By Lyle Fitzsimmons

I used to be impressed… but now, not so much.

As a youthful political junkie living with parents who never missed a televised presidential speech, I remember thinking that the guy in charge must be saying some pretty profound stuff to be getting so many standing ovations from half the people in the room.

Looking back, I realize that just because people cheer doesn’t mean it’s warranted.

And once I realized the ridiculously scripted nature of it all – how one party would downplay a cure for cancer if the other party came up with it – I pretty much stopped paying attention.

So while I won’t be tuning in tonight when the incumbent commander in chief delivers what the other party surely hopes will be his final “State of the Union,” I’ll nonetheless cop to being swept up in the SOTU fever when it comes to concocting this week’s Tuesday nonsense.

Toward that end, I’ve done a little assessment of my own.

While trying to categorize the various emails I receive from week to week, I’ve discovered that the majority of them – or at least the ones not still ripping me for suggesting Joe Frazier was overrated – tend to echo a now ages-old harangue against sanctioning bodies.

Most, in fact, suggest that the organizations ought to be ditched as a whole, with the contention that the sport is all about the fighters – or at least the dozen or so who’ve reached superstar status – and the fighters ought to call the shots for themselves.

I don’t pretend the idea isn’t a good one in the ideal sense.

Problem is, the ideal sense doesn’t always translate to reality.

Though the top 10 or 15 in the world are indeed able to set their agendas and pick the title belts most worthy of their wardrobes, the reality remains that the vast majority of active pros – and active amateurs aspiring to be active pros – are still driven by the lure of championship status.

“Any belt is good,” said Kassim Ouma, a former one-defense IBF champion at 154 pounds with failed tries at middleweight crowns in 2006 and 2011.

And while scrapping the system indeed taps into the “off with their heads” vibe proffered by fans, doing so would eliminate the very prizes guys like Ouma and others still pursue in the shadows.

Championships, at least to the fighters, remain necessary.

If nothing else, as sort of a backstage pass to hang with the headline acts.

According to one-time heavyweight challenger Eddie Chambers, stopped in 12 by IBF/IBO/WBO champ Wladimir Klitschko two years ago, winning and holding a belt is actually the best way to gain admission to the elite club where such trinkets are no longer valued.

“I think for a fighter that is just coming up (winning a title) is important, but for an established fighter not so much," he said. "Because he is now more of a household name and therefore, a star, and (he) doesn't really need any belt to solidify him." 

It'd be better to reach a place where Chambers’ logic falls flat.

Which means perfecting the mechanism – not discarding it – is actually the most productive quest.

And that process begins and ends with rankings.

As evidenced all too frequently, the presence of the 49th- and 76th-best fighters in a given division's championship bouts – not to mention others not even included in an impartial top 100 – is proof positive that the existing structure is flawed beyond repair.

Regardless of circumstance or necessity, things like that shouldn't happen.

But short of business dissolutions in San Juan, Panama City, Mexico City and East Orange, the voluntary changes needed to prevent them are not imminent.

Instead, given their cockroach-like staying power, creating a scenario where the bodies can exist for the good of the sport is more productive than fantasizing about waking up one day with them gone.

So until that unlikely rapture comes, the rest of us need to be prepared with ideas.

Here are five of mine:

* If You Ignore it, Maybe They Won't Come After All:
Fans, analysts, countrymen... don't acknowledge anything other than the basics. Concurrent fights between contenders are just that. Not interim title fights or title eliminators. And diamonds may be a girl's best friend, but they've got no place in boxing. As for the media, anyone acknowledging such imposters should be subject to permanent credential suspension.

* A Common Set of Rankings:
Rather than a half-dozen groups with a half-dozen top 20s, how about one unified set compiled either by a disinterested machine or a media consortium not wholly owned by a promotional company? Let the sanctioning bodies pluck challengers from a common list - which at least moves us toward a shred of legitimacy for title-bout participants.

* Mandatory, But With a Twist:
Require incumbents to defend twice per year, once against a common No. 1 and once against a Top 10 foe. If a champion elects to fight more in a year, other opponents are at his whim. An anonymous hometown kid, a big-money foil 25 pounds lighter... makes no difference. And anyone who can win multiple titles and meet defense requirements in multiple classes, go right ahead.

* Catch This:
Weight-class boundaries need to be non-negotiable. If a fighter chooses to defend his title two pounds lighter than the limit, so be it. But no title match should be sanctioned "requiring" any fighter to come in at anything other than established weights. Erase this silly promotional loophole and watch how quickly the post-fight "Waaaah... my favorite guy lost because he was drained" threads dry up.

* Technological Superhighway:
If the World Cup has shown nothing else, it's that sports with a built-in feasibility for instant replay ought to use it. Replay should be used to determine whether cuts are caused by punches, and if protests are filed over controversial scoring decisions, use it to give three separate arbiters a chance to uphold or vacate the verdict. If it's the latter, a rematch should be immediate.

Got some of your own? Let's hear them.

Who knows, maybe someone's listening.

And even if not, just think of the catharsis.

* * * * *

This week's title-fight schedule:

None.

Last week's picks: 2-1  
Overall picks record: 280-93 (75.0 percent)   

Lyle Fitzsimmons has covered professional boxing since 1995 and written a weekly column for Boxing Scene since 2008. He is a full voting member of the Boxing Writers Association of America. Reach him at fitzbitz@msn.com or follow him on Twitter – @fitzbitz.