Comments Thread For: Andy Lee vs. Peter Quillin Now a Non-Title Bout

[kiaba360]

Wow. Quillin can't even get his title back in this fight. Is this even a money fight? No title, less money....

I really thought Lee is the one that would have weight problems in this fight. He looks bigger.

Lee was able to get down to 154 for the Jackson fight.

The way this entire story has unraveled in the past year is crazy. All that needs to happen now to complete this fable/fairytale/myth is with Quillin catching one of the most embarrassing losses of the year.

[North Star]

Lee was able to get down to 154 for the Jackson fight.

The way this entire story has unraveled in the past year is crazy. All that needs to happen now is for Lee to get the W.

Yep, it's true. Lee has the whole entire boxing community behind him, especially with the recent turn of events. If he gets the victory, his stock skyrockets immensely because he will be a real People's Champ.

[kafkod]

You think Quillen wouldn't fight Cotto?

Not if he stays with Haymon. Cotto is with Roc Nation now, and Haymon won't work with Roc. That's why Quillin handed his belt back, remember?

You think Haymon wants the belts? He doesn't even mention them on PBC or let sanctioning members in the ring.

I didn't know about that until tonight.

But I guess the reasoning behind it is that Haymon wants to sell the title fights on his shows as being for THE world title - not the WBC, WBA, IBF, or WBO title, but THE world title.

Allowing the belts or representives of any of the sanctioning organisations into the ring would destroy that illusion.

But he did advertise this fight as being for the world middleweight title. And if he wanted to do that again with Quillin's next fight - assuming he won of course - he needed that WBO belt. He just didn't want his viewers to see it.

That's my take on the situation. If anybody has a better explanation, feel free to straighten me out.

[joesaiditstrue]

And on this day,the belt escaped the clutches of al haymon....

I think haymon preferred this

[Barcham]

Not if he stays with Haymon. Cotto is with Roc Nation now, and Haymon won't work with Roc. That's why Quillin handed his belt back, remember?



I didn't know about that until tonight.

But I guess the reasoning behind it is that Haymon wants to sell the title fights on his shows as being for THE world title - not the WBC, WBA, IBF, or WBO title, but THE world title.

Allowing the belts or representives of any of the sanctioning organisations into the ring would destroy that illusion.

But he did advertise this fight as being for the world middleweight title. And if he wanted to do that again with Quillin's next fight - assuming he won of course - he needed that WBO belt. He just didn't want his viewers to see it.

That's my take on the situation. If anybody has a better explanation, feel free to straighten me out.

No, you pretty much hit it right on the nose. I was surprised that Stevenson was announced as the WBC champion and had his title belt at the end of the fight, but it turns out that WBC INSISTED that he be promoted as WBC champ and that the belt be visible. Haymon gave in it seems, and the belt was visible. Slightly. I don't know what WBC said to them, but they may have threatened some kind of action if their title was not recognized.

[Weebler I]

You think Haymon wants the belts? He doesn't even mention them on PBC or let sanctioning members in the ring.

If the belt wasn't important then why pay Saunders significant step-aside money and Andy Lee seven figures to travel across from Ireland? Why not just make a fight between Quillin and American opponents like Mora and Jacobs?

Anyhow, whether it's important to him is irrelevant, it's important to boxing fans who want to see unification fights between the champions.

[Barcham]

If the belt wasn't important then why pay Saunders significant step-aside money and Andy Lee seven figures to travel across from Ireland? Why not just make a fight between Quillin and American opponents like Mora and Jacobs?

Anyhow, whether it's important to him is irrelevant, it's important to boxing fans who want to see unification fights between the champions.

The belts mean more to Haymon than he would want to admit. I think he wants to have a title holder in each weight division so that when he brings in his PBC titles, he can hand them to existing champions and have them give up their existing titles. He can do this in a special ceremony and get a lot of free publicity out of it. But Quillin has thrown a wrench in that idea and I can't see him getting a shot at any other MW title anytime soon.

What other MW fighters does Haymon have that he can try to maneuver into title position?

[kafkod]

No, you pretty much hit it right on the nose. I was surprised that Stevenson was announced as the WBC champion and had his title belt at the end of the fight, but it turns out that WBC INSISTED that he be promoted as WBC champ and that the belt be visible. Haymon gave in it seems, and the belt was visible. Slightly. I don't know what WBC said to them, but they may have threatened some kind of action if their title was not recognized.

Ok thanks.

Imo, if the other governing bodies are wise they will follow the WBC's lead. Otherwise, with Haymon making his own belts, and the PBC belts being the only ones his viewers ever get to see - because they only ever watch boxing on his shows - pretty soon, you could have a situation where the PBC belts, and the PBC titles, can be presented and sold as being just as relevant, if not more so, than the WBC, WBC, IBF and WBO versions. Which would mean that Haymon wouldn't need them any more.

Maybe this is his ultimate goal. Again, the UFC model in MMA springs to mind here.

[Pain~Lucy]

GGG needs to move up doe

[Barcham]

Ok thanks.

Imo, if the other governing bodies are wise they will follow the WBC's lead. Otherwise, with Haymon making his own belts, and the PBC belts being the only ones his viewers ever get to see - because they only ever watch boxing on his shows - pretty soon, you could have a situation where the PBC belts, and the PBC titles, can be presented and sold as being just as relevant, if not more so, than the WBC, WBC, IBF and WBO versions. Which would mean that Haymon wouldn't need them any more.

Maybe this is his ultimate goal. Again, the UFC model in MMA springs to mind here.

I think that is exactly what he wants to do. The thing is that he needs real champions to give it legitimacy. He can't just have a tournament with his own fighters and crown champions. He has to have existing title holders for it to have a shot at winning over real fight fans. The other thing is that I believe that the existing sanctioning bodies will strip his fighters as soon as he introduces his own titles and they will never get a major title shot again. So he has to get as many title wins as soon as possible to put this into action. If not, the PBC title will carry about as much weight as a WWE TV title with wrestling fans.