World boxing titles have to be won in the ring, but apparently in the WBC, they don't have to be lost in the ring.
And in the case of Cathedral City champion Timothy Bradley, titles also don't have to be stripped for a legitimate reason.
On Thursday, for the second time, the WBC stripped the undefeated Bradley of the super lightweight belt.
Bradley acknowledged his manager Cameron Dunkin received the letter from the WBC, but hasn't personally seen it.
Bradley said he wouldn't comment on the situation until he saw the letter.
“That's not right,” said Bradley's trainer, Joel Diaz. “Boxing is no longer a sport. It's a business. It's always been a business, but in the past years, boxing was a sport and everything was done right. Every fighter who fought for the championship, you had to step up.”
Bradley's title will be up for grabs on Sept. 17 when Erik Morales and Jorge Barrios square off. Morales-Barrios is on the undercard of the Floyd Mayweather-Victor Ortiz fight in Las Vegas.
The move to strip Bradley has brought outrage on the Internet from various boxing websites.
Boxing expert Dan Rafael of ESPN posted numerous tweets over the decision with the hashtag of #wbcisdisgusting.
One such tweet by Rafael, who has been a tough critic of Bradley of late, said, “Tim Bradley may have made a poor decision to not fight Khan, but in no way should he be stripped by the horrible WBC banditos.”
The website for The Ring magazine quoted WBC secretary general Mauricio Sulaiman as saying Bradley's inactivity and Bradley's statements he plans to move up in weight class were the reasons they stripped the title.
But Diaz said that runs counters to the WBC rules.
Diaz said a fighter has between nine and 11 months to defend his title. But Diaz also pointed out there was no opponent named for a mandatory title defense.
“Where's the prestige? There's no more prestige anymore,” Diaz said. “People who know boxing knows it's not right.
“It's not fair just for Tim, but for any champion out there.”
