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

[RJJ-94-02=GOAT]

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.

I think they do some good things too, the WBA are far worse overall for example with all their bogus titles. My only major issue with the IBF is their rankings. If they were forcing Opetaia to fight someone worthy I’d be all for it, but this just feels unnecessary. The same way Hrgovic, Eifert, Scull feel/felt unnecessary.

[Oracle01]

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?

Because he is constantly fighting bums apart from a 40 year old Breides, who was 2 years out of the ring. All he fights is bums, not even C level opponents, they are all cab drivers.

[crimsonfalcon07]

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).

Except that they don't follow their own rules. How many times did Errol Spence Jr have to defend his IBF belt? Once in 4 years. How many times did Canelo defend his belt since he won it in November 2021? Zero. Then they do things like strip Opetaia for not fighting Briedis when Briedis was the one injured, but don't grant Crawford the full 9 months required in their rules. And then they randomly grant exemptions to some champions, but not for rematches, even when rematches are clearly necessary and between the best guys in the division, even though the champions haven't had any voluntary defenses. IBF rules and rankings are terrible AND they don't follow them when the fighter is sufficiently high profile. They just "forget" to order the fights.

[Elheath]

I still stand by that the biggest problem is that the IBF rankings SUX, not so much that they "force" mandatories. Extreme point, if the IBF used the Ring rankings for example (minus all the champions) and picked the mandoes from the top of that list and ordered them, people will love it. That and/or they have to basically be overlapping with the other organizations.

I mean, no one is complaining about the IBF mandatory ordered between Bakole and Zhang.

[PBR Streetgang]

Except that they don't follow their own rules. How many times did Errol Spence Jr have to defend his IBF belt? Once in 4 years. How many times did Canelo defend his belt since he won it in November 2021? Zero. Then they do things like strip Opetaia for not fighting Briedis when Briedis was the one injured, but don't grant Crawford the full 9 months required in their rules. And then they randomly grant exemptions to some champions, but not for rematches, even when rematches are clearly necessary and between the best guys in the division, even though the champions haven't had any voluntary defenses. IBF rules and rankings are terrible AND they don't follow them when the fighter is sufficiently high profile. They just "forget" to order the fights.

I don't care enough about any of the sanctioning bodies to take time to defend them. I think they are all bad I just view the IBF as a little less bad. If you say they don't follow all their rules all the time, that's fine, I will take your word on it..I think they follow them more than the others.

I won't research your examples to defend the IBF but I recall Spence had two significant injuries in that 4 year span. I believe the IBF was going to force him to fight Boots after the Crawford fight (but that was rendered moot). As for Opetaia, it was my understanding that he been granted an exemption before the Zorro fight and they declined to give him back to back exemptions. And the IBF was the only one who had the nuts to strip Canelo for not fighting his mandatory.

[Mammoth]

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

Hyperbole.......

[drablj]

Because he is constantly fighting bums apart from a 40 year old Breides, who was 2 years out of the ring. All he fights is bums, not even C level opponents, they are all cab drivers.

i agree about his opponents. but there's almost nobody good to fight. according to harsh posters on this forum there are barely ~100 good boxers in the world out of ~ 20 000. that is 0,5%. it means almost everybody in the world is a "bum". then there are guys that did something in their careers but they are now old. if good boxers just ignore those two groups there's basically nobody to fight. careers would be very short. look at cruiserweight. only jai is <=30. other champions are 33 and 34 which is out of prime, the beginning of old. dorticos is 38. those 3 are not available in the near future (wbc and wba mandatory fights are expected next). so it's either fight a bum or not fight at all. out of those options it's better to fight a bum.

[Oracle01]

i agree about his opponents. but there's almost nobody good to fight. according to harsh posters on this forum there are barely ~100 good boxers in the world out of ~ 20 000. that is 0,5%. it means almost everybody in the world is a "bum". then there are guys that did something in their careers but they are now old. if good boxers just ignore those two groups there's basically nobody to fight. careers would be very short. look at cruiserweight. only jai is <=30. other champions are 33 and 34 which is out of prime, the beginning of old. dorticos is 38. those 3 are not available in the near future (wbc and wba mandatory fights are expected next). so it's either fight a bum or not fight at all. out of those options it's better to fight a bum.

He can't fight anyone in the rings top 10? BS. Its full of solid fighters that are not cab drivers. He is not even fighting Berlanga level fighters. He is fighting the level a young prospect is fighting while starting his career.

[PlasterHands]

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

By whose ranking?

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

The Ring had Briedis and Gassiev as the #1 and #2 cruisers when Usyk moved up. Tabiti and Dorticos were the IBFs top two guys (#1 & 3 respectively), but seriously, the ABC rankings? What if Tabiti and Dorticos were NOT their top two ranked fighters, but the IBF decided this was the fight for the vacant belt, we're still supposed to believe lineal means something?

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.

Why was the IBF the lineal? Usyk owned all four belts. The WBC actually named the first cruiser champion in 1980 (Camel), shouldn't the WBC have been the lineal belt? Its equal nonsense in my opinion, but just curious.

Linear is sold as "the man who beat the man." It is just isn't. I appreciate you trying to make it make sense, but this is mental gymnastics that is dependent on ABC organizations telling us who is or isn't worthy to fight for a vacant title.

[PlasterHands]

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).

No, Gassiev was ranked higher than Dorticos. Gassiev had beaten him in 2018. Belief in a "lineal" title requires a mind like JRR Tolkien's.