Time to dump the belts and switch to rings.

[Marchegiano]

So, after the Corbett/Dog belt I think the next one to actually be presented to a champion is Jeffries but for this we're going to have to be a bit loose with the term belt.

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That sash was actually the championship sash, given to Jeffries in 1900. don't think I ever knew that.

I didn't find much of anything for Jeffries giving it to Hart or Hart giving anything to Burns. There's plenty of famous pictures of Burn's belt and Johnson's belt. but JIC you've never seen them:

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Clearly not Jeffries's sash nor Burns's belt on Johnson

Again I ran into a stumbling block with Willard.

But the comes Dempsey and I'm pretty sure everyone here's seen his, or at least the Tex belt. Which looks nothing like Tunney's little belt.

Skipping ahead quite a lot I can't recall ever seeing Marciano with anything but a Ring title. I'm not sure when the first sanctioning body belt was actually commissioned.

[billeau2]

Don't they also eventually promote to red belt? And you can wear a clip on tie if you don't like it going around your neck. I prefer the updated zipper ties you don't have to tie. They just go around your neck pre tied and you zip them up with both hands.

Red Belt is kinda a myth... It works on the premise that belts are an inherent feature of martial arts, an organic part of a system... So naturally you need something above black belt eventually... You can use a redbelt as an indicator but... it would mean you are the system creator. I guess that would make me a red belt lol.

If you trace rank in martial arts... originally it was more organic to the process and not simply a way to show off progess in groups. Ill be brief: Menkyo Kudan is direct transmission of the system from the founder. It was important because if one did not find an inheriter of their system it would die... In Japan you have to have successive transmission of a system from one generation to the next, it cannot skip a genreration to be a Koryu ha. (authentic old art combat art). The oldest arts are Katori shin do and Taken nuchi Ryu and they date from about the 1600's or so... They have never skipped a generation from the time they were founded.

That was the real value of rank... Rank was also more about service to the art and not ability. In the old arts fighters were kind of the meatheads.. the teachers were valued because they could instruct many men. Only when Budo became part of Japanese arts, personal values became prominant, did rank become important. Budo arts most recognized are Judo, Akido and Karate do.... although there is also Kendo.

i am all about those clip ons!

[markusmod]

They should just dump the belts and create some organization where there is one belt.

[Anthony342]

They should just dump the belts and create some organization where there is one belt.

Yeah, now that The Ring is owned by Golden Boy, they should let TBRB (Transnational Boxing Rankings Board) hand out their own title belts and just let that be the only belt that counts. Screw the other paper titles.

[The Old LefHook]

The business of boxing trinkets is just ramping up. Like the ocean or outer space, so little of it has been explored. There is so much more that Sulaiman can do. Eventually, he will produce trinkets for all boxers involved in notable fights or tournaments just for participating. To his grand children many a scrub boxer will seem like a hero out of the past, once Marco is through handing out trophies and momentos. He is just getting started. Everything from memorial shoe laces to tournament tie clips are coming.

[markusmod]

Yeah, now that The Ring is owned by Golden Boy, they should let TBRB (Transnational Boxing Rankings Board) hand out their own title belts and just let that be the only belt that counts. Screw the other paper titles.

Damn right, and it sounds like GBP is on their last legs.