Last Friday Night Fights, Brian Kenny and I tried to squeeze in mention of the ruling from the United States District Court in Manhattan against a certain sanctioning body that I love to hate. We were rushed for time and did not get to cover the story the way we would have liked. With our producer counting down seconds in our ears, Brian quickly quoted a sentence or two from Scott Shaffer's article from Fightnews.com about the ruling, I made some unintelligible comment, and then we said goodbye.

Pity, because here is how we wanted the segment to work: Brian was supposed to read the judge's ruling, citing some of his more hilarious findings (which I will quote in a minute), I would respond with a hearty laugh at the expense of Jose Sulaiman and his ridiculous organization, Brian or I would credit Scott with the story, and we would say goodbye.

The thing about wrapping a studio element around a live event, as we do on FNF, is that the amount of time we have for our segments depends on whether or not fights go the distance, the number of rounds those fights are scheduled for, and a host of other factors that are not always under our control. So we were not able to cover the ruling that awarded nearly $30 million to long-time light heavyweight Graciano Rocchigiani.

As a rule, I simply ignore the preposterous sanctioning bodies. In this case, however, I must refer to one of them - but only in order to mock it.

The jist of Shaffer's story is that a while back Roy Jones Jr. vacated his 175-pound title to move to heavyweight. Rocchigiani beat Michael Nunn for the vacant WBC belt. Then Roy decided to stay at light heavy instead of moving up, and the WBC gave him his belt back. Sulaiman then claimed that the belt Rocchigiani had won was simply one of the "interim" variety.

Shaffer goes over all of this on fightnews. I recommend you check it out for yourself, but here are some of the highlights Brian and I tried to get on the air:

Sulaiman testified under oath ... that his organization's listing of Rocchigiani as champion in three sets of ratings was just a typographical error ... The evidence shows that he [Sulaiman] wrote several congratulatory letters that referred to Rocchigiani as the world champion...

A typographical error in three sets of ratings? A congratulatory note? And Sulaiman makes his denials with a straight face!

Remember Nathan Therm, that Martin Short character on Saturday Night Live in the 1980's? Therm was always sweating, nervously puffing a cigarette, while being interviewed about something for which he or the people he represented were busted red handed. He would always try to weasel his way out of it, no matter how much evidence of his guilt was staring him in the face.

Shaffer ends his story by quoting Judge Richard Owen's decision: "...there can be no mistake regarding what was meant by the words 'WBC World Championship bout of Lightheavyweight 175 pounds." I mean, it reads like comedy.

The head of the IBF, Bob Lee was caught on video tape taking a bribe for a rating. The WBC is a long running joke -- this Rocchigiani business is just the latest punchline. And in recent years the WBA, with rankings so horrible that the people responsible for them are either profoundly stupid or blatantly corrupt, has been the worst of the Big Three.

I wonder what Judge Owen would have to say about the WBA's concept of "super champion." A super champion is someone who possesses both the WBA's belt and then wins another sanctioning body's belt. Had Roy Jones, when he fought at 168 pounds, won the WBA belt, he would have been the super middleweight super champion. Dumb enough? How about this: once someone is designated "super champion," the WBA title in that weight class becomes vacant, and is eventually won by someone who is then recognized as champion in the weight class.

Diobelys Hurtado knocked out Randall Bailey for the WBA junior welterweight belt. Hurtado is now the WBA junior welterweight champion. Kostya Tszyu, who was the WBC belt holder, stopped Sharmba Mitchell, who held the WBC belt. Tszyu therefore became the WBA junior welterweight super champion. So if I were to try to identify the WBA junior welterweight champion to a casual sports fan, who exactly would I identify?

If the answer to that question according to the WBA's logic is "Diobelys Hurtado," then what exactly, according to the WBA, does the distinction "champion" mean? Certainly not "the fighter who proved himself the best at his weight," nor "the fighter who beat the man who was the champion." No, according to the logic of the WBA, to be a champion of a weight class is to win a fight that establishes you as the second-best fighter in the division. Idiotic.

Interim, super, junior, WBA, WBC IBF, IBA, WBO, WBF, IBC etc. All insignificant. If you want to know who is champion, open a Ring Magazine. The real champions are those recognized by The Ring. I listed them in my last column.

Max Kellerman is a studio analyst for ESPN2's Friday Night Fights.