WBC makes Toney mandatory in bizarre ruling

Do you want to know how much the WBC's heavyweight ratings are worth? Just take a gander at their latest stunt that pushes James Toney up to the next mandatory position. Toney, who in the latest ratings listed on the WBC’s website (Sept. 2005), is the number five contender, suddenly, without having lifted a finger, moved from that position to number one and mandatory as a challenger to newly crowned Hasim Rahman. Consider that in the same ratings Sinan Samil Sam was number one and Oleg Maskaev was number two. Maskaev won a decision over Sam on November 12th, in what should have made him the next mandatory as it was billed an eliminator. (Of course we all realize that neither Sam nor Maskaev should have held such lofty ratings – but that’s what the WBC listed). Further consider, that number four-ranked Oliver McCall lost a decision to number eight-ranked Juan Carlos Gomez on October 15th in a bout that may have also been billed as some type of eliminator. Finally consider that number-three ranked Wladimir Klitschko defeated the tough and undefeated and number seven-ranked Samuel Peter on September 24th.