WBA ranks a dead boxer as 11th in the world (no, seriously)

In a story covered by ESPN's senior boxing man Dan Rafael, the somewhat-eccentric nature of the many governing bodies to preside over the polarising sport reached a whole new level.

We'll let Mr. Rafael take it from here - and, it goes without saying, these are his words:

"The WBA has hit a new low," he said on the ESPN website.

"It might sound impossible for an organization that has done so much damage to boxing, but it's true, even for an alphabet body that, between its so-called "super" titleholders, regular titleholders and interim titleholders, currently recognizes 41 belt holders in 17 weight classes (not including "champions in recess"). But the World Boxing Association loves all those sanctioning fees, and fighters rarely turn down a chance to win a belt, no matter how scrubby it is.

"In the WBA's latest divisional rankings, which were published on Friday and include results through June 4, Ali Raymi (25-0, 25 KOs) is rated as the No. 11 junior flyweight in the world.

"He should not be ranked that high. In fact, he should not be ranked at all."

Indeed, Ramyi sadly passed away on May 23, reportedly due to an explosion caused by an air strike in Yemeni campital Sana'a. Almost a fortnight later, the WBA awarded him the world #11 ranking.

Raymi was 41 and began his career with 21 consecutive knockouts, all in the first round.

Impressive? Well, not really: not a single one of these wins came against anyone that even diehard boxing fans had heard of, and they all took place inside his home country - far from a fighting hotbed, with all due respect.

It gets even better: he fought four times in 2014 - all of them against the same opponent.

His four-time foe was a nobody by the name of Prince Maz. It must take some close, inconclusive boxing to require three rematches, right?

Actually, Raymi won all of them by knockout.

Rafael is not a fan of the various boxing bodies, particularly the WBA and WBC. In fairness, morbid situations like this make it easy to see why he, and many other boxing fans, regard them as lacking any integrity or credibility whatsoever.