Comments Thread For: Jai Opetaia's mandatory defense against Huseyin Cinkara set for January 8

[JLC]

Seriously, wtf makes Opetaia the "lineal" cruiser champion? He won it from Briedis? Briedis won it from Dorticos who won it from...NO CHAMPION. Fake concept. If the idea of a lineal champion was a boat, it would sink immediately from all the holes in it.

There is a champion and then there are guys rated 1-10 beneath the champion.

the champion (Usyk) moved up. Afterwards the top 2 guys fought each other and the winner was crowned the new lineal champion.


if the lineal champion retires without a loss / moves up the lineage does not die forever. Protocol is and 2 fight to determine a new one. Boxing just sucks so bad that more often than not this doesn’t happen quickly. In this case it did. Good for this dude Opetaia or however you spell his name.

[Dr_Calvin]

It's a nothing fight for Jai but at least he stays active and gets a mando out of the way and the upside is that he is fighting in his hometown which happens to be my hometown so I get to see him fight live again like the Briedis fight, minutes from my house for the princely sum of $40 AUD which is about $25 USD. Cheaper than a PPV.

[drablj]

i don't know what people are complaining for. opetaia's back after 3 months instead of usual 6-12 for other fighters. it's this or nothing. i am always for activity even against 0-0 opponent. it's better than doing nothing.

he's fighting his mandatory like everybody should. there's nobody to avoid. wbc champion is with don king (enough said) and has problems to fulfill his own mandatory. zurdo just fought and by the time he would be ready, jai would be ready too. zurdo also has dorticos as his mandatory in waiting and he was skipped twice already. billam smith just lost and he would rebuild first. that's it for cruiserweight. there's nobody to duck. so jai's options for the near future were his mandatory, some totally irrelevant guy who's not a mandatory or not fight at all. out of those options, mandatory fight is the best one.

it's laways like this with people on this forum. you complain when fighters are not fighting at all and you complain when they fight often. these are not 1920s and 1930s and there will never be a time like that when guys fought very often AND against great competition. by fighting more often boxers put food on the table not only for themselves but for everybody involved. what's not to like?

[RJJ-94-02=GOAT]

Eh... cruiserweight is unbelievably thin. I don't think the IBF rankings are any worse than the WBO in anyway.

Cinkara should be nowhere near #1 or even top 5 for that matter. The IBF’s rankings are easily the worst IMO.

[RJJ-94-02=GOAT]

Sometimes seems like they refuse to rank anyone ranked by the other organizations, and then end up with guys from like 45 and below as a result. They're a joke, and they don't even follow their own rules. There's been several times lately that they gave exceptions to people who didn't deserve it, but stripped undisputed champions to give it to guys who many on this forum would label trash.

Yeah good point, it’s like they’re trying too hard to be different.

[famicommander]

Can someone please explain how he's linear champion when he didn't beat the man who beat the man?

After Usyk moved up the lineal title was declared vacant.

With Usyk gone the consensus top two fighters in the cruiserweight division were Mairis Briedis and Yuniel Dorticos; they were the top 2 ranked fighters by every independent media outlet (TBRB, ESPN, The Ring, etc).

They fought each other in the World Boxing Super Series tournament final for the vacant IBF/Ring/TBRB/lineal championship in September 2020. Briedis won the fight to become champion, then made one successful defense before losing the championship to Opetaia in July 2022. Opetaia has since made four successful defenses.

[PBR Streetgang]

The IBF will rank anyone who is willing to sign up for their nonsense. That's the sad reality. The good fighters know that the WBA, WBC, and WBO are going to be much less of a headache so the IBF is left with the scrubs and/or the guys without a strong promotional backer.

This is my understanding as well. They have a set of of rules that they follow which eliminates some worthwhile fighters from being ranked while other fighters don't participate in their rankings on their own volition. The end result is that you get some terrible rankings of fighters.

I do respect the IBF a bit more than the other sanctioning bodies because they at least follow their rules for the most part (much to our consternation).

[famicommander]

Yeah good point, it’s like they’re trying too hard to be different.

It's not that, it's that the fighters actively avoid seeking an IBF ranking. The governing bodies don't just rank people, fighters have to actually commit to their respective processes and most of the fighters don't bother because of the extra nonsense (like the rehydration rules or the unwillingness to budge on unifications/mandatories/eliminators). The governing bodies also want to avoid the embarrassment of fighters turning down their fights so they try not to rank fighters they don't think are interested.

[RJJ-94-02=GOAT]

This is my understanding as well. They have a set of of rules that they follow which eliminates some worthwhile fighters from being ranked while other fighters don't participate in their rankings on their own volition. The end result is that you get some terrible rankings of fighters.

I do respect the IBF a bit more than the other sanctioning bodies because they at least follow their rules for the most part (much to our consternation).

If this is what following their rules leads to… surely they should consider changing their rules.

[PBR Streetgang]

If this is what following their rules leads to… surely they should consider changing their rules.

I don't disagree. I think the big issue is their rankings, some of that is because of their own arcane procedures. I don't have an issue with them forcing their mandatories or the prohibition of rematch clauses in title fights. Back in the 90s they also introduced a pension plan for retired boxers funded by a percentage tax on title purses.

I'm not a fanboy of the IBF, I dislike all of the sanctioning bodies, but I think their transgressions are less egregious than the WBC and WBA.