Michael Hunter Unfairly Stripped of his WBA Intercontinental Belt Due to Inactivity!

[Enlightened-One]

"Fury as heavyweight is stripped of belt for not fighting during pandemic"

Talented heavyweight contender Michael Hunter has revealed the World Boxing Association moved to removed his Inter-Continental strap for lack of activity.

Despite promotional issues and becoming a free agent during the worst pandemic in one hundred years, the WBA seemingly had no sympathy for Hunter’s position.

Parting way with Matchroom following a successful multi-fight deal came as a surprise to everyone. Hunter has been frantically seeking out another opportunity ever since.

Hunter will now return to action on the newly-formed Zurdo Promotions bill on December 19. Gilberto ‘Zurdo’ Ramirez tops the show.

Revealing that the WBA had already stripped him of the belt, Hunter is hoping a warm-up fight against an opponent to be named will leave to something more substantial.

“Independent for this fight. I don’t want to lose my rankings. The WBA stripped me of the I/C title for being inactive for six months. When the world was shut down for eight?” Hunter explained.

Currently rated at number ten, Hunter may drop anyway – possibly out of the rankings altogether – before his next outing occurs.

All will be revealed when the WBA release their next list.

Promoter Lou DiBella, one of those potentially interested in giving Hunter a long-term deal, was not happy with the decision.

“C’mon. Please. Stripping him is typical boxing f—ery,” pointed out the Hall of Famer. “So if he’s not contracted with one of the few promoters with a bubble paid for by an exclusive platform, he should get stripped mid-worldwide pandemic?

“Nonsense. Hate this kind of s—. Good luck in December,” he added.

Fury over the strap spilled out to the fans too. Many believe those in the WBA hierarchy should have shown far more common sense.

As we all know, it’s not the first time the WBA Rankings have been questioned. It certainly won’t be the last.

November will tell us more.

Thoughts?

[Enlightened-One]

For the record, the WBA’s regular world heavyweight champion, Mahmoud Charr, has been inactive for three years (25th November 2017).

The interim titleholder, Trevor Bryan, last fought almost 2½ years ago (11th August 2018).

However, Mahmoud Charr and Trevor Bryan both appear to still possess their titles.

Michael Hunter initially captured the WBA’s intercontinental title fourteen months ago and his most recent outing, against Alexander Povetkin, happened eleven months ago (7th December 2019).

Is there a logical explanation that justifies the WBA’s decision to strip Michael Hunter of his Intercontinental title, because I can’t think of any?

Is it because Hunter hasn’t been affiliated with any of the big name promoters for quite some time, so the WBA decided to maintain their revenue stream by offering the title to fighters capable of generating bigger sanctioning fees?

[Onetimeonly]

You think the wba intercontinental title is a revenue stream? You're an adorable little thing.

[DrDuke]

Wow, somebody cares about WBA Intercontinental Belt.

[Enlightened-One]

Wow, somebody cares about WBA Intercontinental Belt.

Michael Hunter and Lou DiBella obviously care.

And let’s face it, promoters and networks love to cover fights that involve titles, even if they’re meaningless, because they attract mainstream casual viewers, which generates money for themselves and also the sports governing bodies.

These trivial trinkets wouldn’t exist if this wasn’t the case!

Anyway, I’m digressing from my main point, which is…

The WBA persistently makes decisions that optimise their revenue stream. They always prioritise money over the sport, which inevitably results in them treating fighters inconsistently and unfairly.

That’s the purpose of threads like this one and the Christopher Lovejoy topic.

I’m attempting to highlight how utterly rancid the WBA really is!

If you refrained from trolling, you would have realised the true intention of this thread.

[punchoutsb]

The WBA persistently makes decisions that optimise their revenue stream. They always prioritise money over the sport, which inevitably results in them treating fighters inconsistently and unfairly.

Have they made much money on Charr and Bryan being inactive title holders for almost 6 years combined as you pointed out earlier in the thread?

[Enlightened-One]

The WBA persistently makes decisions that optimise their revenue stream. They always prioritise money over the sport, which inevitably results in them treating fighters inconsistently and unfairly.

Have they made much money on Charr and Bryan being inactive title holders for almost 6 years combined as you pointed out earlier in the thread?

Promoters, not fighters, heavily influence the sports governing bodies.

There has to be business reasons that motivates the WBA to treat their titleholders inconsistently.

For instance, the WBA interim world champion, Trevor Bryan, is promoted by Don King, an elderly individual that possesses a notorious reputation.

[punchoutsb]

The WBA persistently makes decisions that optimise their revenue stream. They always prioritise money over the sport, which inevitably results in them treating fighters inconsistently and unfairly.

Have they made much money on Charr and Bryan being inactive title holders for almost 6 years combined as you pointed out earlier in the thread?

Promoters, not fighters, heavily influence the sports governing bodies.

There has to be business reasons that motivates the WBA to treat their titleholders inconsistently.

For instance, the WBA interim world champion, Trevor Bryan, is promoted by Don King, an elderly individual that possesses a notorious reputation.

Is Erol Ceylan considered a big name promoter?

How does having Trevor Bryan hold a belt for 2.5 years because his promoter is an elderly individual making the WBA money?

I'm having a little trouble following your thought process here after the part where fighters aren't treated the same, which I think most already knew.

[Onetimeonly]

Have they made much money on Charr and Bryan being inactive title holders for almost 6 years combined as you pointed out earlier in the thread?

Promoters, not fighters, heavily influence the sports governing bodies.

There has to be business reasons that motivates the WBA to treat their titleholders inconsistently.

For instance, the WBA interim world champion, Trevor Bryan, is promoted by Don King, an elderly individual that possesses a notorious reputation.

Is Erol Ceylan considered a big name promoter?

How does having Trevor Bryan hold a belt for 2.5 years because his promoter is an elderly individual making the WBA money?

I'm having a little trouble following your thought process here after the part where fighters aren't treated the same, which I think most already knew.

Does he think the promoters are paying the wba to maintain an inactive belt that generates no money? Maybe so, he's almost as stupid as he is hypocritical and contradictory. Poor, poor, virgin.

[Enlightened-One]

Have they made much money on Charr and Bryan being inactive title holders for almost 6 years combined as you pointed out earlier in the thread?

Promoters, not fighters, heavily influence the sports governing bodies.

There has to be business reasons that motivates the WBA to treat their titleholders inconsistently.

For instance, the WBA interim world champion, Trevor Bryan, is promoted by Don King, an elderly individual that possesses a notorious reputation.

Is Erol Ceylan considered a big name promoter?

How does having Trevor Bryan hold a belt for 2.5 years because his promoter is an elderly individual making the WBA money?

I'm having a little trouble following your thought process here after the part where fighters aren't treated the same, which I think most already knew.

OK, so let’s assume I’m wrong, by believing that promoters have no influence over the sports governing bodies.

What other reason could there be for the WBA to treat their fighters inconsistently?

I believe that governing bodies, such as the WBO’s relationship with Top Rank and Main Events or the WBC’s ties with Al Haymon’s PBC, bend over backwards to accommodate and actively work with promoters that generate money for them, which means it’s more about the big picture than individual fighters.

And when Michael Hunter was released by Matchroom and became a free agent (until recently) the WBA stripped him of his title, so they could award the belt to another fighter (and by proxy, promoter) capable of generating sanctioning fees.

And business decisions such as this result in inconsistent treatment of fighters.

And in regards to Erol Ceylan, Mahmoud Charr only signed with him about three months ago. And Charr told Sky Sports that the reason why he did so was because his new promoter is a partner of Al Haymon and has a lot of business ties in the US.

Back in March, Don King won the purse bid to stage the heavyweight contest between WBA ‘regular’ champion Manuel Charr and interim WBC belt holder Trevor Bryan.

King won the purse bid with a $2 million bid, which easily out-did the next highest offer of $1.02 million Global Sports.

Look, maybe I’m wrong. And perhaps you’re capable of providing a better explanation (other than revenue generation via sanctioning fees) for the WBA’s frequent inconsistent treatment of fighters?

[Steveh583]

he could rule the bridgerweight division

[Thomastearns]

"The WBA stripped me of the I/C title for being inactive for six months. When the world was shut down for eight?”


“C’mon. Please. Stripping him is typical boxing f—ery,”

“So if he’s not contracted with one of the few promoters with a bubble paid for by an exclusive platform, he should get stripped mid-worldwide pandemic?

“Nonsense. Hate this kind of s—. Good luck in December,”

------

Typical boxing f*ckery indeed.

6 months inactivity during a pandemic??

Of course it's down to money. It always is.

Looks like Dibella is saying that Hunter's inability to secure an externally paid for bubble has cost him his belt.

The WBA must have felt they were falling behind the WBC when it came to ridiculously short-term greedy decision making.

[Finkel]

What's the big deal?

It's been over a year since he defended the belt, and all he's been doing of late is calling out elite fighters. So it doesn't sound like he has any plans to defend the belt in the near to distant future.

Let some lower ranked fighters make a name and some money for themselves fighting for a lower tier belt.

No need for Hunter to Bogart it.

[Jeff_lacy_ko]

This injustice will not stand

[punchoutsb]

Promoters, not fighters, heavily influence the sports governing bodies.

There has to be business reasons that motivates the WBA to treat their titleholders inconsistently.

For instance, the WBA interim world champion, Trevor Bryan, is promoted by Don King, an elderly individual that possesses a notorious reputation.

Is Erol Ceylan considered a big name promoter?

How does having Trevor Bryan hold a belt for 2.5 years because his promoter is an elderly individual making the WBA money?

I'm having a little trouble following your thought process here after the part where fighters aren't treated the same, which I think most already knew.

OK, so let’s assume I’m wrong, by believing that promoters have no influence over the sports governing bodies.

What other reason could there be for the WBA to treat their fighters inconsistently?

I believe that governing bodies, such as the WBO’s relationship with Top Rank and Main Events or the WBC’s ties with Al Haymon’s PBC, bend over backwards to accommodate and actively work with promoters that generate money for them, which means it’s more about the big picture than individual fighters.

And when Michael Hunter was released by Matchroom and became a free agent (until recently) the WBA stripped him of his title, so they could award the belt to another fighter (and by proxy, promoter) capable of generating sanctioning fees.

And business decisions such as this result in inconsistent treatment of fighters.

And in regards to Erol Ceylan, Mahmoud Charr only signed with him about three months ago. And Charr told Sky Sports that the reason why he did so was because his new promoter is a partner of Al Haymon and has a lot of business ties in the US.

Back in March, Don King won the purse bid to stage the heavyweight contest between WBA ‘regular’ champion Manuel Charr and interim WBC belt holder Trevor Bryan.

King won the purse bid with a $2 million bid, which easily out-did the next highest offer of $1.02 million Global Sports.

Look, maybe I’m wrong. And perhaps you’re capable of providing a better explanation (other than revenue generation via sanctioning fees) for the WBA’s frequent inconsistent treatment of fighters?

How much money has the WBA made of Bryan and Charr holding belts and not fighting for almost 6 years? That doesn't seem to be in line with persistently making decisions to optimize their revenue stream. Your points aren't connecting.

[Perkin Warbeck]

The WBA is a pathetic organization, terrible for the sport. Boxing would be much better off without it.

[DrDuke]

The WBA is a pathetic organization, terrible for the sport. Boxing would be much better off without it.

Them both with the WBC are quite sh1tty recently.

[TheBeast]

He is fighting in December

[joshj909]

Boxrec has him scheduled to face Chauncy Welliver pending approval.

Is this correct? If so, good luck!

[gilgamesh]

Getting stripped of a meaningless title is meaningless. Nobody on Earth other than Michael Hunter and apparently Enlightened One gave 2 sh*ts that Hunter was the WBA Intercontinental Champion.

I didn't even know he had the belt. So that's how important it was to me. I ain't gonna know who has it next either because I don't give a flying f*ck.

[Enlightened-One]

Getting stripped of a meaningless title is meaningless. Nobody on Earth other than Michael Hunter and apparently Enlightened One gave 2 sh*ts that Hunter was the WBA Intercontinental Champion.

I didn't even know he had the belt. So that's how important it was to me. I ain't gonna know who has it next either because I don't give a flying f*ck.

All you've done is look at the headline of my thread without even bothering to read anything else I've written.

My complaint isn't about Hunter being stripped of a meaningless title, it's more about the WBA's appalling conduct.

[gilgamesh]

Hey I can get with that.

The WBA should cease to exist altogether.

For that matter so should the WBC, IBF and WBO.

None of 'em mean a goddamn thing, and aren't needed to tell those who follow the sport who the top guy is.

Let's say they strip Tyson Fury of his WBC Title. Would he cease to be the #1 guy in the eyes of fans? No? Well then what's he need the belt for?

[Ruthless-RKO]

Press Release

World-rated heavyweight and 2012 U.S. Olympian, Michael "The Bounty" Hunter, is on a mission to position himself for a world heavyweight title shot in 2021.

Keeping busy is the key for promotional free agent Hunter (18-1-1, 12 KOs) and it all starts for him December 18th, when he faces West Virginia's Shawn Laughery (10-3, 6 KOs), who has replaced veteran Chauncy "Hillyard Hammer" Welliver, in the 10-round co-featured event on "Battle of Rio Grande" card, airing live on pay per view from Galveston Island Convention Center in Galveston, Texas.

[cormack]

Press Release

World-rated heavyweight and 2012 U.S. Olympian, Michael "The Bounty" Hunter, is on a mission to position himself for a world heavyweight title shot in 2021.

Keeping busy is the key for promotional free agent Hunter (18-1-1, 12 KOs) and it all starts for him December 18th, when he faces West Virginia's Shawn Laughery (10-3, 6 KOs), who has replaced veteran Chauncy "Hillyard Hammer" Welliver, in the 10-round co-featured event on "Battle of Rio Grande" card, airing live on pay per view from Galveston Island Convention Center in Galveston, Texas.

bit of a comedown after fighting povetkin !

[Enlightened-One]

Press Release

World-rated heavyweight and 2012 U.S. Olympian, Michael "The Bounty" Hunter, is on a mission to position himself for a world heavyweight title shot in 2021.

Keeping busy is the key for promotional free agent Hunter (18-1-1, 12 KOs) and it all starts for him December 18th, when he faces West Virginia's Shawn Laughery (10-3, 6 KOs), who has replaced veteran Chauncy "Hillyard Hammer" Welliver, in the 10-round co-featured event on "Battle of Rio Grande" card, airing live on pay per view from Galveston Island Convention Center in Galveston, Texas.

bit of a comedown after fighting povetkin !

He was released by Matchroom recently, which I suspect led to the WBA’s decision to strip him of his meaningless title (due to no sanctioning fees), so I guess he has to take fights against whomever he can in order to pay the bills and feed his family.