WBC on the ropes

Sometimes justice even comes to the world of boxing. On Monday, the World Boxing Council, one of the sport's three major sanctioning bodies, will file for bankruptcy, seeking protection from its creditors. That may not put it out of business but anything that diminishes the WBC's ability to control the ratings of fighters and sanctioning of championship matches is a step in the right direction for a sport that has taken more missteps of late than the Los Angeles Lakers.

The WBC, along with the World Boxing Association and International Boxing Federation, have become known as Los Banditos among most boxing insiders for the cavalier way the organizations have so often manipulated both their rankings and the sport to line their own pockets. The WBC was forced to throw in the towel last week when former light heavyweight champion Graciano Rocchigiani refused a settlement offer to clear the $31 million judgment he won from it a year ago after the organization egregiously and unfairly stripped him of the title it had charged him a hefty sanctioning fee to win so it could hand it back to Roy Jones Jr.

Rocchigiani sued, claiming he'd not only won the title fairly after Jones vacated it but also paid a fee for the right to win it. Courts in New York and Puerto Rico agreed and the WBC has been staring bankruptcy in the face ever since. Finally, after months of whispering about its financial demise, WBC president Jose Sulaiman announced from his office in Mexico City that the WBC cannot pay the bill. Or at least has had its accountants juggle its books the way its ratings committee often did its rankings to suit the problem.

"As much as the WBC would like to satisfy the judgment, it is simply impossible for the WBC -- a not-for-profit organization -- to pay Mr. Rocchigiani the staggering $31 million award," Sulaiman said. "In a last attempt to give Mr. Rocchigiani redress, the WBC recently made a substantial monetary settlement offer to Mr. Rocchigiani. Unfortunately, Mr. Rocchigiani rejected this generous offer, which itself far exceeds what Mr. Rocchigiani could hope to recover in WBC liquidation proceedings."

If the latter is the case, where was the money coming from?

What Sulaiman seems to be saying is the WBC hoped to make Rocchigiani go away for a sum it now insists it isn't worth.

Sadly, none of this logic, if one can call it that, is surprising in the world of boxing. The difference here is that perhaps this time someone other than a fighter may have to pay for the WBC's outrageous actions. At one point in his press release, Sulaiman mentioned the "deep sorrow" the filing meant "to me personally" as well as the 161 countries that are members of the WBC. He went on to say he had served the boxing community "without compensation" for nearly 25 years. Sure, he did.

No one carrying a WBC business card, flying first class, eating in good restaurants, and staying in some of the finest hotels can say he worked "without compensation," and that's not including the other uses of the millions in sanctioning fees it forced fighters and promoters to pay in exchange for a plastic title belt with a fuzzy lining.

Because of the sport's long history, those belts meant something to the fighters who won them, but nowhere near as much as they meant to the organization that was selling them for sanctioning fees. After those fees were paid, the titles were all too often taken back for no reason except that the champion didn't fight whom the WBC wanted.

All three organizations grew so bold over the years that finally one, the United States-based IBF, saw its president convicted for soliciting and accepting bribes in exchange for payoffs from various promoters. Although Bob Lee has somehow avoided spending a day in jail, the memory of his lawyers trying to explain why he was stuffing a roll of bills into his sock will remain indelibly imprinted in the minds of anyone who saw the videotape.

No one ever got Sulaiman in such a compromising position but Rocchigiani did get him where he was most vulnerable -- for his abuse of his organization's power. Now someone must pay for that, although, sadly, Rocchigiani may never collect what the court says he's owed.

Short jabs

Undefeated junior welterweight Paul Malignaggi takes the main stage on Showtime's "ShoBox: The Next Generation" card Thursday, stepping in against Ramiro Cano. Malignaggi is 17-0 but his five knockouts make his lack of punching power obvious. Still, his colorful outfits and outrageous ring persona have helped him gather a growing following. Cano is 18-1 with 14 KOs. On the same card, young Sechew Powell (12-0, 9 KOs) takes on journeyman Grady Brewer (17-8, 11 KOs) in an eight-round semi-main event. "I'm looking forward to my Showtime debut," Malignaggi said. "I think I match up well against anyone. The better my opponents, the more talent you see come out of me." . . . Malignaggi's promoter, Lou DiBella, has added middleweight contender Ray Joval to his stable at the right time. Joval is ranked second by the IBF and will fight Sam Soliman July 18 in California for the No. 1 IBF ranking formerly held by Robert Allen. Allen dropped in the ratings after losing his title fight to Bernard Hopkins a week ago. Joval is a 36-year-old product of the Netherlands who fought his first 10 fights in the US before going back to Europe and fighting 20 times in England, the Netherlands, Denmark, Belgium, Germany, and Italy. He now fights out of Brooklyn . . . Felix Sturm's promoters filed a protest this week with the World Boxing Organization trying to have his close loss to Oscar De La Hoya overturned. Promoter Klaus-Peter Kohl argued that Compubox's unofficial punch counts had Sturm landing more punches than De La Hoya. Sturm reportedly landed more punches on De La Hoya than any opponent except Shane Mosley. Kohl also claimed judges' cards in the third, 10th, and 12th rounds were "very questionable." De La Hoya is set to fight Hopkins Sept. 18 in what is being projected to be the largest-grossing non-heavyweight pay-per-view show in history . . . Promoter Bob Arum announced this week his July 31 super featherweight unification fight between WBC champion Erik Morales (46-1, 34 KOs) and IBF champion Carlos Hernandez (40-3-1, 24 KOs) will include two other title fights. IBF bantamweight champion Rafael Marquez (31-3, 28 KOs) will defend his title against Heriberto Ruiz (31-2-2, 14 KOs) and WBO light heavyweight champion Ivan Calderon (19-0, 4 KOs) will face Roberto Leyva (22-3-1, 19 KOs). The fights will be telecast on HBO pay-per-view from the MGM Grand Garden Arena . . . A week from tonight, Arum will stage a retirement party for Paulie Ayala or Marco Antonio Barrera when they face off on HBO. The two former champions will be fighting for nothing more than survival, but the loser will surely begin to fade from the world stage. Barrera, 57-4, is coming off the terrible beating he took from Manny Pacquiao. Ayala is 34 and lost a unanimous 12-round decision to Morales two years ago. He has boxed only once since that fight . . . James Toney got the go-ahead to return to training last week from Los Angeles orthopedist Tony Daly and hopes to land a fight against a top heavyweight opponent before the summer is out. Toney, the 2003 Professional Boxing Writers Fighter of the Year, was set to face 6-foot-7-inch Jameel McCline Feb. 7 but tore an Achilles' tendon two weeks before the fight . . . Former two-time heavyweight champion Michael Moorer gets a chance to put his name back into the ratings July 3 at American Airlines Arena in Miami on a Showtime card headlined by the return of former junior lightweight champion Joel Casamayor against a gimme putt named Daniel Seda. Moorer was added to take on undefeated contender Eliseo Castillo (17-0-1) . . . A recent ESPN poll of an eight-member panel of sports scientists affiliated with the US Olympic Committee judged boxing the most difficult and demanding sport, giving it a degree of difficulty of 72.37. Hockey was next at 71.75, followed by football (68.37), and basketball (67.87).