For legacy more than world title
LAS VEGAS – WBO president Francisco (Paco) Valcarcel of Puerto Rico said yesterday the fight between Manny Pacquiao and Timothy Bradley was for “legacy,” a special meaning in the context of championship bouts not for the world title.
The day before Pacquiao beat Bradley last Saturday night, Valcarcel explained why the WBO couldn’t sanction it as a fight for the world title. Bradley had to relinquish his WBO belt to face Pacquiao instead of mandatory challenger Sadam Ali, the No. 1 contender. It was a financial decision because Bradley stood to earn $4 Million for facing Pacquiao and would’ve probably been lucky to pocket $1 Million for defending against Ali.
“Bradley’s a gentleman,” said Valcarcel. “He knew he had an obligation to fight the No. 1 contender within the prescribed period as stipulated by the WBO rules. So he contacted us and decided to give up the title for the chance to face Pacquiao.”
With Bradley yielding the throne, the WBO sanctioned a fight between Ali and No. 4 contender Jessie Vargas for the vacant title. Vargas was outpointed by Bradley last June so he couldn’t be a superior fighter than Pacquiao. Before meeting Vargas, Ali’s record was 22-0 but his last three victims weren’t even ranked in the WBO top 15 so how could he be considered the No. 1 contender? As it turned out, Vargas stopped Ali in the ninth round to claim the vacant WBO crown in Washington, D. C., last March 5.
Valcarcel said Ali didn’t agree to accept a step-aside fee for Bradley to fight Pacquiao ahead. If Ali agreed, Bradley would’ve kept the title and defended it against Pacquiao. Ali probably figured if he stepped aside, he would’ve had to fight Pacquiao next because Bradley couldn’t beat him. Ali’s chances of beating Vargas would be better than defeating Pacquiao. It was actually a wrong decision on Ali’s part. He should’ve accepted the step-aside fee, allowed Bradley to keep his crown and waited for Pacquiao to dethrone Bradley. Now that Pacquiao has announced his retirement, Ali would be next in line to fight for the vacant title. He would’ve received the step-aside money plus the purse of fighting for the vacant crown.
Does he look forward to a Vargas defense against the Pacquiao-Bradley winner? “It’s not for me to look forward, that’s for the promoters to arrange, not me,” he said. “The WBO is a sanctioning body, not a promotions group. But yes, Vargas could defend the title against the winner.” The problem is the winner has announced his retirement.
To make the Pacquiao-Bradley fight more enticing, Valcarcel offered the winner a red-leather championship belt studded with at least 60 12-carat diamonds as a prize in the Battle of Super Champions. Valcarcel said the fight was no ordinary bout because it was for legacy and to honor both champions, a new belt was put on the line.
The WBO tweaked its sanction a little more by declaring the fight for the vacant WBO International welterweight championship because the “legacy” belt seemed too abstract for the fans to appreciate. That also necessitated the WBO to designate a supervisor for the match and the job was assigned to Filipino-Hawaiian Leon Panoncillo, the WBO Asia Pacific chairman. Valcarcel himself was the supervisor of the WBO supermiddleweight title fight in the undercard, featuring Arthur Abraham of Germany and Gilberto Ramirez of Mexico.
With Pacquiao’s retirement, he’ll give up the WBO International welterweight title he just won by beating Bradley. Even if he didn’t retire, Pacquiao wouldn’t be interested in fighting for the welterweight crown of any governing body. The reigning 147- pound champions are the WBO’s Vargas (27-1, with 10 KOs, 26 years old), WBC’s Danny Garcia (32-0, with 18 KOs, 28 years old), IBF’s Kell Brook (36-0, with 25 KOs, 29 years old) and WBA’s Keith Thurman (26-0, with 22 KOs, 27 years old). Pacquiao would be interested in big pay-per-view events against marquee fighters like Adrien Broner, Saul (Canelo) Alvarez or Floyd Mayweather. Because the governing bodies are a joke, boxing today is driven by the fighters themselves so that a world title has become almost meaningless. It’s why Pacquiao and Bradley fought for legacy last Saturday night and the WBO International title was just an accessory.