Errol Spence Jr. made his way into the ring at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas late on March 30, not long after Sebastian Fundora upset Tim Tszyu to win the WBO and the vacant WBC 154-pound belts. Spence had never fought at 154 pounds previously, and at that point was eight months out from a one-sided loss to Terence Crawford in an undisputed welterweight title fight.
Spence's appearance in the ring was to push a bout with Fundora. Fundora wanted it because Spence is a big name in boxing and that would have guaranteed a bigger payday for him.
The match got slow-walked, though, as has often happens in boxing. It's 10 months later and neither man has fought in the interim.
Had they signed a month or two after that night for a fall bout, the match would have already occurred. But now, it's off the schedule and for that, we have only to thank the wisdom, the ethics and the fairness of new WBO president Gustavo Olivieri.
Olivieri last week said the WBO wouldn't sanction Fundora-Spence as a title fight, which had the effect of, for the time being, killing it. It was a wise move by the new WBO president, who assumed command of the Puerto Rico-based sanctioning body in November after the retirement of 30-year president Francisco "Paco" Valcarcel.
Sanctioning bodies so often don't do the right thing and they've taken plenty of heat over the years.
But Olivieri did absolutely the right thing in declining last week to sanction Fundora-Spence for the WBO belt. Olivieri laid out his rationale for turning down the fight on X after a report noted the fight is off.
The WBO would not sanction Fundora/Spence due to the latter being (1) inactive for 1 year & 5 months; (2) a TKO loss in last bout; (3) not rated in 154 lbs., & 4) has never fought in 154 lbs. Ruling otherwise would be a disservice to the rest of the 154 world-rated contenders. https://t.co/R2VgVXAi9V
— Gustavo Olivieri, Esq. (@OlivieriLaw) January 16, 2025
Olivieri's decision made common sense, was fair and was in accordance with its rules.
Spence was a pound-for-pound contender at the time of his 2023 loss to Crawford and he deserved some consideration when he stepped into the ring at T-Mobile to challenge Fundora. No action was taken quickly, though, and that slowed the division to a crawl.
The plan when requesting sanctioning this month was to put the fight on in March, a year after Fundora won the belt. During that period, no other contenders got the opportunity to compete for it.
Fairness has to reign in these sanctioning body decisions and Olivieri signaled he wants to lead the WBO in a direction where it sets a standard that others should follow.
"We're not perfect," Olivieri said. "But under my presidency, I'm striving to make some proper changes that at least, in our ratings, have the most deserving contenders. For example, when I published that tweet regarding Spence and Fundora, Fundora's [promoter] called me. Sampson Lewkowicz."
After Spence was turned down, Lewkowicz proposed Joey Spencer and Olivieri declined him. Olivieri said Lewkowicz encouraged him to rank Spencer in January so that in February when the fight was announced, he'd be there. But Olivieri said that wouldn't be transparent, people would see through it and it's not the way he wants to conduct business.
A lot of fans have left the sport because of the proliferation of champions and because of the way the sanctioning bodies often have played games with the titles.
Changing that way of doing business will over time help the titles gain more respect. Restoring the significance of titles could help bring some fans back.
In the last 18 months, the IBF has either stripped an undisputed champion or caused an undisputed champion to surrender its belt in order to allow a less deserving contender to fight for it. Terence Crawford dropped the IBF welterweight title. Oleksandr Usyk gave up the IBF heavyweight title. And Canelo Alvarez gave up the IBF super middleweight title so, of course, William Scull could win it.
Elite champions need to remain active and defend their titles regularly, but they should not be mandated to give opportunities to unqualified or second-rate challengers.
Olivieri said the WBO is committed to doing things the right way.
Actions speak louder than words, of course, and we'll see how the WBO acts over time during his presidency. But it's an encouraging start for the organization's new leader, and it could help take boxing in a new direction.
He said he's been meeting with his colleagues at the head of the other sanctioning bodies -- Mauricio Sulaiman at the WBC, Gilberto Mendoza Jr. at the WBA and Daryl Peoples at the IBF -- to try to work out some of the issues that each of the groups have in common.
Maybe he can create an acronym -- Make Boxing Great Again -- that will showcase his efforts at reform. Whatever he chooses to do, the first 100 days of Olivieri's leadership of the WBO have been highly encouraging. Hopefully it will lead to positive change in a sport that badly needs it.