The recrowning of a heavyweight ‘champion’ by the WBA is drawing further frustration over the title’s continued appearance in the sport.
Mahmoud Charr, who ruled as WBA secondary titleholder from 2017 to 2021 without defending the belt once, is now in a seventh year without defending it.
The situation arose due to a legal victory against the WBA, who stripped him of the belt three years ago. Charr appealed, won, and was reinstated as ‘Champion in Recess’ before being elevated to ‘Regular’ champion again.
Despite ordering a fight against Jarrell Miller for Charr in late 2023, the Lebanese-born puncher missed out on the bout. Miller lost in Saudi Arabia, putting an end to the stipulation.
The WBA could now re-order the fight for Charr against Miller’s conqueror Daniel Dubois. A win for Dubois would make him mandatory for the title for a second time in a year.
Dubois lost to Oleksandr Usyk in August 2023 despite claiming he’d stopped the Ukrainian due to a body shot. Should the WBA call for the Charr fight, it would be enticing for ‘DDD’ to accept.
Charr would then finally make a first defense of his title after first claiming it in November 2017. He defeated Alexander Ustinov via a twelve-round unanimous decision in Oberhausen, Germany.
Problems with the WBA heavyweight title
By lifting the little-regarded crown at the Koenig Pilsener Arena, Charr put himself in the frame for some significant challenges to come.
But the sad fact is Charr didn’t grace the ring again for over three and a half years, and his title didn’t go up for grabs in three years and two months. This problem arose due to stalled negotiations with Trevor Bryan.
Before the 2019 Bryan order, Charr held talks with Fres Oquendo. Fres was a former number contender who won a separate court case to fight for the WBA ‘regular’ belt despite being out of action since 2014.
Legal battles eventually took Oquendo an age in his pursuit. And by the time the fight could happen, ‘The Big O’ was too old.
Therefore, the WBA moved on to stipulate Charr must face Bryan. Finally, Don King struck a deal in 2020 despite Oquendo challenging that ruling, too.
Don King paid an eye-watering two million dollars at a Panama purse bid to stage the contest. As the boxing world held its breath that Charr would put his strap on the line once and for all, the coronavirus struck and put the breaks on again.
The Oquendo curse was passed on to Charr, keeping the WBA ‘regular’ crown out of commission. Eventually, the WBA stripped Charr when his visa failed for a January 2021 clash with Bryan in Miami.
With Mahmoud Charr unable to perform at the show in South Florida, Don King, Trevor Bryan’s promoter, planned to proceed with changes to the scheduled headliner.
A resurrected title
The promoter requested a secondary WBA heavyweight title fight between Bryan and former WBC champion Bermane Stiverne in a petition to the WBA. The WBA granted the request. Bryan won before losing it dismally to Daniel Dubois in his first defense. The belt was supposed to hit the scrap heap after Dubois lost to Usyk.
However, WBA chiefs say the ruling forced them to give Charr the title back, negating the reigns of both Bryan and Dubois. To call it a mess would be polite. The WBA now has an excuse to keep the title for at least another year.
Despite Charr’s career stalling, the court order will prevent the WBA from stripping their secondary champion again.
By Phil Jay