The Ring Belts: are they universally recognized?
The Ring Belt: is it as well recognized as WBC, IBF, WBA, WBO belts?
Here is an interesting article as a food for thought.
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A Little Help, Please?
(From The Ring Extra, October 2005: On sale August 2)
By Nigel Collins
Readers of The Ring who watched Antonio Tarver regain the light heavyweight championship from Glen Johnson may have wondered why HBO’s broadcast crew failed to mention that The Ring belt was on the line. If so, they were not alone; I too was puzzled.
Even worse, during the broadcast it was stated that “no meaningful belt” was at stake, which was a real low blow. Moreover, it didn’t make sense when one considers that The Ring’s tradition of awarding authentic world champions with a belt goes all the way back to 1922, when heavyweight champ Jack Dempsey received the first. Not that sticking around all those years necessarily gives the belt credence, but the fact that is the most difficult boxing belt to win, due to the stringent nature of our championship policy, has to count for something.
I’ve had numerous conversations with Larry Merchant and Jim Lampley since The Ring launched its championship policy three years ago, and both of them have always indicated that they wholeheartedly approve of our attempt to restore integrity to championship boxing. But so far, despite a few oblique references, they have never truly endorsed the policy during a broadcast.
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I spoke with Lampley again a few days after the Tarver-Johnson fight. One of the things I wanted to know was if anybody higher up the chain of command at HBO had told him not to talk about The Ring’s championship policy.
“No,” Lampley replied in an emphatic manner. “I’m the one to blame. Not mentioning that The Ring belt was at stake was a scandalous failure on my part. I ought to do better. You have every right to be furious.”
Well, maybe, but going ballistic seldom solves anything, and besides, how could you be angry with Lampley after such a forthright admission. We all screw up from time to time. Next, I spoke with Larry Merchant, who also apologized and said he felt that what The Ring was trying to achieve is a “noble goal.”
While it’s gratifying to have Merchant and Lampley’s approval, if they really believe what they say, it is time to support The Ring championship policy publicly. Apologies after the fact are not going to help spread the gospel. Instances such as Tarver-Johnson I & II, when fighters give up their alphabet titles in order to make the sort of matches boxing consumers want to see, are perfect occasions to recognize what The Ring’s efforts to counter the alphabet organization’s cancerous interference with the Sweet Science.
HBO missed a significant opportunity to help move the sport in the right direction during the broadcast of the Tarver-Johnson rematch by failing to recognize a key ally’s effort to advance the cause. Hopefully, Lamps and Larry will live up to their word and do better in the future. Because if we are going to have fighting chance of making boxing all that it can be, the good guys have to pull together.
Update: The following weekend, at the end of the Floyd Mayweather-Arturo Gatti pay-per-view, Lampley did indeed apologize for not informing viewers that The Ring light heavyweight belt was at stake in the Tarver-Johnson fight. Thanks, Lamps. It's reassuring to know that the voice of HBO boxing is a man of scrupulous integrity.
I’d like to thank Manny Pacquiao for taking the appropriate action and relinquishing his Ring featherweight title, which he did in writing during the early part of June. Pacquiao, who will now campaign as a junior lightweight, was aware that The Ring does not strip champions of belts won inside the ring, and could have procrastinated. But that might have denied other fighters the opportunity to vie for the now-vacant belt. Like most fighters, Pacquiao is an honorable man and did the right thing. That’s the way boxing is supposed to work.
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