Just when you thought the WBA couldn’t embarrass boxing any further, they hit us with this gem: Kubrat Pulev vs. Michael Hunter for the WBA “Regular” Heavyweight Title — the most meaningless belt in combat sports history. A title so useless, it might as well come with a participation ribbon and a WBA punchcard: collect five belts, get one free.
It’s being promoted by Don King.
Yes, that Don King. The legend. The fossil. The walking, talking monument to boxing’s chaos era. He’s 93 years old, probably still using AOL email and a fax machine, definitely taking calls on a landline, and running his business off a website that looks like it was built on Windows 95 during a dial-up session.
And yet?
He just dropped $1.1 million to win the purse bid.
That’s right — while other promoters are fumbling over streaming deals and NFT garbage, Don King is out here faxing bids and still getting fights made. Real G behavior.
WBA: Where Belts Are Made Up and Relevance Doesn’t Matter
The WBA continues to be a joke. They’ve got more belts than title contenders and treat sanctioning fees like a subscription plan. Super champ, regular champ, interim, gold, platinum, aluminum foil champ — whatever pays. The “Regular” title is basically the boxing equivalent of a knockoff Rolex: shiny, fake, and no one believes in it.
And yet they sanction Pulev vs. Hunter like it’s the second coming of Ali vs. Frazier. Pulev is 44 and moves like a truck in second gear. Hunter’s been floating around, half-active, half-forgotten, winning fights that generate less noise than a library.
But hey — slap a WBA belt on it and pretend it’s history. That’s the game.
Pulev vs. Hunter: Who Ordered This?
Kubrat Pulev is still here for reasons nobody can explain. He last mattered when he got bounced by Wladimir Klitschko nearly a decade ago. He’s been hanging around long enough to collect a pension, and the WBA just keeps propping him up with fake gold and soft opponents.
Michael Hunter? Solid guy, sure. But let’s not kid ourselves — he’s not headlining anything without a WBA-made title taped to his waist. His biggest achievement lately? Beating Cassius Chaney for the WBA “Gold” title — which might as well have been a belt from a cereal box.
Together, they’re fighting for a title that’s not recognized, not respected, and not even needed.
So naturally, the WBA is hyping it like it’s for world domination.
Don King: Running Boxing Like It’s 1991 — And Winning
While the rest of boxing is selling influencer fights, licking Saudi sandals for cash and begging DAZN for budget, Don King is in his own world. His website hasn’t been updated since Ask Jeeves was a thing. He probably submitted the purse bid in triplicate with a check attached.
But he won it.
Because Don King is the last real hustler in the sport.
He doesn’t need slick promos, YouTubers, or viral clips. While the rest of the sport gets lost in apps and influencers, Don King’s out here winning purse bids with faxes, floppy disks, and 3-day shipping. His office runs on paper clips, old receipts, and whatever’s playing on AM radio. And it works.
He might not know what a livestream is, but he sure knows how to get a fight made, stack a card with nobodies, and pretend it’s a world title event.
He’s not just a throwback — he’s a walking glitch in the boxing matrix.
If you told me he mailed his bid in with a VHS tape and a fruit basket, I’d believe it.
The WBA is a walking punchline. They’ve turned boxing into a belt shop, where titles mean nothing and mediocrity gets rewarded as long as someone pays the fee.
Pulev vs. Hunter is not a world title fight — it’s a retirement bout with a prop belt.
So tune in August 23, if you want to watch boxing’s most useless belt get defended by two guys with nothing left to prove — except that the WBA will sanction anything for the right price.
And through it all, Don King will be there — probably yelling into a rotary phone, waving an American flag, and proving once again that in this broken system, he’s still the smartest man in the room.