In a move reeking of corruption and self-dealing, WBC president Mauricio Sulaiman has left WBC cruiserweight champion Noel Mikaelian and Jai Opetaia in limbo. Mikaelian and Opetaia fight each other today (Saturday) but the WBC has not said whether it will sanction the fight or strip Mikaelian. Hours before the fight Sulaiman tweeted, "The WBC will not make any comment about the cruiserweight division until Monday Sept 14th with the definite ruling of the division." Mikaelian and Opetaia are rapidly becoming collateral damage in a war to control boxing. Zuffa Boxing, the promoter of the Mikaelian-Opetaia bout, is gaining a strong foothold in the boxing world and its CEO Dana White has repeatedly said his goal is to have Zuffa boxers compete for a Zuffa championship instead of the traditional WBC, WBA, IBF and WBO titles that currenly rule the sport.

 

After Opetaia signed with Zuffa, he was stripped of the IBF championship, and that dispute is currently the subject of a federal lawsuit. When Zuffa sought to make a fight between Opetaia and Mikaelian, the WBC quickly ordered Mikaelian to face David Benavidez, who has the WBA and WBO titles. But Mikaelian sought to fight Opetaia, leading to the current standoff. The prediction here is that if Opetaia wins, the WBC will not recognize him as champion, as part of a campaign to injure Zuffa. If Mikaelian wins, we predict the WBC once again trying to force Mikaelian to fight Benavidez.