Mauricio Sulaiman now calling Devin Haney the WBC’s 135-lb champion

By Boxing News - 12/25/2021 - Comments

By Charles Brun: WBC President Mauricio Sulaiman seemingly has changed his tune in now referring to Devin Haney as the “WBC World lightweight champion” after earlier this week referring to him as “Pride WBC champion” and calling George Kambosos Jr. the “Undisputed champion.”

Ever since Sulaiman declared that Haney was the WBC Pride champion and IBF/WBA/WBC Franchise/WBO 135-lb champion Kambosos Jr. as the “undisputed” champion, he’s been taking heat from boxing fans, including from Devin.

Haney came out afterward on social media and said he wanted Sulaiman to make him the mandatory for Kambosos since his WBC belt was the “junior” version to the Franchise strap that George holds.

On Wednesday, Sulaiman made it somewhat clear that Haney is the WBC World lightweight champion. However, Sulaiman failed to mention Kambosos for some reason.

If he’s still going to be calling Kambosos the “undisputed lightweight champion,” it means that Haney’s title isn’t what it seems.

Image: Mauricio Sulaiman now calling Devin Haney the WBC's 135-lb champion

Kambosos shouldn’t be called the undisputed champion until he beats Haney for his WBC belt because the Franchise title is non-transferable.

Here’s what Kambosos is listing himself as on his Twitter account:

“IBF, WBO, WBA, WBC Franchise & Ring Magazine Undisputed World Champion 🌏 Undefeated 20-0 10KO 🥊 CEO of Ferocious Promotions 🇬🇷🇦🇺.”

You can’t blame Kambosos for listing himself as the “undisputed world champion” because Sulaiman is calling him that, which means that the WBC recognizes him as the four-belt champion and Haney as a level below.

Unfortunately, Sulaiman never did explain what the WBC “Pride” champion is, aside from what he called Haney earlier this week. If it’s a sub-level belt that Haney holds, Sulaiman should come out and tell the fans.

If Haney gets the fight with Kambosos next, none of this stuff will matter afterward. The fight winner will be the undisputed lightweight champion in the real sense, and no one can criticize that. But until then, it’s Kambosos won’t be recognized by all fans as the undisputed champion until he beats Haney.

Likewise, some boxing fans will view Haney’s WBC title as the “junior” title due to Sulaiman calling him his “Pride” champion and then referring to Kambosos as the undisputed champ.

Haney said this week that he plans on moving up to 140 after he fights Kambosos, meaning he’ll be vacating the four lightweight titles should he come out victorious.

If Haney isn’t going to keep the 135-lb titles, he shouldn’t be making a big deal about his status. Haney’s promoter Eddie Hearn said recently that Devin would be defending the four belts against Vasily Lomachenko, but I guess that’s not going to happen.

It’s doubtful that many boxing fans believe that Haney will take a risky fight against Lomachenko if he beats Kambosos because it’s a bad style match-up for him.

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