By Jake Donovan 

When discussing the ills of boxing, two of the most common non-financially related complaints are too many weight divisions, and too many champions in each class.

The first of the two complaints can often be found as the subject of someone's wrath. There's no question that the thought – never mind actually performing the act - of crowning a new champion while one already exists is worthy of criticism. It's to the point where it's easier to just ignore the alphabet or magazine titles claimed to be at stake, and just accept the fight at face value. If a lineage can be drawn to a particular title, that's great. We can live with "only" 17 champs, right?

Not if we're creating champions in recess, which has become the effect of the recent wave of catchweight bouts.

Sometimes, a good fight stands on its own merit. It doesn't matter at what weight the bout is fought, what title (if any) is at stake, or even if a fight has future championship implications.

Saturday night's rematch between linear middleweight king Kelly Pavlik and former champ Jermain Taylor is a good example. The bout, fought at a catchweight of 166 lbs due to the terms of the rematch clause from their first fight, was entertaining despite lacking the extra incentive of the middleweight crown being on the line, as was the case in their instant classic last September. Pavlik won the fight, after which he and promoter Top Rank insisted that the next move was to return to middleweight to defend the crown; the bout above the limit was a one-and-done deal, at least for the time being.

But the aforementioned bout is the exception to the rule, at least in recent months.

The Ring magazine light heavyweight title was on the line when Bernard Hopkins and Winky Wright squared off last July, despite the bout being fought at 170, 5 lb. below the division limit. The bout was not the least bit entertaining, partly due to the fact that very few Hopkins bouts these days carry entertainment value, but also because the fight proved that Wright has no business at or near the light heavyweight division. Showing up a very fleshy 170, Wright literally ate his way out of the middleweight division in order to make weight for the fight.

Did we learn that Hopkins is the better fighter? The scorecards may suggest so, but they don't factor in the handicap of Wright carrying around 10 extra pounds of blubber.

The November retirement party between Fernando Vargas and Ricardo Mayorga was highly entertaining, but served no real purpose other than a grand showcase for Vargas' last call. The original contract called for the bout to be fought at 162 lb. That was before Vargas was forced to postpone in September and decided that he could never shrink down that far.

A new weight limit of 166 was agreed upon, with both Vargas and Mayorga, who spent most of their respective careers at welterweight and junior middleweight, fighting at a career-high weight. Mayorga scored knockdowns early and late to take a decision, but has since targeted contenders at his old weight classes of 147 and 154 for his next fight. The issue? He hasn't won a fight against a live body at either weight in years.

Future Hall of Famers Roy Jones Jr. and Felix Trinidad surpassed expectations in their fight earlier this year, fought at a catchweight of 170 lb. The final outcome – Jones scoring two knockdowns en route to a lopsided decision – didn't necessarily confirm that Jones always beats Trinidad, although it's a lot easier to plead the case for this fight than it is in the case of, say Hopkins-Wright. But a win over Trinidad at 170 lb. proves absolutely nothing in the grand scheme of things, with Jones no closer to a fight with any of the major players at 175 or even 168 than he was the moment he beat Anthony Hanshaw last summer.

Very few gave Trinidad, fighting at a career high and having not fought in over three years, a chance of being competitive, never mind actually winning. If anything, he lived up to everyone's expectations, while Jones lived them down. Now, Trinidad is looking to gain as much mileage as he can out of the nothing-to-lose label he was afforded heading into the Jones fight. His name was attached to rumors of a possible June 7 showdown with Pavlik at Madison Square Garden, on the eve of the Puerto Rican Day parade. The thought of Trinidad vying for one last crack at the middleweight crown in his home away from home has box-office success written all over it.

The issue? Papa Felix has already publicly nixed the idea of a middleweight fight, insisting that such a fight would have to take place at a catchweight, which seems to be the only weight the younger Trinidad can make these days.

Credit to Pavlik for passing on what would be a much bigger payday, instead electing to resume business in the middleweight division.

In that vein, shame on linear welterweight king, Floyd Mayweather who, by year's end, will have went two full years without defending his crown against an actual welterweight contender. His plans instead call for a September rematch with Oscar de la Hoya, presumably at 154 lb or thereabout, the same weight as their first fight last May. For those who still find value in alphabet titles, Mayweather-de la Hoya I made almost as much sense as it did dollars, as Oscar held a junior middleweight trinket, providing Floyd the opportunity to refer to himself as a five-division titlist after scoring a well-deserved decision.

The rematch makes no sense whatsoever. Much like any sequel to a highly successful movie, the return go is pure exploitation of John Q. Public, asked far too often to dip into their pockets in order to catch the sport's biggest names in action. There's no suggestion that the bout will prove to be any more entertaining than the first, which provided very little to begin with. There will be nothing at stake, not unless de la Hoya can shrivel down to 147 and challenge for Mayweather's welterweight crown.

The chances of that happening are not likely, since Oscar's next planned – but not yet official – bout is at a catchweight of 150 lb. The opponent will be Season Two Contender runner-up Steve Forbes, who save for his stint on The Contender, has spent most of his career at junior welterweight and below. The former junior lightweight titlist's last fight was at 142 last October, outpointing Francisco "Panchito" Bojado. He twice fought at 149 lb, both coming on The Contender against Cornelius Bundrage and Grady Brewer, neither of whom will ever be confused with world-class fighters, even if both are world-class gentlemen.

The excuse behind de la Hoya-Forbes is that Oscar is given the chance to shake off some ring rust against an opponent who can emulate Mayweather's style. I could've sworn that's what sparring sessions are for, which leaves me puzzled as to why de la Hoya couldn't just find an active, full-fledged – but non-threatening - welterweight or junior middleweight to fill the role.

Even former title challenger Edison "Pantera" Miranda is getting in on the act. The outspoken Colombian has been longing for a rematch with Arthur Abraham ever since their controversial September 2006 encounter.  Miranda broke Abraham's jaw, but was unable to finish him off or escape the wrath of referee Randy Neumann, who deducted five points for an assortment of fouls, resulting in a lopsided points loss in an otherwise evenly fought match.

The one thing now preventing the rematch – aside from Abraham's unwillingness to grant him one – is weight. Miranda can no longer shrink down to 160, and is now campaigning as a super middleweight. However, having grown disgusted at Abraham's level of opposition post-Miranda (as have the rest of us), including the recent announcement of his next bout against unheralded Elvin Ayala, Miranda demanded Abraham once and for all resolve their unfinished business by granting him a rematch.

The catch? A catchweight, of course. Miranda is calling the fight take place at 165 lb.

For years, we've become infuriated with the concept of more than one champion per division, to the point where we now have to live with more than one champion per sanctioning body per division. Now, not even seventeen weight classes – which many purists will argue is nine too many – is no longer enough to satisfy the best in our sport.

Jake Donovan is a member of the Boxing Writers Association of America and the Tennessee Boxing Advisory Board. His feature column runs every Tuesday, and his Prospect of the Week series runs every Thursday. Jake is also BoxingScene's official Telefutura correspondent.

Please feel free to submit any comments or questions to Jake at JakeNDaBox@gmail.com.