One of these Heavyweights will soon be in the WBO top 15

A few years ago I made a thread about how journeyman Alex Leapai would be in striking distance of an eliminator or a title shot. I also have stressed throughout my time on this site the importance of regional belts getting boxers top 15 ratings. Well I was right on the money with my Leapai prediction because in 2012 he turned a win over a 13-5-1 Akmal Aslanov into a top 15 WBO ranking. He won the WBO Oriental & WBO Asian Pacific belts that night. He fought 3 times in 2013 before ending the year in a WBO final eliminator vs Denis Boytsov. He turned that win into a title shot & 1.8 million. Well on Saturday night the WBO Oriental title will be at stake in a fight between 10-3 Kurtis Pegoraro & 9-0 Eugen Buchmueller who is 37. Pegoraro is ranked #141 on boxrec & Buchmueller #305. Pegoraro did win the 8 man 1 night Prizefighter like tourney in Australia in March & just won a 4 round SD over a fighter who is 1-2-2... This guy could actually be in the WBO rankings next month...

Comments (10)

joe_strong

I remember in the 90s you had the WBO belt which was a regional belt in Europe, Africa & Asia. Anytime an American won it they vacated it. Mercer, Bowe & Moorer all vacated it & so did Corrie Sanders after beating Wlad. In North America it was the NABF & USBA belts that were the important regional belts. The EU belt had some weight too but not as much as the WBO. Now there is so many even diehards can't keep up...

8y ago

NEETzsche

Of course Warren would get involved with something like that :lol1: The other day he had BBBoC Southern Area Champ Craig Poxton fighting BBBoC Midlands area champ Leon Woodstock for the WBO European belt The BBBoC English title was vacant ffs. Just cant see an end to this unless fans get more clued up on the scene. And the promoters/networks have zero interest in educating the fans (the opposite actually) so that will never happen It should really be the job of journalists and TV pundits to call these things out but most of them seem to be deep in the various promoters' pockets. Dempsey on BT Sport is the only one I've seen tell it like it is

8y ago

Randall_Cunning

Of course Warren would get involved with something like that :lol1: The other day he had BBBoC Southern Area Champ Craig Poxton fighting BBBoC Midlands area champ Leon Woodstock for the WBO European belt The BBBoC English title was vacant ffs. Just cant see an end to this unless fans get more clued up on the scene. And the promoters/networks have zero interest in educating the fans (the opposite actually) so that will never happen Ashley Theophane is now the German Intercontinental Super Welterweight Champion http://boxrec.com/en/event/748002

8y ago

Tom_Cruise

Even worse than the WBO European is that IBF East/West Europe belt which seems to have appeared out of nowhere in the last year. There are two vacant ones being handed out to English level fighters on the Warren card this weekend Of course Warren would get involved with something like that :lol1: The other day he had BBBoC Southern Area Champ Craig Poxton fighting BBBoC Midlands area champ Leon Woodstock for the WBO European belt The BBBoC English title was vacant ffs. Just cant see an end to this unless fans get more clued up on the scene. And the promoters/networks have zero interest in educating the fans (the opposite actually) so that will never happen

8y ago

NEETzsche

Regional belts from the main 4 bodies are basically sanctioned bribes. I mean, what the f*ck is the WBO European :lol1: Anthony Yarde just got a ranking with the WBO from beating this guy: http://boxrec.com/en/boxer/651631 Biranyi went on to lose a vacant Hungary Title shot by KO last month. Promoters love this stuff though, and fans dont know enough to challenge the legit belts from the paper ones, which is why it will continue happening. Shame because a proper recognized regional belt is great for giving the sport structure. BBBoC British/English/Celtic/Area, EBU Belt, Japanese Title, NABF. All brilliant. Even worse than the WBO European is that IBF East/West Europe belt which seems to have appeared out of nowhere in the last year. There are two vacant ones being handed out to English level fighters on the Warren card this weekend

8y ago

Tom_Cruise

8y ago

Holler

Many years ago I saw a boxing segment on a UK sport show. It was a feature on how fighters were being prepped for a title shot. The upshot from an interview with a manager was that a promising prospect would be virtually guaranteed of arriving at a title shot with a unbeaten record of 15-20 fights, mainly because they would never be put in the ring with anyone remotely considered a danger to them. The young fighter who they profiled in this piece was the then up and coming Shannon Briggs who was carefully shepherded to 25 and 0 before unexpectedly getting knocked into next week by Darroll Wilson. I laughed my head off but he still got his shot and a dodgy decision against Foreman before Lewis ended his hopes in a brutal fashion.

8y ago

Randall_Cunning

He is in the top 15 already? I haven't seen the December WBO rankings yet... Yep, in at 15 http://box.live/world-rankings/wbo/. As you say, probably picked up some kind of regional. Frank Warren is a master at working up the WBO rankings, getting fights for regionals you never knew existed.

8y ago

joe_strong

Tony Yoka got a WBO ranking in 2 fights. Your man needs to stop messing around imo He is in the top 15 already? I haven't seen the December WBO rankings yet...

8y ago

Randall_Cunning

Tony Yoka got a WBO ranking in 2 fights. Your man needs to stop messing around imo

8y ago