And now a little common sense from the prudent folks at the IBF ...

(Enter rim shot, double take or gag reflex here.)

It seems a dunderhead by the name of Anthony Mundine recently made some rather moronic comments regarding the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Mundine, an Australian Muslim who also happens to be a world-ranked super middleweight, basically said the U.S. had it coming.

Not smart. In fact, people who say things like that in such a politically-charged atmosphere generally qualify for admission to an institution where the big event of the day is a Parcheesi game before nappy time.

But do opinions like Mundine's warrant the erasure of his professional livelihood? Sorry, but no. Mundine is free to express himself, no matter how asinine his perspective. The acceptable response here is for fans to refuse to watch him fight. It would be boxing's democratic way of expressing itself in return.

If the WBC felt he was talented enough to be ranked on boxing merit, then he should stay there.

Kind of like O.J. Simpson in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

The WBC, however, has stripped Mundine of his ranking. He was rated 26th by the Mexico-based sanctioning body, but now he is indefinitely eliminated from its list of contenders.

"The World Boxing Council read with stupefaction the statements made recently by Australian boxer Anthony Mundine justifying the terrorist attacks and the consequent deaths of so many innocent victims," a WBC e-mail read.

"Stupefaction." This is proof WBC president Jose Sulaiman has gotten too close to Don King.

The WBC has a right to be upset at Mundine's words. But its decision to punish him is unfair in principle -- as undeserved as Muhammad Ali losing his heavyweight title for refusing to fight in Vietnam. Mundine, coincidentally, became a Muslim to emulate Ali.

What makes the WBC's move totally ludicrous is the organization's reasoning, stating it did so "since such statements are unbelievable and intolerable and seriously hurt world society and boxing. THE WBC WILL NOT TOLERATE THE UTILIZATION OF A POSITION IN BOXING TO MAKE SUCH ABSURD AND DENIGRATING PUBLIC STATEMENTS."

The all-caps was the WBC's touch, not mine.

But there's more to its explanation. Take a gander at this:

"Article V.2 of the WBC Constitution expressly states that, 'The WBC shall have the right to suspend for a definite or indefinite period of time or, depending upon the circumstances, expel, impose a fine or otherwise penalize any member of any committee or subcommittee of the WBC, any boxer, promoter, matchmaker, manager or any other person or organization participating in the WBC activities, if such person or organization acts in any other manner which tends to bring disrepute upon the WBC, its officers or the sport of boxing.'"

	Pound for pound list
	ESPN.com boxing writer Tim Graham's top 15: 1. Bernard Hopkins 2. Shane Mosley 3. Roy Jones 4. Marco Antonio Barrera 5. Floyd Mayweather 6. Oscar De La Hoya 7. Kostya Tszyu 8. Erik Morales 9. Zab Judah 10. Felix Trinidad 11. Fernando Vargas 12. Lennox Lewis 13. Tim Austin 14. Paulie Ayala 15. Naseem Hamed

My eyeballs rolled right out my skull when I read that. In fact, I'm writing this story right now only by the grace of high school typing lessons because I can't see my keyboard or my monitor.

The WBC apparently is just as blind. If it followed the letter of its own proviso it might not have any employees left since many boxing observers view the entire organization as hopelessly disreputable.

Does the WBC not realize its own hypocrisy? The WBC has defiled, desecrated and corrupted the above paragraph more times in the past year than Cedric Kushner ate Kentucky Fried Chicken.

The WBC continues to do business with promoters who have admitted committing fraud and bribery.

Its No. 1 heavyweight is Mike Tyson, a convicted rapist who bit off a piece of Evander Holyfield's flesh and spat it onto the canvas.

Its No. 8 super lightweight is Ray Oliveira, who has been jailed three times for beating women.

Its rankings are rife with recovering drug addicts, alcoholics and assorted ex-cons.

And let's not forget an unmistakably washed-up Julio Cesar Chavez being ranked No. 1 last year even though he was coming off an embarrassing loss to erstwhile pet food salesman Willy Wise. Sulaiman offered no apologies to myriad critics and clearly cared very little about Chavez's well-being when he handed the old warrior a title shot against Kostya Tszyu. Chavez, too proud or too desperate to turn down the opportunity, was subsequently destroyed.

In regard to Mundine, the WBC is merely exploiting passionate public opinion for its own sensationalistic self-promotion. Sulaiman pulled a similar publicity stunt in 1994 when he presented one-time middleweight contender and convicted triple-murderer Rubin Carter with a championship belt upon the Hurricane's much-ballyhooed release from prison. Why? Because it was a great way for Sulaiman to piggyback a hot topic and jockey himself into the spotlight.

Heaven forbid the WBC legitimately enhance boxing's credibility by weeding out the slime balls not only in its ratings but in its own house, or by praising the unsung fighters who aren't the subject of popular Bob Dylan songs.

Strangely enough, the scandal-stained IBF has emerged as a voice of reason. Mundine, who has profusely apologized for his half-witted remarks, is scheduled to fight Sven Ottke for the IBF super middleweight title Dec. 1 in Germany.

New IBF president Marian Muhammad, who was raised Muslim but converted to Christianity in 1995, compared Mundine's comments to Tyson's infamous line about wanting to eat Lennox Lewis' children

"(Tyson) made some statements that were unbecoming for a potential champion against Lennox Lewis," Muhammad said.

"We are not going to sit here and try to judge what kind of a person (Mundine) is or is not because of what he thinks he believes because I think they are uninformed comments. But ... I don't understand what the politics or his religion has to do with the sport of boxing at all."

Her point was worth repeating Thursday to the Associated Press: "I'm not going to mix religion and politics with boxing."

Well said.

Mundine, since he models himself after Ali, has shot off his mouth before. Last Friday, the day before facing Guy Waters in Sydney, Mundine said "I'm in kill mode. I'm in the frame of mind where if I could kill him in the ring, I would." After he knocked out Waters to raise his record to 10-0 with 8 KOs, Mundine made a throat-slash gesture.

His morbid expressions were highly controversial in Australia, a country whose boxing community is still recovering from the April 6 death of Ahmed Popal. But Mundine's "kill" comment was quickly forgotten a few days later when he ignited a new, more powerful storm.

No doubt, Mundine is a dunce.

But the man has a right to speak his mind, however, addled it might be.

ESPN.com boxing writer Tim Graham covers boxing for The Buffalo News and The Ring Magazine, and formerly wrote for the Las Vegas Sun.