More fallout from the controversial result of the August 7th bout between Upper Marlboro, MD welterweight Mykal "The Professor" Fox and Gabriel Maestre of Venezuela. According to Dan Rafael, the World Boxing Association (WBA) has stripped Maestre of the interim welterweight title.
The WBA also said that it will "respectfully request the Minnesota commission to declare the bout a no contest."
Also, the WBA has moved their suspension of judge Gloria Martinez Rizzo from six months to an indefinite suspension. However, the suspension was not because of her outrageous 117-110 score in favor of Maestre. The suspension was due to her racist tweets towards blacks found in 2020 on her now-deleted Twitter account.
The outcome of the Fox-Maestre bout has caused the WBA to face intense scrutiny from fans, media and the Association of Boxing Commissions. The bout exposed how the organization has conducted itself in terms of the proliferation of numerous titles, how it appoints judges in states without strong commissions and the many appearances of conflicts of interest.
The Fox-Maestre bout was a big example of two conflicts of interest: Maestre and WBA President Gilberto Mendoza are both from Venezuela and Rizzo's husband has clear ties to the WBA.
ABC President Mike Mazzulli sent Mendoza a letter earlier this week saying that WBA having at least three titles per division "is misleading to the public and the boxers." The letter also said that if the WBA does not clean up its act, the ABC would recommend to its membership that it not recognize WBA-sanctioned bouts in the United States. A move like that would put the WBA out of business because the vast majority of its revenue comes from bouts held in the United States.
Mazzulli's letter also said it could recommend that ABC members bar the WBA from having any role in recommending officials for its bouts and from allowing WBA supervisors at ringside.
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