Miroslav Kapuler Egregiously Robbed in Quaterfinals

The IBA, formerly known as AIBA, is a cesspool of corruption and incompetence. Officials and judges care nothing for fairness, honor, or healthy competition. They are more concerned with selling their precious medals to the highest bidder. The IBA is so maligned within the often seedy world of sport that even the International Olympic Committee wants nothing to do with them, banning the corrupt boxing organization from running the Olympic tournament.

Miroslav Kapuler, four days shy of his 27th birthday, was a casualty of the IBA's blatant corruption today in Belgrade, Serbia at the European amateur championships. Or, giving the IBA the benefit of the doubt, was simply a matter of inexcusable incompetence? Regardless, the Israeli junior middleweight is out of the tournament instead of assuming his rightful place in the semifinals.

In a competitive first round, Kapuler's jab proved accurate against Vasile Cebotari, a fellow southpaw from Moldova with a 15-0 pro record. Cebotari countered Kapuler's jab with varying degrees of success, but Kapuler's punches were certainly cleaner and more plentiful. Each of the five judges spent the first round carefully investigating their own colons rather than watching the bout, the only possible explanation for why all five gave the round to Cebotari.

In the second round, Kapuler snapped back Cebotari's head so often it was as if the Moldovan was listening to some imperceptible techno music. Cebotari had two nice spurts in the round but spent most of those three minutes eating punches. Even the highlights after the round confirmed the demolition that took place. Three judges gave credit to Cebotari's face for the damage it inflicted upon Kapuler's gloves. By the end of the second, three judges had improbably scored the bout 20-18 for the 22 year old from Traspol.

With the fight all but secured, Cebotari wisely held most of the third round, becoming intimately familiar with Kapuler's choice of cologne. Kapuler did all he could to coax his low-quality Green Hill pillows into scoring a knockout, but as much as his gloves pummeled Cebotari, Cebotari's senses would not scramble. The highlights after the round were basically all of Miroslav's continuous onslaught. Kapuler's only mistake all fight was being overeager. He hit on the break on several occasions, receiving a warning each time.

The verdict was announced as a split decision victory for Cebotari. The shameful scores curiously were not even revealed. Instead, the broadcast quickly moved to the next fight. Kapuler handled the indignation with grace; it was just another robbery in a frustratingly long list of them.


Update: The scores were 4-1 in favor of Cebotari. The Serbian judge, Maria Petrkovic, unbelievably scored each round for Cebotari, perhaps because the winner would face a fighter from Serbia.

Miroslav Kapuler Advances to Quarters in Europeans

Junior middleweight Miroslav Kapuler won his first two fights at the European amateur championships in Belgrade, Serbia run by the EUBC. The EUBC is affiliated with the IBA, who has been banned by the IOC (International Olympic Committee) from running the boxing tournament at the Olympics because of corruption. So this tournament is not an Olympic qualifier. Last year's European Games served as a qualifying tournament instead.

Kapuler, a southpaw who will turn 27 on April 28, is the lone pro boxer from the Israeli contingent. Pro boxers are allowed to fight in amateur tournaments since a rule change in 2016. Kapuler, who also uses the surname Ishchenko, is 3-0 as a pro and last fought for money in 2021. Prospect Yan Zak and Yonatan Arnon, also competed in the tourament for Israel.

Kapuler won his first preliminary bout by unanimous decision over Lithuania's Aleksandr Trofimcuk by boxing beautifully in the pocket: launching intelligent combinations and slipping Tromfimcuk's counters. In the round of 16 the next day, Kapuler completely controlled the contest against Pavel Kaminin, an Estonian from the ethnically Russian eastern city of Narva. Kapuler showed more aggression than usual and loaded up on sledgehammer lefts while Kaminin, who is 2-0 as a pro, mostly held Kapuler as if they were attending a high school dance. Referee Anar Babanli missed an early third round knockdown by Kapuler and then admonished the Israeli for rabbit punching when Kaminin turned his head and scolded Kapuler for arguing that point, but he was fair otherwise.

Heavyweight Yan Zak dominated 2020 Olympian Uladzislau Smiahlikau in the round of 16 by unanimous decision behind his jab and adroit footwork. Smiahlikau suffered a cut by his right eye in the third round. Astonishingly, two judges awarded the Belarussian with a round. In the quarterfinals, Zak faced his rival Loren Alfonso Dominguez of Azerbaijan. A slippery boxer in the Cuban mold, Alfonso fights with his hands down and embarrasses his opponents by making them miss and making them pay from odd angles. He was more serious than usual against Zak and seemed to barely edge the first two rounds. Zak pummeled Alfonso in the third, but three judges incredibly gave the round to Alfonso. Nevertheless, the right man won.

Middleweight Yonatan Arnon was stopped in the last second of his bout by an experienced opponent from Serbia, Almir Memic, in the round of 16. Arnon landed some counters and potshots, but was outclassed by Memic's pressure and looping right. Memic scored three standing eight counts and knocked out his Israeli opponent's mouthpiece several times.  A bit unfairly, the referee stopped the contest with no time left.

Kapuler fights in the quarterfinals against Vasile Cebotari, a Moldovan who is 15-0 as a pro, on Wednesday April 24 in the evening session.

Jackson Off Tomorrow’s Card

Lev Jackson had been scheduled to fight Mathusan Mahindas in a junior welterweight bout in Toronto tomorrow. Jackson is now off the card and Mahindas is slated to fight Viacheslav Shulevskyi.

A week and a half ago, Jackson told The Jewish Boxing Blog that the fight was up in the air. He had said that he felt “chunky” weighing 138 pounds for his last fight, so it was surprising to see the fight with Mahindas scheduled for junior welterweight.

The cancellation was surely disappointing for Jackson, who had his heart set on this matchup. Hopefully, Jackson will get a fight soon.

A Lucky Hat and a Right Hand: A Profile of Willie Jackson

A writer once dubbed Willie Jackson "possibly the best club fighter of this or any other century." It was actually an unfair declaration. More than a club fighter, Jackson developed into one of the best boxers in the featherweight and lightweight divisions in the world during the late 1910s and early 1920s.

Oscar Tobinsky was born in New York, New York on July 11, 1897 (see notes). The oldest of Samuel and Ester's seven children, Oscar spent his formative years in the Lower East Side before the family moved to the Bronx. His parents had immigrated to the United States from the Pale of Settlement in the Russian Empire. Contrary to popular belief, names were not changed at Ellis Island, so the family was responsible for shortening their surname to Tobin.

Oscar Tobin earned $6 a week as an errand boy when he gave up his job to become a professional boxer in 1913. He weighed an anemic 98 pounds for his first fight at the Fairmont Athletic Club where he earned the princely sum of $9 for his effort. Ester objected to her boy fighting, believing Oscar was too frail, so he did his best to hit and not get hit. He assumed the fighting name of Willie Jackson, an ode to an old fighter of his manager Doc Bagley.

Before entering the ring that night, he wore a cap , one that would grow more worn and ragged throughout his career. That lucky cap would see Jackson beat some of the best fighters of his time.

Willie Jackson fought in the old newspaper era, when fights only became official if a fighter won by knockout or lost by disqualification. Otherwise, newsmen rendered their unofficial verdicts in their papers' next edition. Early in his career, Jackson lost one such decision to a world class fighter named Louisiana, a fellow Jew. He beat many good fighters during the first four years of his career, but lost at the top level.

On May 8, 1916, featherweight world champion Johnny Kilbane stopped Jackson in the fifth round of their non-title bout, the only time Jackson was ever stopped until his final two fights. Kilbane would later tell Doc Bagley that Willie possessed "the fastest left of anybody he ever saw, and this includes Benny Leonard." At 5'6", he was rangy for the weight, and possessed quick feet.

Willie continued to fight consistently in New York and Philadelphia when he was matched with Johnny Dundee on January 15, 1917. Dundee, a future two-division world champion, was already a grizzled veteran, one of the best fighters in the world. In the first round, Jackson landed a short right to the chin and Dundee's lights went out for the first time in his lengthy career.

The result shocked the boxing world. Before the knockout, Jackson had yet to register a signature win and he was regarded as speedy and ringwise, but not a puncher. Dundee's chin seemed to be more steel than bone. "I'm so tickled I don't know what to do," Jackson said days later. "I haven't slept since the fight, I'm afraid that if I do I will wake up and find it all a dream."

Former heavyweight champion James J. Corbett wrote a column that August praising Jewish fighters, singling out Jackson at one point. "And then some people say the Hebrews lack courage! The only man who ever knocked out Johnny Dundee was Willie Jackson (Oscar Tobin), a Jewish boy."

A cartoon depicting Jackson knocking out Dundee

Jackson trained at the famed Grupp's Gym at 116th Street and 8th Avenue with Ray Arcel, Benny Valgar, and Benny Leonard. When the owner, Billy Grupp, blamed the Jews for World War I, Leonard led a group to find a new gym in protest. Jackson was one of the fighters who made the switch to the soon-to-be world renowned Stillman's Gym.

Willie had been fighting regularly when he faced Dundee in a rematch that June. Dundee won the newspaper decision, but the pair would fight about a dozen times through the years with Jackson winning more than he lost. In October, writers granted Jackson a newspaper decision victory over future lightweight champion Rocky Kansas.

On November 10, 1917, Jackson married Pauline Sherr. The couple lived on Garrison Avenue in the Bronx, but the marriage wouldn't last.

In 1918, Jackson fought some of the best fighters of all-time. That year he battled Lew Tendler, who is perhaps the best boxer never to win a title. Willie took on Dundee and Kansas multiple times. And he fought the lightweight world champion, Benny Leonard. Leonard won a newspaper decision on a charity card in July but the experience allegedly convinced him never to fight Jackson for the lightweight title.

During a busy 1919, Jackson once again faced Lew Tendler in a memorable bout on August 4. Willie knocked down the rising star twice in the first round. One came from a right that knocked Tendler out cold for five seconds. Tendler's trainer Scoodles Reinfeld tossed a bucket of water on his man, a move that would be grounds for disqualification now but was legal back then. Tendler woke up, and battered Jackson for the remaining five rounds, breaking Willie's nose in the process.

Jackson knocks down Tendler, Shibe Park Philadelphia, Aug. 4, 1919

Jackson beat Dundee again less than a month later. He fought numerous times each year, but never earned a title shot. He fought mostly on the East Coast, though he traveled to Milwaukee in 1920 to fight Richie Mitchell, a top lightweight. Jackson lost the newspaper decision. The next year he fought a fifteen-round draw with Richie's brother Pinky, the future junior welterweight champion. In 1922, he faced a hard-punching Jew named Charley White in a grueling fifteen round bout at Madison Square Garden. White knocked down Jackson twice in the thirteenth and nearly stopped him in the final two rounds.

The year kept getting worse for Willie. In May, his wife sued for divorce alleging cruelty. The split turned hostile over the amount of alimony Jackson should pay, and the issue gained nationwide attention. Pauline claimed Jackson had earned about $400,000 during his career and he owed her $125 a week. Willie argued that he had made less than $100,000 during his career, a third of which went to Bagley. A sympathetic profile of Jackson that year described him as "one of the greatest lightweight money makers." In 1924, the dispute was rendered moot when Pauline remarried.

After the divorce proceedings had ended, Jackson intended to go on an Australian tour, but Bagley wouldn't tag along, and the two had a falling out. Even when Jackson reconsidered and fought close to home, it was too late to repair the relationship.

A downtrodden Jackson fought a few novices before battling the cerebral Harry "Kid" Brown, a fellow Jew. Though outweighed by six pounds, Brown beat his once-great opponent by newspaper decision. After two more decision losses, Jackson faced Johnny Sugrue on December 4 in Jersey City. With his old lucky cap perched on his head, Willie waited for Doc Bagley to come through the door for one last fight. For old time's sake. But Doc never came. Willie's effort in the fight was valiant, but at 25 years old, he was washed up. Sugrue stopped him in ten rounds.

Jackson retired, save for an ill-conceived comeback fight in 1924. He didn't gamble and wasn't much of a drinker, but still had no money left. He sold paper and twine and remarried. He and Milly had a son named Jack.

Oscar Tobin died on November 13, 1961 in Kings County Hospital after a brief illness. His legacy, carved out of hundreds of fights, was cemented with a surprisingly concussive short right hand on a winter's day in Philadelphia back in 1917.


Notes: The origin of Jackson's surname from Tobinsky to Tobin was mentioned in Rocap's "Willie Jackson is Coming." At one point, some papers claimed his birthname was Isaac Pomper, but that isn't true. His birthdate is listed as July 11 in his WWI draft registration and July 13 in his WWII draft registration.

Sources

Bodner, Allen. When Boxing was a Jewish Sport. Pg. 73.

"Boxer asks Cut in Alimony." New York Times. May 30, 1922. Pg. 2.

Carolan, James S. "Lew Tendler Never Felt First Punch that Floored Him." Evening Public Ledge. Aug. 5, 1919. Pg. 15.

Corbett, James J. "In Corbett's Corner." The Evening Report. Aug. 16, 1917. Pg. 6.

"Lion-Hearted Willie Jackson's Passing is Real Ring Tragedy." Portland Evening Express. Dec. 22, 1922. Pg. 6.

"Oscar Tobin Boxed as Willie Jackson" New York Times. Nov. 14, 1961. Pg. 36.

Ripley, Robert L. "Dundee's Conqueror." The Atlanta Journal. Jan 20, 1917.Pg. 7.

Rocap, William H. "Willie Jackson is Coming." The Houston Post. Jan 28, 1917. Pg. 17.

Silver, Mike. Stars in the Ring: Jewish Champions in the Golden Age of Boxing. Pgs. 54-55.

Gloves and Doves to Feature Hagar Finer

Former world champion Hagar Finer is scheduled to box in an exhibition as part of a Gloves and Doves show on May 9 at the Camden Boxing Club in London, England. Finer held the WIBF super flyweight world title from 2007-2008 and then captured the WIBF bantamweight world title in 2009. After four successful defenses, she retired in 2012.

Finer has made Evgheni Boico's list of the top five Jewish Israeli boxers of all-time and Malissa Smith's list of the top 5 Jewish female boxers in history. The 39 year old currently runs the Finer Boxing and Martial Arts Club in Tel Aviv and has staged numerous boxing exhibition shows in Israel.

Gloves and Doves is the brainchild of former pro boxer Tony Milch, who hopes to spread peace through boxing and to build up the sport in Israel. Gloves and Doves will also host a show Friday, April 26 in Isfiya, Israel.

Duer Ranked by WBC, Could Fight in May

Carolina Duer is two-division world champion and one of the best Jewish female boxers in history. The 45-year old native of Argentina could fight Laura Grzyb in Poland this May although nothing has been officially announced.

Duer, 20-7-2, last fought a year ago when she lost a controversial split decision to Gabriel Bouvier. She hoped to fight Bouvier in a rematch, but the two couldn't come to terms. Duer is currently ranked sixth in the WBC's junior featherweight ratings. She isn't in the top ten in the other alphabet organizations' rankings. BoxRec rates her thirtieth.

Grzyb is a 28 year old from Poland. At 10-0 she is the European junior featherweight champion and rated number four by the WBC and seventh by the IBF. BoxRec lists her at number twelve.

Lev Jackson to Fight Undefeated Mathusan Mahindas

Lev Jackson is scheduled to fight Mathusan Mahindas on April 21 at the Rebel Entertainment Complex in Toronto, Ontario, Canada in a junior welterweight contest. The show is promoted by Lee Baxter, who was the promoter for Jackson's debut in 2019.

Jackson, a 31 year old from Richmond in British Columbia, comes in with a record of 3-1-1 with one KO and one no contest. He acknowledges that Mahindas, who is 6-0-1 with 2 KOs, will be the hometown favorite in the fight.

Mahindas, a 28 year old from Scarborough, located on the outskirts of Toronto, will make his fifth appearance in a Toronto-area ring. "No one wants to lose at their house party," Jackson said in an interview with The Jewish Boxing Blog last month. He then paused before adding, "But he's going to lose at his house party."

Jackson noted, "He's got a great record, but he has exclusively fought fly-in Mexicans for his career." Canada recently instituted a law requiring Mexican citizens to obtain a visa to enter Canada, which will force Canadian fighters to take on their co-nationalists as opposed to foreign patsies. Jackson granted, "Credit it to him, before there were any issues with visas, he was willing to take me on."

Mahindas poses a difficult challenge for Jackson. But Lefty Lev is brimming with confidence. "I'm excited. It's going to be a mistake for him [to take this fight] I think. No, I don't think... I know."

He added, "He's definitely underestimating me, and... Good!"

Mahindas graduated from the University of Toronto with a degree in finance and works as an insurance underwriter. He's the first professional boxer from the Tamil community and has ties to Sri Lanka. His nickname, the Tiger, is not as innocuous as it first seems. The Tamil Tigers were major participants in the Sri Lankan civil war, which lasted from 1983-2009. The group, who wanted an independent homeland on the island, was labeled a terrorist organization by some countries, including the U.S., because they used suicide bombings on civilians outside of the war zone.

In the ring, Mahindas fights in an Eastern European style: upright and robotic, moving in and out behind the jab, and occasionally throwing the 1-2. He keeps his right hand glued to his chin, which can indicate suspect punch resistance. A year ago, Mahindas was shaken up a few times against wild slugger Arturo Avila. The fight ended in a draw, which was a setback of sorts for Mahindas.

Jackson, a butcher by trade, revealed, "I'm mentally seeing myself as the A-side for this." But he understands that it might be difficult to receive a just decision in the opponent's backyard. "We're not going for decisions," he declared. "I think I have underrated punching power. Keep thinking it's underrated, I hope he walks into something stupid to start."

Mahindas likely won't be careless, because he's a cautious fighter who generally prefers to stay on the outside and utilize his height advantage. In 2022, Jose Alberto Garcia was able to get inside and touch Mahindas. Last September, Mahindas allowed Eduardo Cortes Molina to get inside and then made him pay, bloodying the Mexican's nose. Mathusan isn't a hard puncher, but he's very accurate.

Jackson will want to get to the inside and, if he gets there, his all-action style will cause problems for his opponent. He'll look to time Mahindas's right with overhand lefts. Lev will also hope to target the right side of Mahindas's body, under his elevated right elbow. But don't ignore Lev's right hook, either.

This is a big fight for Jackson. "He's the stepping stone. I'm not," he said. It means a lot that he's fighting a guy from Ontario. Jackson admitted that his native British Columbians are considered "the lowest of the low" in boxing. B.C. boxers have a big rivalry with those from Ontario, but it doesn't go both ways. Boxers from Ontario are focused more on their heated rivalry with Quebecois.

In Ontario and in Mexico, Mahindas has been more active recently than Jackson, but Lev has gone the six round distance twice before. Mathusan hasn't. The matchup has all the makings on an intriguing battle.

"We're both going to be the best the other one has fought so far" Jackson exclaimed, "and that's what is going to make an awesome fight."

The Many Battles of Soldier Bartfield

Soldier Bartfield's opponents could fill up a pretty great all-time top ten list. "Rarely were so many battles of blood and thunder against so many notable fighters credited to one man," wrote Lester Bromberg.

Bartfield fought so many great champions because he didn't actually care who he'd fight. "Never mind whom I gonna fight, what's the poyse?" he once exclaimed, saying the word "purse" with a Yiddish accent.

Bartfield was a Polish Jew born in the Austrian-Hungarian Empire. He listed his town of birth as Lancyzn and the date as February 15, 1892. Or maybe it was March 15? Eh, it was so long ago who could remember. The area where Bartfield grew up, called Galicia (not to be confused with the region in Spain), had been obtained by the Hapsburg monarchy in the late eighteenth century and wouldn't be returned to Poland until Jacob had immigrated to the United States.

I remember my mom and her mother-in-law, both born in the Bronx and each learning Yiddish as their first language, gently mocking the cadence of Galician Yiddish and laughing about how hard it was to understand. When Jacob arrived on Essex Street on the East Side of New York at the age of 16, he probably wasn't very easily understood either. While in New York, he learned English and spoke it with a thick Yiddish accent.

Initially, Jacob worked in an iron foundry, building his muscles as he raked in $3 a week. He then joined the army where he fought the legendary Pancho Villa.

Not the Filipino flyweight, but the Mexican revolutionary. Bartfield, a first class private, was part of the 11th infantry sent to the Mexican border at the height of the Mexican civil war. "We had a good outfit, and those bandits knew it," Jacob recalled. "Soon as we turned up, they ran like hell."

He had turned pro back in 1911 and fought consistently until 1916 when he spent ten months out of the ring protecting the southern border. In the meantime, Bartfield built up an impressive array of opponents. You can find them all on BoxRec, and many in the Hall of Fame. He fought Benny Leonard, Ted "Kid" Lewis, Harry Greb, Mickey Walker, and Jack Britton. But "Soldier" Bartfield didn't just fight these guys once; he fought Lewis six times, Greb five, and Britton on seven occasions.

Leonard, the legendary lightweight world champion, said of the soldier, "Bartfield hits you with punches you wouldn't expect. You just don't know what to look for. Aside from this, he's very strong, takes a hard punch as well, and keeps pressing you all the time." Jacob knew all the veteran tricks, his chin resembled steel, and he exhibited the endurance of a migrating penguin.

But Bartfield didn't just fight the best. He fought everyone just a smidge below, too. He took on the world middleweight champion  Al McCoy four times, he broke three of Mike Gibbons's ribs, and battled other champions such as Dave Rosenberg, Jimmy Slattery, and Billy Papke, just to name a few. He actually beat some of these guys too, just never for the title.

Soldier had two title shots. In 1919, he lost to Mike O'Dowd for the middleweight crown and to Johnny Wilson the following year. Bartfield faced many of the top contenders in and around his weight as well. But his toughest opponent, he was quoted as saying, "Dey vas all tuff guys. But my tuffest fight vas mit Lockport Jimmy Duffy.

"De punching vasn't so tuff, but dey troo us out of de ring in de sevent' round. Ve didn't get paid. Boy vas dat tuff!" In their 1917 fight, Bartfield was dominating when Duffy and his corner contended that Bartfield had hit him low. Bartfield and his backers were just as adamant it was a legal punch, but he was DQed though Duffy was later accused of acting.

Bartfield's biggest purse was $25,000, but he often made much much less. And in the case of his fight against Lockport Jimmy Duffy, nothin'.

Bartfield was managed by Dan McKetrick and the ingenious Doc Kearns, the man who guided Jack Dempsey's career. Soldier stood a half-inch above 5'8" and was the type of opponent a smart manager would have his boy fight only if he believed he had a real gem. And even then, Bartfield might still win. "I had a punch they couldn't get away from, a left hook," he said. "That I followed up with a right hand."

Even though he didn't move there until the early 1920s, Bartfield became synonymous with Brooklyn. He represented the loveable tough guy who didn't always win, but always gave his best. After at least 220 professional fights, Bartfield finally retired from boxing in 1925. At the age of 33, he was already described as "punchy," suffering the effects of what is now called CTE. "Those who remember me, I thank," he once said. "And those who don't I can't blame. I have trouble remembering, too."

He fought twice more in 1932 and then hung up the gloves for good. After his career, he worked as a ship fitter for the U.S. Navy in Brooklyn's Navy Yard, continuing through the war. He married Sara and they had a son named Horace. Eventually, they split time between Brooklyn ad their farm near Hunter, New York.

When he got older, Bartfield would sit in Brooklyn's Canarsie Park listening to the birds sing and watching the seasons change. Young women would wave to him and make small talk. "You know what the women there call me? 'That nice old Jewish man,'" he explained.

Jacob Bartfield died on October 2, 1970 at Brooklyn State Hospital at the age of 78. The countless wars, in the ring and on the battlefield, had taken their toll. He was ready to find some peace.

Sources
Assorted uncited articles located at the Hank Kaplan Archives.

Silver, Mike. Stars in the Ring. 2016. Pgs. 31, 33.

Tranter, Edward. "Sport Topics." The Buffalo Enquirer. Jul. 5, 1927. Pg. 12.

Cletus Seldin Ranked by WBA

After Cletus Seldin secured his seventh consecutive win on March 15, the WBA ranked him number 8 in their welterweight ratings. Seldin is 28-1 with 23 KOs. His last two fights have been at 142.5 pounds.

Seldin has made the most of his opportunities and he should be viewed as a contender, but the alphabet organizations' ratings should be taken with a grain of salt. The WBA actually has two welterweight world champions. The IBF doesn't have a number one or number two contender, but it does rank 3-15. Within the four "major" organizations' top 15, 44 different welterweights are listed. No single welterweight is rated by each of the four organizations.

The best ratings organizations are the Transnational Boxing Rankings and The Ring. Their ratings are quite similar, agreeing on the champion, Terence Crawford, and eight of the ten contenders. But both only include a top ten. Seldin didn't make either list.

BoxRec's ratings are based on a mathematical formula and rank Seldin as the 102nd best junior welterweight, which is preposterously low. BoxRec's rankings are often criticized within the industry. They are less corrupt than the alphabet organizations' rankings, however.

Rgardless of the WBA's rankings, Seldin has established himself as a contender. Hopefully, the 37 year old lands a big fight soon.