Ricardo Aguirre

In all my years as a boxing fan I have always admired the green and gold belt of the world boxing council not only because in my opinion it is the nicest looking belt ever but also because of the men who have won that belt: Ricardo Lopez, Eder Jofre, Vicente Saldivar, Salvador Sanchez, Julio Cesar Chavez, Sugar Ray Leonard, Roberto Duran, Marvin Hagler, Tito Trinidad, and the list goes on.

It was not until I was an exchange student in Mexico that I learned that he WBC it was founded to combat the corruption of organizations like the New York State Athletic commission that though a local commission granted world titles to several fighters at once. Furthermore, the strong organized crime influence in the NYSAC created a color line that prevented many fighters south of the border from ever getting a title shot like the legendary Rodolfo Casanova. In short, the WBC through the leadership of Jose Suleiman cleaned up the sport and made it an international sport by creating the first world title from an international sanctioning body. Despite all this a writer named Thomas Hauser took it upon himself to mock the WBC and Jose Suleiman in his satirical article called More Fights of Fantasy.

Though the sport of boxing still has many issues to resolve I was shocked by the approach taken by Hauser. Though his article is supposed to be satire it is not clear that it is. His reporting style reminds me of the humiliating stories that a bully makes up in order to terrorize a classmate he does not like. I understand that Hauser has a right to free expression but his form of journalism could have the disastrous effect of restricting the access of bloggers like myself at WBC events.

By Ricardo Aguirre Facebook WBC fan