Tweet
While I agree that boxing could use 1 champion, I decided to take some time to see how the Sanctioning bodies are doing relative to each other. I put a lot of thought into these rankings and am curious to see how you guys respond. I will go division by division for each organization to make my point.
1) World Boxing Organization
While the WBO is in no way perfect, it is currently the best of the Sanctioning Bodies, its mandatories have been solid and entertaining, and their champs have been able to keep their belts.
Heavyweight
Champ: Wladimir Klitschko
Their rankings actually make sense at heavyweight with Dimitrenko as the top contender followed by Haye,Arreola,and Povetkin--all fights people want to see. Good to see they are recovering from their mismandatory of Tony Thompson. As can be seen, their champ is the #1 heavyweight.
Cruiserweight
Interim Champ: Victor Ramirez
Ramirez will fight Maccarilnelli for the vacant title in March. The interim bout was not as ****** as some make it out to be as the WBO was allowing #2 contender Alexander Alexseev to fight while #1 Jonathan Banks may not be interested in fighting for the WBO crown. #7 Ramirez turned out to be a game contender and won the belt.
Light Heavyweight
Champ:Zsolt Erdei
Erdei has had to fight no one, which is sad, but he is the lineal champ. Their ratings make some sense w/ Hopkins at 1 and Johnson at 3. #2 Kuziemski is their Continental Champion, and he may be solid as they have a nice track record of finding good European fighters no one has heard of.
Super Middleweight
Champ: Karoly Balzsay
Balzsay fought Inkin in what was a solid fight for their interim belt. Balzsay appears to be one of the best super-middleweights in the world and props to the WBO for finding him for the fight. Their rankings follow with the next best 3 guys Andre Dirrell, Andre Ward, and Jermain Taylor. Good job here
Middleweight
Champ:Kelly Pavlik
Another solid champion. #1 Sebastian Zbik(25-0 9 KOs) has some impressive wins(wide UDs) against some okay competition and is their intercontinental champ. Duddy is #2,Rubio #3
Jr. Middleweight
Champ:Sergeii Dzinziruk
Interim:Paul Williams
The #1 and #2 Jr Middleweights in the world are WBO champs. Making Paul Williams interim champ is deserving because he was their 147 champ and no one would fight him. Angulo is the #1 contender followed by Lukas Konecny(Lost a close decision to the champ), Kirkland and Joe Greene
Welterweight
The best welterweight contender Miguel Cotto fights #3 Michael Jennings for the vacant belt. It isnt as bad as it seems. Behind #2 Mosley,Collazo,and Cintron who were all locked up in other engagements, there isnt much to separate the contenders at WW.Soto Karaas,Jackiewicz,and Decaire are rightfully 4,5,and 6. Collazo should be higher than 10!
Jr Welterweight
Champ:Kendall Holt
They treated us to the 2 exciting Holt-Torres matches and Holt will fight Bradley for the belt in April. Hatton is rated #1 correctly. #2 Willy Blain (20-0 3 KOs) is the Intercontinental champ who has faced solid competition. Lamaont Peterson, Victor Ortiz and AlexDeJesus follow. Witter and Devon Alexander rated too low.
Lightweight
Champ:Nate Campbell
Great champ. Barrera may be too high at #1 but they have Juan Manuel Marquez at #2. Following Marquez their rankings seem solid(Juan Diaz,Anthony Peterson,Funeka,Katsidis,Prescott,Guzman,Khan).
Jr Lightweight
Champ:Nicky Cook
Putting on a great fight with undefeated Roman Martinez March 14th. Doing a great job there
Featherweight
Champ:Steve Luevano
Solid champ. Santiago should be higher than #7. Rankings look okay in a shallow division behind the champs.
Jr Bantamweight
Champ:Juanma Lopez
Top 3 look good(Marquez,Ponce De Leon,Conception). Gonzalez nowhere to be seen? Overall solid job here
(Will not comment below 122)
Great group of champs, no fighters have been forced to vacate to take a solid fight, and as bad as the sanctioning bodies have been, the WBO appears to be doing a very good job. I can acknowledge any WBO championship as solid, now lets see Erdei fight someone and press the issue of Williams fighting the champ or strip him. That fight should be happening in April.
#2 WBC
The WBC has some solid champs and has put together a few good championship fights, but puts collecting sanctioning fees a bit too high on its priority list. Berto recieved the Welterweight title against a nobody and Masakev somehow got a title shot. Its champs and rankings are better than the IBF, putting it at #2.
Heavyweight
Champ:Vitali Klitschko
Organization nicely required Peter to fight Klitschko for the belt. Now it has 2 questionable mandatories lined up(Carlos Gomez,Masakev) that take away from whatever positive was done earlier.
Cruiserweight
Champ:Giacobbe Fragomeni
Earned title in a solid fight with an undefeated Kraj. Ratings below seem reasonable.
Light-Heavyweight
Champ:Adrian Diaconu
Put on a solid title fight w/ Henry, but should not have stripped Dawson of the title before a unification w/ Tarver. The fight w/ Henry should have been for the interim title instead. After Silvio Branco, the WBC will give Glen Johnson a title fight he deserves.
Super Middleweight
Champ:Carl Froch
Put on a fight of the year candidate for the vacant title and have Jermain Taylor as the #1 contender. Everything in this weight class looks good, especially is Dirrell becomes the #1 contender after Taylor does not take the fight.
Middleweight
Champ:Kelly Pavlik
#1 MW is their champion. Requiring a solid mandatory w/ Rubio and ratings below make sense
Jr Middleweight
Champ:Vernon Forrest
Interim Champ:Sergio Martinez
Martinez proved to be worthy of the title vs Buenma and it appears that Forrest will never actually fight Sergio so they may as well strip him. Rankings arent awful and Angulo and Mayorga will fight to be the mandatory on February 14th.
Welterweight
Champ:Andre Berto
Put on a solid title fight w/ Collazo, making up for the nothing opponent Berto fought for the vacant title. Rankings below Collazo look good
Jr Welterweight
Champ:Timothy Bradley
Solid champ and the organization is doing the right thing by allowing him to unify w/ Holt. He will face the winner of a solid interim title bout of #1 Devon Alexander and #2 Junior Witter
Lightweight
#1 Edwin Valero will fight #2 Antonio Pitalua for the title. All looks good here.
Jr Lightweight
Good champ in Humberto Soto. Rankings in this division are much better than the IBF and WBA.
Featherweight
Champ:Oscar Larios
Rankings look good below Larios, every thing is solid here.
Jr Bantamweight
Question the stripping for Vazquez to champ emeritus, but the rankings look fine.
#3 International Boxing Federation
The IBF has some solid champions and a good system for choosing mandatories. This system allowed Librado Andrade and Nate Campbell to deservingly fight for titles and Povetkin to be #1 of the heavyweights. However, the IBF has poorly stripped titles(Malinaggi for fighting Hatton, Margarito for fighting Cotto, and Phillips for fighting Williams). Its rules are great, but in certain cases, they have to be able to adjust their rankings and push back mandatories for a better fight. If it could correct the above issue, it could move to #2.
Heavyweight
Champ:Wladimir Kiltschko
#1 Heavyweight in the world is their champ. Povetkin and Arreola earned 1 and 2 ratings in eliminators. Dimitrenko at #3
Cruiserweight
Champ:Tomasz Adamek
Also Ring and lineal champ. Flores, Huck, and Wlodarczyk held spots behind Adamek which makes sense.
Light Heavyweight
Champ:Chad Dawson
Best of the 4 light-heavy champs. Cloud received #1 spot in eliminator. Woods,Tarver,Johnson, and Chris Henry follow.
Super Middleweight
Champ:Lucian Bute
Set up a good mandatory for Bute w/ Andrade who will fight again in an eliminator. Berrio recieves questionably high ranking.
Middleweight
Champ:Arthur Abraham
King Arthur has proved worthy of being called a champion. Havent heard of any one of their contenders, but there arent many of note at 160. Gevor at #3 makes some sense
Jr. Middleweight
Can't figure out how Williams-Phillips is less deserving of the title than Spinks(who lost to Phillips)-Latimore. Ratings are solid though.
Welterweight
Correctly gave Colttey a title shot, but it should have been against Margarito after the Cotto fight instead of against Judah. How Hlatshwayo gets a mandatory I do not understand. Cintron backed out! Force Hlatshwayo to fight his rematch before he fights Clottey as mandatory!
Jr Welterweight
Another small mess. Pretty poor rankings and making Malignaggi vacate for a Hatton fight is ridiculous in favor of Urango(who lost to Hatton)-Nduojo(who lost to Malignaggi). Can someone explain that?
Lightweight
Champ:Nate Campbell
Correctly made Campbell mandatory and put together an interesting defense w/ Funeka. Rankings make some sense, but not as good as WBO.
Jr Lightweight
Champ:Cassius Baloyi
Havent seen him but he is rated #1 by boxrec. 130 is a very shallow division.
Featherweight
Champ:Cristobal Cruz
Interesting no name title fight w/ Salido. I have seen better.
Super Bantamweight
Champ: Celestino Caballero
Good champ but we will see if #1 contender Jeffery Mathebula is worthy of the fight. Appears to be a ridiculous mismandatory.
The IBF is slightly better than the WBC because it has no super champs. However, its stripping of titles has been highly questionable, and it could occasionally use an interim title. It also seems to favor South Africans for whatever reason. Mathebula and Hlatshwayo do not deserve to be mandatories.
Continued on 2nd post below
1) World Boxing Organization
While the WBO is in no way perfect, it is currently the best of the Sanctioning Bodies, its mandatories have been solid and entertaining, and their champs have been able to keep their belts.
Heavyweight
Champ: Wladimir Klitschko
Their rankings actually make sense at heavyweight with Dimitrenko as the top contender followed by Haye,Arreola,and Povetkin--all fights people want to see. Good to see they are recovering from their mismandatory of Tony Thompson. As can be seen, their champ is the #1 heavyweight.
Cruiserweight
Interim Champ: Victor Ramirez
Ramirez will fight Maccarilnelli for the vacant title in March. The interim bout was not as ****** as some make it out to be as the WBO was allowing #2 contender Alexander Alexseev to fight while #1 Jonathan Banks may not be interested in fighting for the WBO crown. #7 Ramirez turned out to be a game contender and won the belt.
Light Heavyweight
Champ:Zsolt Erdei
Erdei has had to fight no one, which is sad, but he is the lineal champ. Their ratings make some sense w/ Hopkins at 1 and Johnson at 3. #2 Kuziemski is their Continental Champion, and he may be solid as they have a nice track record of finding good European fighters no one has heard of.
Super Middleweight
Champ: Karoly Balzsay
Balzsay fought Inkin in what was a solid fight for their interim belt. Balzsay appears to be one of the best super-middleweights in the world and props to the WBO for finding him for the fight. Their rankings follow with the next best 3 guys Andre Dirrell, Andre Ward, and Jermain Taylor. Good job here
Middleweight
Champ:Kelly Pavlik
Another solid champion. #1 Sebastian Zbik(25-0 9 KOs) has some impressive wins(wide UDs) against some okay competition and is their intercontinental champ. Duddy is #2,Rubio #3
Jr. Middleweight
Champ:Sergeii Dzinziruk
Interim:Paul Williams
The #1 and #2 Jr Middleweights in the world are WBO champs. Making Paul Williams interim champ is deserving because he was their 147 champ and no one would fight him. Angulo is the #1 contender followed by Lukas Konecny(Lost a close decision to the champ), Kirkland and Joe Greene
Welterweight
The best welterweight contender Miguel Cotto fights #3 Michael Jennings for the vacant belt. It isnt as bad as it seems. Behind #2 Mosley,Collazo,and Cintron who were all locked up in other engagements, there isnt much to separate the contenders at WW.Soto Karaas,Jackiewicz,and Decaire are rightfully 4,5,and 6. Collazo should be higher than 10!
Jr Welterweight
Champ:Kendall Holt
They treated us to the 2 exciting Holt-Torres matches and Holt will fight Bradley for the belt in April. Hatton is rated #1 correctly. #2 Willy Blain (20-0 3 KOs) is the Intercontinental champ who has faced solid competition. Lamaont Peterson, Victor Ortiz and AlexDeJesus follow. Witter and Devon Alexander rated too low.
Lightweight
Champ:Nate Campbell
Great champ. Barrera may be too high at #1 but they have Juan Manuel Marquez at #2. Following Marquez their rankings seem solid(Juan Diaz,Anthony Peterson,Funeka,Katsidis,Prescott,Guzman,Khan).
Jr Lightweight
Champ:Nicky Cook
Putting on a great fight with undefeated Roman Martinez March 14th. Doing a great job there
Featherweight
Champ:Steve Luevano
Solid champ. Santiago should be higher than #7. Rankings look okay in a shallow division behind the champs.
Jr Bantamweight
Champ:Juanma Lopez
Top 3 look good(Marquez,Ponce De Leon,Conception). Gonzalez nowhere to be seen? Overall solid job here
(Will not comment below 122)
Great group of champs, no fighters have been forced to vacate to take a solid fight, and as bad as the sanctioning bodies have been, the WBO appears to be doing a very good job. I can acknowledge any WBO championship as solid, now lets see Erdei fight someone and press the issue of Williams fighting the champ or strip him. That fight should be happening in April.
#2 WBC
The WBC has some solid champs and has put together a few good championship fights, but puts collecting sanctioning fees a bit too high on its priority list. Berto recieved the Welterweight title against a nobody and Masakev somehow got a title shot. Its champs and rankings are better than the IBF, putting it at #2.
Heavyweight
Champ:Vitali Klitschko
Organization nicely required Peter to fight Klitschko for the belt. Now it has 2 questionable mandatories lined up(Carlos Gomez,Masakev) that take away from whatever positive was done earlier.
Cruiserweight
Champ:Giacobbe Fragomeni
Earned title in a solid fight with an undefeated Kraj. Ratings below seem reasonable.
Light-Heavyweight
Champ:Adrian Diaconu
Put on a solid title fight w/ Henry, but should not have stripped Dawson of the title before a unification w/ Tarver. The fight w/ Henry should have been for the interim title instead. After Silvio Branco, the WBC will give Glen Johnson a title fight he deserves.
Super Middleweight
Champ:Carl Froch
Put on a fight of the year candidate for the vacant title and have Jermain Taylor as the #1 contender. Everything in this weight class looks good, especially is Dirrell becomes the #1 contender after Taylor does not take the fight.
Middleweight
Champ:Kelly Pavlik
#1 MW is their champion. Requiring a solid mandatory w/ Rubio and ratings below make sense
Jr Middleweight
Champ:Vernon Forrest
Interim Champ:Sergio Martinez
Martinez proved to be worthy of the title vs Buenma and it appears that Forrest will never actually fight Sergio so they may as well strip him. Rankings arent awful and Angulo and Mayorga will fight to be the mandatory on February 14th.
Welterweight
Champ:Andre Berto
Put on a solid title fight w/ Collazo, making up for the nothing opponent Berto fought for the vacant title. Rankings below Collazo look good
Jr Welterweight
Champ:Timothy Bradley
Solid champ and the organization is doing the right thing by allowing him to unify w/ Holt. He will face the winner of a solid interim title bout of #1 Devon Alexander and #2 Junior Witter
Lightweight
#1 Edwin Valero will fight #2 Antonio Pitalua for the title. All looks good here.
Jr Lightweight
Good champ in Humberto Soto. Rankings in this division are much better than the IBF and WBA.
Featherweight
Champ:Oscar Larios
Rankings look good below Larios, every thing is solid here.
Jr Bantamweight
Question the stripping for Vazquez to champ emeritus, but the rankings look fine.
#3 International Boxing Federation
The IBF has some solid champions and a good system for choosing mandatories. This system allowed Librado Andrade and Nate Campbell to deservingly fight for titles and Povetkin to be #1 of the heavyweights. However, the IBF has poorly stripped titles(Malinaggi for fighting Hatton, Margarito for fighting Cotto, and Phillips for fighting Williams). Its rules are great, but in certain cases, they have to be able to adjust their rankings and push back mandatories for a better fight. If it could correct the above issue, it could move to #2.
Heavyweight
Champ:Wladimir Kiltschko
#1 Heavyweight in the world is their champ. Povetkin and Arreola earned 1 and 2 ratings in eliminators. Dimitrenko at #3
Cruiserweight
Champ:Tomasz Adamek
Also Ring and lineal champ. Flores, Huck, and Wlodarczyk held spots behind Adamek which makes sense.
Light Heavyweight
Champ:Chad Dawson
Best of the 4 light-heavy champs. Cloud received #1 spot in eliminator. Woods,Tarver,Johnson, and Chris Henry follow.
Super Middleweight
Champ:Lucian Bute
Set up a good mandatory for Bute w/ Andrade who will fight again in an eliminator. Berrio recieves questionably high ranking.
Middleweight
Champ:Arthur Abraham
King Arthur has proved worthy of being called a champion. Havent heard of any one of their contenders, but there arent many of note at 160. Gevor at #3 makes some sense
Jr. Middleweight
Can't figure out how Williams-Phillips is less deserving of the title than Spinks(who lost to Phillips)-Latimore. Ratings are solid though.
Welterweight
Correctly gave Colttey a title shot, but it should have been against Margarito after the Cotto fight instead of against Judah. How Hlatshwayo gets a mandatory I do not understand. Cintron backed out! Force Hlatshwayo to fight his rematch before he fights Clottey as mandatory!
Jr Welterweight
Another small mess. Pretty poor rankings and making Malignaggi vacate for a Hatton fight is ridiculous in favor of Urango(who lost to Hatton)-Nduojo(who lost to Malignaggi). Can someone explain that?
Lightweight
Champ:Nate Campbell
Correctly made Campbell mandatory and put together an interesting defense w/ Funeka. Rankings make some sense, but not as good as WBO.
Jr Lightweight
Champ:Cassius Baloyi
Havent seen him but he is rated #1 by boxrec. 130 is a very shallow division.
Featherweight
Champ:Cristobal Cruz
Interesting no name title fight w/ Salido. I have seen better.
Super Bantamweight
Champ: Celestino Caballero
Good champ but we will see if #1 contender Jeffery Mathebula is worthy of the fight. Appears to be a ridiculous mismandatory.
The IBF is slightly better than the WBC because it has no super champs. However, its stripping of titles has been highly questionable, and it could occasionally use an interim title. It also seems to favor South Africans for whatever reason. Mathebula and Hlatshwayo do not deserve to be mandatories.
Continued on 2nd post below
aniel Santos
Comment