:format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/66966668/992223014.jpg.0.jpg)
Boxing’s dumbest title fight may finally be dead in the water. WBA “world” champion Mahmoud Charr, who’s been linked to a match with interim champ Trevor Bryan for more than a year, has signed with promoter Erol Ceylan and wants a crack at both Andy Ruiz Jr. and Tyson Fury.
The Charr (31-4, 17 KO) Saga has been a truly engrossing trainwreck. Three fights after getting obliterated by Mairis Briedis despite a >30-pound weight advantage, he took a 2017 decision over Alexander Ustinov that the WBA decided to treat as a vacant title fight, setting up a clash with Fres Oquendo.
Then Charr failed a drug test. Then Oquendo decided not to fight. Then began the Bryan Arc, which looked poised for completion when Don King put up a $2,000,000 purse bid in March. It’s unclear how exactly it tanked for good, but the coronavirus and King not having the money seem like equally likely contenders.
In any event, Charr turns 36 in October and poses no ostensible threat to the heavyweight elite. I would, however, pay good money to see Ceylan try and use Charr’s championship status to derail the planned Tyson Fury-Anthony Joshua undisputed scrap.