122 lbs champion Naoya Inoue does not appear to have the luxury of a vacation following his May 6th victory over Luis Nery as he has now been ordered to face World Boxing Association (WBA) mandatory challenger Murodjon Akhmadaliev from Uzbekistan. The mandate was relayed to both fighters on Thursday, June 13th, and further signaled the start of negotiations they must start over 30 days; which will end on July 14th and result in purse bid proceedings if the two fighters’ teams fail to reach an agreement.
The WBA’s press release [regarding this mandate] contained several noticeable parts, particularly the emphasis on one of their rules; rule C.10 (Title defense periods) which states that “the champion must defend the title against the top contender available within nine (9) months from the date you become champion“.
While sanctioning bodies often reference their own rules in their press releases for official mandates, this rule in particular serves to highlight the WBA’s own shortcomings when it comes to enforcing their own rules.
One recent example of this is in regards to the WBA super lightweight (140 lbs) title which has changed ownership twice yet none of its champions have been ordered to fight their mandatory challenger. Rolando “Rolly” Romero (15-2, 13 KO’s), was allowed by the WBA to blatantly skipping one of its rules which dictated he, as a champion-in-recess, would need to actually fight for the WBA title instead of being immediately reinstated as a champion and allowed to fight lightweight (135 lbs) contender Isaac Cruz (26-2-1, 18 KO’s).
Notably, none of the WBA”s rules state that a champion-in-recess would be reinstated to full champion status upon their return, already marking a case of inconsistency by the sanctioning body. Rule C.22 points to how the WBA “may order a title bout” between who they refer to as a “Champion”, and an “Inactive Champion”. “Inactive Champion” in this scenario means a champion-in-recess, as Romero was designated as last year due to medical issues.
The “Champion” refers to either a current “Regular”, “Super” or “Interim” champion, depending on the type of belts that have been made available by the WBA.
Venezuelan fighter Ismael Barroso (25-4-2, 23 KO’s), the current WBA interim champion, was therefore next-in-line to face Rolando Romero after he won the interim title by stopping British contender Ohara Davies (25-3, 18 KO’s) in only the first round of their bout for the then-vacant interim belt.
Instead, Romero was allowed to face Isaac Cruz without repercussions; a decision that would backfire as Romero would lose his WBA title to Cruz after being stopped in the 8th round of their March 30th fight. With Barroso having already been denied an opportunity against Romero, the interim belt he holds now seems to actually prevent him from an opportunity against the newly-crowned Isaac Cruz as the WBA would proceed to approve of Cruz defending his belt against American contender Jose “Rayo” Valenzuela (13-2, 9 KO’s) on August 3rd.
Ironically, like Cruz, Valenzuela will be moving up from the lightweight division to face Cruz; again underscoring the blatant favoritism, corruption and inconsistency at display by the WBA by not giving Barroso an opportunity to fight for the world title.
As an “interim” champion is not the same as a mandatory challenger, Barroso’s interim champion status actually appears to stifle from a world title opportunity given two lightweight contenders have emerged as world title challengers since he became a champion.
The WBA’s order of a super bantamweight (122 lbs) bout between undisputed champion Naoya Inoue (27-0, 24 KO’s) and Murodjon Akhmadaliev (12-1, 9 KO’s) appears unrelated to the Barroso-Romero-Cruz case at first glance, but underlies how the sanctioning body has continued to operate in a manner that makes it unfit to participate in boxing when counting numerous other similar instances.
Despite Inoue currently occupying the position as the #1 pound-for-pound fighter according to The Ring Boxing Magazine, Inoue has not been granted any sort of exceptions since becoming undisputed, having been obligated to face both a WBC mandatory in Luis Nery (35-2, 29 KO’s) and now WBA mandatory Murodjon Akhmadaliev in quick succession.
In comparison, neither Romero or Cruz have done enough to deserve any exceptions for facing their interim champion, having never even become world champions before they claimed their WBA titles, yet both fighters have avoided being hit with mandates by the WBA. Granted, while Barroso’s interim champion status does not equate being the mandatory challenger, a title shot for the Venezuelan fighter has been long overdue a this point.
