Comments Thread For: Artur Beterbiev is the latest undisputed champ to be disputed by IBF

[Toffee]

The IBF problem is that they have a Championship Chairman who has no clue or objective and consistent criteria for ranking fighters. While Bob Lee is no longer around, this is not a case of the envelope under the table, but more of sheer ******ity and complete lack of Boxing knowledge in having an objective formula for ranking fighters.

Beterbiev can ask for an exception, but, at some point the IBF LH champ is going to have to fight this opponent who nobody has heard of except the fighter, his team, and his family.

The IBF is losing what little credibility if any, they had by forcing these senseless mandatory fights which have no justification.

The WBC, WBA, and WBO each collectively rank 15 boxers in the Lt. Heavyweight division, or a total of 45 fighters. Michael Eifert is not ranked in the top 15 by the WBC, WBA, or WBO.

The IBF ranks Anthony Yarde #3 and Ali Ismailov #5.

Both of these fighters should require the IBF to justify in writing as required by the Muhammad Ali Act, the following:

1. What is their criteria for ranking fighters.
2. How they possibly rank Yarde and Ismailov below unknown Eifert. The IBF is obligated to provide an answer in writing justifying this insane decision.

Whatever rationale the IBF concocts should be made public so that we see how utterly s t u p I d and ridiculous the ranking of Eifert is as compared to other fighters they rank. This will be embarrassing for the IBF but they must provide an answer in writing within 2 weeks of such request.

He beat Jean Pascal in an eliminator. As an underdog.

No-one else is going to rank him. He fights for the IBF and won an eliminator. The orgs don't rank every fighter - they rank fighters who fight for them and aren't a titleholder or mandatory to another org.

It's all public. It's all in their rules. It's all common knowledge.

And to be honest, no boxing fan should really need any of that to be explained.

[drablj]

The IBFs policy on rankings is no big secret. In order to secure a #1 or #2 rating, you MUST fight an elimination bout with another fighter in the IBF rankings. They do not just "appoint" mandatory challengers. Its actually a much fairer process, as fighters without powerful managers or promoters still can FIGHT their way to a title shot. The problem is that many of the better known fighters (probably Yarde as well) choose NOT to do an eliminator bout, and end up fighting for a WBC, WBO, or WBA title instead, so then the IBF eliminators end up being between much lesser known fighters.

you are the only one who showed up and actually knows something.

i have no time now to write 10 paragraphs which would explain everything and offend almost everyone here (no doubt about that). i'll just make this as simple as possible for all the lazy ones pretending to be fans.

beterbiev's mandatory period expired 6 years ago. his mandatory meng (waited for 3 years) lost to pascal who lost to eifert. nobody is appointed out of the blue! beterbiev wasn't stripped years ago because ibf recognized his fight with meng was obstructed by political problems and then pascal didn't want to enforce his right.

blame only yourselves for not knowing about other fighters. BECAUSE OF YOU we'll never have one champion per division since you only follow a tiny amount of boxers. they use belts for marketing. if with 4 belts and 4 eliminators per division people know almost nothing even on a boxing specialized forum, how many people would watch even this amount if there was only 1 champion and 1 eliminator? zero. yeah, boxing fans would know who the real champion is and NOTHING more. well other people have to eat too. where do you think those champions come from? they are not just born and the next day they magically become some formidable force who's the best in the world. if there were no chances for new people (who you know nothing about), every sport would die after the current generation.

another thing i see every day. do you guys realize that in 14 out of 17 divisions there aren't 8 great fighters (4 beltholders and 4 mandatories)? of course there would be mandatory fights with weaker opposition. people here blame some fighters for ducking non-existant "others" by fighting someone they haven't heard about (which is only their fault). in majority of divisions there is nobody to duck .

[/rant]

[Phase III]

The IBFs policy on rankings is no big secret. In order to secure a #1 or #2 rating, you MUST fight an elimination bout with another fighter in the IBF rankings. They do not just "appoint" mandatory challengers. Its actually a much fairer process, as fighters without powerful managers or promoters still can FIGHT their way to a title shot. The problem is that many of the better known fighters (probably Yarde as well) choose NOT to do an eliminator bout, and end up fighting for a WBC, WBO, or WBA title instead, so then the IBF eliminators end up being between much lesser known fighters.

The IBF leaving the #1 and #2 vacant is merely a money grab to get a sanction fee. The IBF needs to cut the BS and rank fighters based on an objective criteria that makes sense. But, they rather make sanction fees doing the ridiculous as is the case here.

As I clearly said, if any fighter feels they are being marginalized by their s t u p I d I t y, send them an email and ask for their rankings criteria and ask how in the world they justify ranking Eifert over Yarde or Ismailov if you are one of those two fighters. They are obligated to respond in writing within 2 weeks. Let their response to made public so we can all see through their BS.

[Unidentified]

These boys need to stop ducking Eifert…

[RJJ-94-02=GOAT]

F*** the IBF and their trash rankings.

[Buzzbron]

I don’t think the IBF is looking for money here- if the strip Bertebiev and miss out on a Saudi sponsored rematch, they won’t get any sanctioning fees from that fight

They are just nuts

[The D3vil]

I used to actually respect the IBF, but they have become so ass

[Boxing Scene]

One thing you don't have to worry about is Canelo. This mother****er is fighting cab drivers until he retires and good ****ing riddance..he ain't fighting Beterbiev. He's just going to act like he would and price himself out.

[_Rexy_]

It depends too on how he got that top contender status . If he wins fights against guys ranked higher than him , he has to move up , same as if he wins eliminators. I'm just thinking out loud , I don't have any idea if he earned the spot or is just very well managed and has a bought position. You're right though , I can't see this fight making much money for anyone , except for Eifert getting what should be a good paycheck for him. Just looking at their comparative records , I've already counted two pre-emptive knockdowns against Eifert and I'm about to get the Doctor to have a look at him.

He beat Pascal who was the #1 contender.

[Phase III]

The weird thing is that a Beterbiev vs Eifert fight can't possibly make the IBF more money than Beterbiev vs somebody I've heard of before. Eifert is 13-1 with 5 KOs. What do they think is going to happen here? It's a walkover for Beterbiev for not much money. Are they looking for step aside money for Eifert? Do they want somebody else to be their champion? They're just being sticklers for their rules? Enforcing a mandatory for a guy with only 13 fights. It's a bad look to even have Eifert as your top challenger in a weight class with so many better fighters.

The weird thing is that whoever is responsible for ranking IBF fighters is absolutely clueless and incompetent.