Crowning And Recognizing A Lineal Champion – Part II

[BIGPOPPAPUMP]

By Jake Donovan - In part one, we discussed the three heaviest divisions in the sport – Heavyweight, Cruiserweight and Light Heavyweight (click HERE for full article). Part two examines all divisions between 140-168 pounds.

No foreplay necessary, as we cut right to the chase… [details]

[Madvillain]

I've always gone by the Ring's list of who are true champions of the division, but I'm sorry, but this is just too confusing for me.

[jomarc]

I've always gone by the Ring's list of who are true champions of the division, but I'm sorry, but this is just too confusing for me.

im a little bit confused too.

btw i like your siggy!

[Dave Rado]

There’s also the possibility of having Hatton face Cotto. Arum promotes both
[details]

Arum doesn't promote Hatton.

[Dave Rado]

That, coupled with Arum’s unwillingness to do business with any fighters connected to the ubiquitous yet invisible Al Haymon (Andre Berto the most significant name amongst welterweights, unless you also include division-jumping Paul Williams), leaves Cotto with few lucrative options for the rest of 2009.
[details]

Why aren't you counting Williams? He's campaigning at three weights simultaneously, fought twice at Welterweight last year, and will fight at Welterweight again the moment any leading Welterweight agrees to fight him. He called out Mosley only last week and was met with a deafening silence. He still regards Welterweight as his primary division, not Jnr. Middleweight as you imply, and he is only fighting at the other weights because he can and because none of the other leading Welters will fight him.

[BattlingNelson]

Great article again Jake.

The article refers to Boxingscene's own division rankings. Can someone show me the link to that as I've been looking and is unable to find it?

[JakeNDaBox]

Great article again Jake.

The article refers to Boxingscene's own division rankings. Can someone show me the link to that as I've been looking and is unable to find it?

Ah, would probably be a good idea if I included the link in the articles.

Here ya go - http://www.boxingscene.com/forums/vi...boxing-ratings

[JakeNDaBox]

Why aren't you counting Williams? He's campaigning at three weights simultaneously, fought twice at Welterweight last year, and will fight at Welterweight again the moment any leading Welterweight agrees to fight him. He called out Mosley only last week and was met with a deafening silence. He still regards Welterweight as his primary division, not Jnr. Middleweight as you imply, and he is only fighting at the other weights because he can and because none of the other leading Welters will fight him.

I wanted to, and I understand that it's not his fault the other welterweights won't fight him. But the fact is that he gave up an alphabet belt to fight at other weights and his next fight will be closer to middleweight than welterweight, which will make three straight since the Quntana rematch.

Chances are, he may go the rest of his career without ever again fighting at welterweight. Again, he's not to blame and in fact is to be commended for fighting at higher weights for the sake of staying busy, rather than sitting on his ranking (and his ass) bitching that he can't get a fight.

But the question then becomes, how long do you rank him at welterweight without actually fighting there? Also to consider - how much juice do wins over Margarito and Quintana hold, since he really didn't accomplish much prior to then (not to mention that it took two tries to beat Quintana, though the rematch was hella impressive).

If Paul gave up his interim belt at 154 the moment he beat Phillips, and still kept his 147 strap, I'd agree with any argument that keeps him not only at welterweight, but near the very top. Because it's the other way around, I have to believe that they're playing the percentages, believing there's a better chance of receiving a big fight at '54 than '47, and thus rank him accordingly.

[JakeNDaBox]

Arum doesn't promote Hatton.

Corrected, was supposed to say "... possibility of Pacquiao facing Cotto..."

[Dave Rado]

I wanted to, and I understand that it's not his fault the other welterweights won't fight him. But the fact is that he gave up an alphabet belt to fight at other weights and his next fight will be closer to middleweight than welterweight, which will make three straight since the Quntana rematch.

Chances are, he may go the rest of his career without ever again fighting at welterweight. Again, he's not to blame and in fact is to be commended for fighting at higher weights for the sake of staying busy, rather than sitting on his ranking (and his ass) bitching that he can't get a fight.

But the question then becomes, how long do you rank him at welterweight without actually fighting there? Also to consider - how much juice do wins over Margarito and Quintana hold, since he really didn't accomplish much prior to then (not to mention that it took two tries to beat Quintana, though the rematch was hella impressive).

If Paul gave up his interim belt at 154 the moment he beat Phillips, and still kept his 147 strap, I'd agree with any argument that keeps him not only at welterweight, but near the very top. Because it's the other way around, I have to believe that they're playing the percentages, believing there's a better chance of receiving a big fight at '54 than '47, and thus rank him accordingly.

Well if people * rated him at Welter, I think the pressure would grow for one of the top Welters to fight him, and the fight would eventually be made. By not rating him, it plays into the hands of the Welters who don't want to have to fight him and who now have an excuse. If he'd hung onto that WBO belt he'd have had to fight mandatories against real nobodies (the WBO ratings being a joke), so I don't think it's fair to conclude much from that.

* By "people" in my first sentence above, I mean most of all The Ring, as their ratings are the most influential, but your ratings are also fairly influential, plus you (via Cliff) do have input into The Ring's ratings, so I think this applies to you too.