The WBA is at it again, randomly picking and choosing which mandatories they seek to uphold as has become evident after their last couple of press releases revealed they ordered two separate fights at welterweight (147 lbs) and super lightweight (140 lbs).
According to the sanctioning body, unified [WBA & IBF] welterweight champion Jaron Ennis (34-0, 30 KO’s) has been promoted to WBA “super champion” and ordered to face #1 Uzbek contender Shakhram Giyasov (17-0, 10 KO’s). The winner will be expected to be facing the winner of Ryan Garcia (24-1, 20 KO’s) vs. Rolando “Rolly” Romero (16-2, 13 KO’s), who will be fighting over the vacant WBA “regular” welterweight title come May 2nd.
At super lightweight, recently-crowned WBA champion Gary Antuanne Russell (18-1, 17 KO’s) has been ordered to face Japanese contender Andy Hiraoka (24-0, 19 KO’s), who like Giyasov is ranked at #1 in his respective division on the WBA’s ranking boards.
These decisions come after nearly a year of deliberately choosing not to have any sort of influence upon proceedings. This became wholly evident when former WBA interim champion at 140 lbs, Venezuelan fighter Ismael Barroso (25-5-2, 23 KO’s), was withheld from any sort of opportunity to face the then-incumbent champion Rolando Romero, and afterwards was again denied an opportunity to face the next holder of the belt, Isaac Cruz (27-3-1, 18 KO’s).
At welterweight, the WBA similarly kept their distance, allowing then-WBA champion Eimantas Stanionis (15-1, 9 KO’s) to first become the sole world champion without the confusing “regular champion” and “super champion ” designations. The newly-elevated Lithuanian defended his WBA title against Gabriel Maestre (6-1-1, 5 KO’s) on May 4th last year, only to eventually lose his title to Jaron Ennis in a unification match earlier this month.
While at 140 lbs the WBA title switched hands on three occasions in the span of approximately a year, all without a single fight being ordered by the organization, the 147 lbs saw Stanionis hold on to his title for roughly the same amount of time with no mandate coming forth before he headed into his unification fight with Ennis.
In other divisions, some fighters continue to be as nitpicky, with another Uzbek contender in WBA interim super bantamweight (122 lbs) champion Murodjon Akhmadaliev (13-1, 10 KO’s) still having to wait for an opportunity against undisputed champion Naoya Inoue (29-0, 26 KO’s) despite having been made a mandatory last year.
The situation sums up a rather odd mix of decisions that, while supposedly underscores WBA’s dedication to the sport, is highly inconsistent given previous examples and doesn’t tie into every loose end.
The decision for the winner of Ennis-Giyasov to face the winner of Romero-Garcia further raises eyebrows as this sort of decision-making should have been standard as soon as two separate WBA “regular” and “super” champions were introduced in a division but has been sorely lacking in consistency.
The likely motive for this decision appears to be linked to the spectacle shows offered by Riyadh Season through General Entertainment Authority (GEA) chairman Turki Alalshikh, with the Romero-Garcia showdown set to be produced through Riyadh Season. Matchroom, to which both Ennis and Giyasov are signed, maintains close links with Riyadh Season and the potential Ennis-Giyasov bout might take place on a Riyadh Season card if Ennis does not unify with any of the other two world champions in the division.
The fact both Garcia and Romero are fighting for a world title, even if the lesser version of one in the “regular” title, only further outlines the WBA’s clear favoritism with Garcia coming off a PED-case while Romero lost in his last fight.
As it pertains to the 140-pound division, while the WBA’s decision for Hiroaka to get an opportunity against Russell seems to be the only fitting decision given he defeated Barroso who should have already challenged for a title. However, it is exactly this negligence of fighters who deserved to fight for a title that continues to be a stain on the WBA’s name, not helped by decisions they made which culminated in Romero being boosted from the position of champion-in-recess to WBA champion ― when the in-recess status should have only granted Romero an opportunity to fight for a world title upon his comeback.
The subsequent decisions to allow then-champion Isaac Cruz to face [and be defeated by] Jose “Rayo” Valenzuela (14-3, 9 KO’s) without facing any mandatory, and then the same for Valenzuela who would lose the title to Russell puts into perspective that the WBA is highly inconsistent with their mandates and base their decisions on the popularity and name of the fighters rather than the genuine competition they can provide and the work they put in to become mandatory contenders.
