And so, as we find ourselves freshly arrived in 2018, news is out that Guillermo Rigondeaux has been stripped of his WBA title. Granted, Rigondeaux lost in embarrassing fashion to Vasyl Lomachenko a few weeks ago, but Loma wasn't fighting for Rigondeaux's belt, which is/was for a lower weight division (super banatamweight). Still, it seems the WBA thought the Loma loss would be as good a reason as any to take their title away from the unpopular Cuban - and so that's exactly what they did. Yup, they just took it away from him. Had Rigondeaux beaten Loma, however, the WBA would have let him keep his belt.
Lovely.
Sadly, the plight of Rigondeaux is just the most glaring and recent example of moral corruption in the sport of boxing. I won't say criminal corruption because I have no evidence of such a thing and one must be evenhanded. Still, examples abound which legitimately support boxing's far less than stellar reputation. How about scoring, for one? Does anyone really trust any judge who oversees a Jeff Horn fight in Australia? Or one who scores a Canelo Alvarez fight in Vegas? Oh, and when exactly is Adonis Stevenson going to face a mandatory?
I know, I know, we should all just shut up, grow up and accept this is the way the adults conduct their business. That's bullshit, though. You know it and so do I. This nonsense that courses through boxing's veins isn't somethings fans need to grow up and respect. It's something that should be gotten rid of entirely. Boxing had a great - and I do mean great - 2017. If it wants to keep growing, however, it's going to have to clean up its act.
Otherwise people will remember why they walked away from the sport to begin with.
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