sanction the fight at Haglers preferred limit of fifteen rounds, but then made another U-turn when he was informed that the USBA-I would be appointing the fight officials. Frank Cappuccino, the referee, and one of the judges,Joe Cortez, were not members of the WBC.
“We can only sanction a fight where the rules are obeyed,” Sulaiman would say.
Fifteen rounds were not needed as Hagler punished the challenger in four rounds to defend his new title. Neither the WBA or WBC would strip him, and Hagler would go on to defend all three titles another five times.
The USBA-I were about to get an even bigger push for true credibility alongside the WBA & WBC when long reigning Heavyweight Champion Larry Holmes was due to defend his WBC title against the son of the legendary ‘Smokin’ Joe Frazier;
was due to defend his WBC title against Marvin Frazier - son of the legendary ‘Smokin’ Joe Frazier - in October 1983. The WBC, not happy with the opponent, decided they wouldn’t sanction the fight. This annoyed Holmes – in what should have been his seventeenth defense of the WBC title he had defended with pride – so much that he vacated the belt, and he is then honored by the USBA-I – who are now calling themselves the International Boxing Federation (IBF) – as their Heavyweight Champion.
Holmes first defense of his new IBF title is against James Smith and, in that instant, the fledgling USBA-I/IBF are now seen as a legitimate organization to rival the WBA & the WBC.
Tim Witherspoon would go on to face Greg Page for the now vacant WBC title, but it didn’t really matter because the man recognized by fans around
7 the nuthouse