By Alphonso Costello

Photo © Ed Mulholland/FightWireImages.com

Nobody likes to be told what to do, unless your initials are GWB and your strings are pulled by a guy named Dick.

Yet, in the world of boxing every fighter looking for “championship” gold allows the alphabet soup organizations to authoritatively order championship matches or title eliminators against undeserving opponents.

Over the next two months a minimum of six mandatory title defenses will be made by alphabet soup champions such as Wladimir Klitschko, Nikolai Valuev and Miguel Cotto.

The sanctioning bodies prevent the most attractive fights from taking place and disrupt the careers of these hard working fighters.

Sanctioning bodies damage and prevent boxing from flourishing into the popular, mainstream sport that it was only 35 years ago.

The men that control the sport today also control the future. So, what will this sport be like in another 35 years?

Will mandatory title defenses and sanctioning bodies still be around? Or will Vince McMahon be boxing’s commissioner?

STRIP PARTY

Joel Casamayor was unjustly stripped of his WBC lightweight title while he was in negotiations to fight WBO titleholder Acelino Freitas. When the Freitas fight fell through, Casamayor found himself without an opponent and a dung colored championship belt.

The WBC interim titleholder and mandatory challenger David Diaz was evaluated to champion status and may defend his newly awarded title against Mexican legend Erik Morales.

Perhaps, the WBC’s political debauchery involving Casamayor’s title was Jose Sulaiman’s farewell gift to Erik Morales.

Speaking of gifts, Ricky Hatton relinquished his IBF junior welterweight title a few weeks after recapturing it against Juan Urango. The IBF promptly awarded the vacated title to its mandatory challenger Lovemore N’dou.

The IBF refused to sanction Hatton’s June title defense against Jose Luis Castillo and ordered Hatton to defend the gold trinket against N’dou.

Hatton refused the alphabet bully’s mandate and agreed to face the undisputed king of Mexicali Jose Luis Castillo.

THE LAUGH FACTORY

The clock is ticking for perennial lightweight title contender Nate Campbell. In ESPN’s Friday Night Fights main event Campbell (29-5-1, 24 KO’s) will take on Ricky Quiles in an IBF title eliminator.

This will be Campbell’s third consecutive IBF title eliminating fight and his sixth overall. Campbell, 34, is a talented boxer with limited concentration skills and one has to wonder how many more chances he will get to win an alphabet championship.

On the other hand, Quiles (39-7-3, 8 KO’s) gets another opportunity to become a mandatory championship challenger. The 36-year old southpaw has a solid résumé, but others deserve a chance at winning some alphabet gold.

Nevertheless, Campbell-Quiles should be an entertaining scrap and don’t be surprised to see some unintentional comedy along the way.

MEDIOCORE SATURDAY

On the eve of the most overrated game in sports, Showtime presented Don King’s “Super Saturday” fight card. This was supposed to be an entertaining and explosive night of championship boxing. Instead fight fans were treated to a super dud.

The lightweight title clash between Julio Diaz and Jesus Chavez was a battle of two fierce warriors, well, at least on paper.

A physically and perhaps emotionally damaged Chavez hit the deck in the third round after his right knee went out from under him.

Although a punch didn’t cause the knock down, Diaz scored the KO victory and captured Chavez’s IBF lightweight belt.

And in the light heavyweight main event Chad Dawson defeated WBC champion Tomasz Adamek in a lopsided affair.

Dawson is a rising star in the light heavyweight division and a washed out Roy Jones Jr. would look good on his résumé right about now.

However, the true star of the night turned out to be Floyd Mayweather Sr.

The most entertaining part of the night was listening to Mayweather speak. His instructions to Dawson were muddled and one must wonder if Dawson understood a word Mayweather uttered.

The going rate for the greatest trainer in the world is $2 million a fight. I wonder if a translator’s fee is already included in the price?

LEGENDARY NAME ALERT

Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. (29-0-1, 22 KO’s) will resume his meticulous march to superstar status in a Solo Boxeo main event on March 9. His handpicked opponent will be Louis Brown (14-2, 10 KO’s).

The two blemishes on Brown’s record came against undefeated prospect Dmitriy Salita and former WBC lightweight titleholder Cesar Bazan.

One week later Solo Boxeo will televise an alphabet soup title match featuring Ricardo Castillo. The last time Castillo found himself on a Solo Boxeo main event he suffered a split decision loss to Takalani Ndlovu in an IBF super bantamweight title eliminator.

Yet, Jose Luis Castillo’s younger brother finds himself fighting for the WBA super bantamweight title against defending champion Celestino Caballero. Interestingly enough, Caballero is the only fighter to defeat the mighty Daniel Ponce De Leon.

A victory for Castillo may shed some light on his developing, but inconsistent career. If Caballero successfully defends his title he may find himself in a unification rematch against Ponce De Leon.

It’s great to see that Oliver McCall is still drawing a paycheck, ten years after his nervous breakdown against Lennox Lewis.

McCall recently defeated a 40-time loser in an eight round bout.

The former WBC heavyweight champion is 9-0 with one no contest in his last ten bouts and he’s ranked fifth by the WBC.

Not bad for a 41-year old.

Don’t be surprised to see Tommy Morrison as the IBF’s number one contender in the very near future…

Gary Stark Jr. vs. Mike Oliver is the very first candidate for screw job of the year. Oliver received a highly questionable unanimous decision victory over Stark, thus retaining his USBA super bantamweight title in controversial fashion.

However, the final punch stats tell a different story. According to CompuBox, Stark out threw and out landed Oliver in total punches and power punches. Furthermore, Stark out landed Oliver, seven rounds to four with one round even.

The outcome of this fight warrants a rematch, minus the three blind mice…

Quantity over quality isn’t always a good thing. A prime example would be the HBO Boxing After Dark telecast that emanated from the lovely Hammerstein Ballroom in New York.

Three bouts on the broadcast produced a one round blowout, a defensive chess match and a ten round sparring session.

In the opening bout Andre Berto proved why he was the unanimous choice for prospect of the year in 2006.

There is no sense in rushing Berto, he should get in a few more rounds of experience under his belt before he takes a real step up in competition.

Thirty-six year old tomato cans notwithstanding.

Immediately after Berto’s two minute workout, Ishe Smith proved why he is nothing more than a reality show participant dropping a lackluster unanimous decision to Sechew Powell.

And finally, Edner Cherry showed the boxing world how a fighter can get hit with a punch even when his opponent is moving backwards.

The power punching slugger relegated himself to gatekeeper status with his poor performance against Paul Malignaggi.

Cherry virtually lost every round on all three scorecards by following Malignaggi around the ring like a NBA groupie…

Former undisputed welterweight champion Zab Judah is on the comeback trail from his one-year suspension. Judah has agreed to fight Miguel Cotto on June 9 at Madison Square Garden.

But before that fight takes place Judah must take care of business in an April tune-up against an opponent to be announced.

Judah shouldn’t break a sweat against what is sure to be some unknown fighter with a chin made of glass. Then again, considering Judah’s lack of concentration in recent bouts, his April tune-up may not be an easy task.

On the flip side, Miguel Cotto should have an easy time dispatching Oktay Urkal in defense of his WBA welterweight title on HBO’s Saturday night broadcast.

There shouldn’t be any drama in this scheduled 12-round championship bout. Cotto should manhandle and destroy his 37-year old opponent via knockout.

Anything less from Cotto would be a disappointment.

If Shane Mosley believes he is back in his prime as a 35-year old fighter, he is sadly mistaken…

It was good to see Rocky Juarez get back on track with a win over Emmanuel Lucero. I’m quite sure his winning ways will continue for the foreseeable future.

As long as he continues to face former super bantamweight journeymen…

In the fine art of deception, Bob Arum takes the cake and eats it too. He continues to swindle the Versus network by producing substandard boxing programming that features dreary match ups and handicapped fighters.

Arum’s recent Versus boxing cards are an embarrassment to the sport, so help me Will Grigsby, Joe Mesi and Tommy Morrison…

The biggest event of the year is De La Hoya-Mayweather, but I’m not buying the hype that is leading up to the May 5 pay-per-view extravaganza.

This fight doesn’t need the added buildup.

If the sensationalistic propaganda from both camps continues at its current pace, the fight itself will not live up to the hype.

Unless, Floyd Mayweather Jr. shows up to fight and turns this spectacle into a fight of the year candidate…

Chump of the Month: West Virginia State Athletic Commission

Lax medical standards in boxing are unethical and unsafe. Allowing fighters with brain injuries and HIV to box on the same fight card is down right scary.

What’s next, granting a boxing license to a pregnant woman?

Alphonso Costello may be reached at acostello@boxingscene.com