Solving The Middleweight Mess

[BIGPOPPAPUMP]

Last July 16th, Jermain Taylor defeated Bernard Hopkins for the undisputed Middleweight championship. His prize for beating Hopkins included the WBO, WBC, IBF and WBA Middleweight championships belts, along with the distinction of being the first fighter to beat Hopkins in over 12 years.

On June 17th of this year, Taylor will fight Ronald "Winky" Wright, the top recognized Middleweight contender. Along the way to his upcoming meeting with Winky Wright, Mr. Taylor has managed to lose two belts, the IBF and WBA, without losing a single fight!

For those interested, German Middleweight Arthur Abraham was rewarded with the IBF’s version of the Middleweight title when he clocked Kingsley Ikeke in five pugilistic rounds. Then Felix Sturm captured the WBA middleweight title by defeating Maselino Masoe, who was granted his title by defeating the previously undefeated and unknown, Evans Ashira.

While these fighters are good fighters in their own right, they have as much right to a title as the common palooka in the street. They were given their title as gifts because Jermian Taylor chose to give Mr. Hopkins a rematch and a chance to set the record straight on who won their initial bout. Knowing that the biggest money fight out of the numerous possible opponents was Wright, Taylor decided to give the Winky a well-deserved shot at the title. Of course the WBA and IBF for reasons unknown, other than possibly needing the extra sanctioning fees, decided to reward Taylor for facing the best fighters in the division was stripping of him of their titles - essentially making them useless trinkets. [details]

[whdempsey]

There's only a mess if you don't recognize the Ring belts. If you don't recognize the Ring champs as the only real champs, that simply reveals your own ignorance, and you're part of the problem. Otherwise it's an exciting division packed with young, mostly hard-hitting contenders.

[BIGPOPPAPUMP]

I would clearly disagree there. The Ring is just as biased towards some fighters as the sanctioning bodies. They especially love leaning towards HBO fighters.

[whdempsey]

So what's your solution? Unify? Bull****, won't solve a thing. These parasitic organizations will still have the power, and they'll still be getting the money. Create a new body? Just adds to the mess. You're content to sit there and ***** about the status quo, but you still put up with it. Ring subscribers don't.

Guess what, buddy. You're part of the problem.

As for their clear bias towards HBO fighters, I guess that would be proven by their frequent complaints aimed at HBO for the dupliciousness. Or mebbe it was their choice of Ricky Hatton as fighter of the year.

[BIGPOPPAPUMP]

And where is Hatton fighting next...not Showtime. There are several past and present Ring writers on this website's staff, and I know for a fact that the editor there think the world of Hatton and always has, or maybe it's because he was born in the UK? Forget unify, eliminate all the sanctioning bodies down to one. One champion. Ring considered Zab the man at 147, that should mean Baldomir is the man now, but he is not. They will crown Mayweather the man once he beats Zab, for a title lost and then given back to Zab because Baldomir refused to pay the sanctioning fee. If the Ring was perfect, Baldomir would be the man regardless because he beat the man who beat the man and so on.

[Run]

If you don't recognize the Ring champs as the only real champs, that simply reveals your own ignorance, and you're part of the problem.

That's total bull****.

I've never been an advocate for Ring Magazine....because they're horrible when it comes to awarding fighters. You couldn't pick a more biased ranking system based on public approval anywhere. In fact....I'd say Boxrec's worthless computer calculations system is better by a slight margin.

Ring goes by that ridiculous idea that "you are automatically the man if you beat the man." I've never bought into that line of thinking because it completely disregards the idea that styles make fights. Ring = untrustworthy in my opinion....mainly because of the lean towards the public's general perception.

Guys like Vitali Klitschko and Ricky Hatton end up on the cover...when guys like Mayweather and Rafael Marquez get slighted...or have been in the past.

Boxing shouldn't be a popularity contest....and the Ring is an elitist magazine faction that represents just that.



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[Run]

The general public only tunes in for big fights. The winner of the "big fight" always ends up the Ring posterboy....when die hard boxing fans know different.



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[JOM'S]

And where is Hatton fighting next...not Showtime. There are several past and present Ring writers on this website's staff, and I know for a fact that the editor there think the world of Hatton and always has, or maybe it's because he was born in the UK? Forget unify, eliminate all the sanctioning bodies down to one. One champion. Ring considered Zab the man at 147, that should mean Baldomir is the man now, but he is not. They will crown Mayweather the man once he beats Zab, for a title lost and then given back to Zab because Baldomir refused to pay the sanctioning fee. If the Ring was perfect, Baldomir would be the man regardless because he beat the man who beat the man and so on.

that is a tall order but it would really be great for boxing if we will only have one global body ... one recognized WORLD Champ

[Hitman932]

that is a tall order but it would really be great for boxing if we will only have one global body ... one recognized WORLD Champ

imagine champions fighting every 4 months and people getting hyped the **** up for it. if there were a more clear prize and less half ass ways of getting to the top maybe some fighters would take themselves a little more seriously.

[yrrej]

Well, it's all well and good to talk about how worthless a particular sanctioning organization is for making some ****** decision about who fights for their title, and how they are doing it for sanctioning fees. But the other organizations are all doing the same thing, including Ring Magazine who lauds themselves as the "real thing." I remember when Roberto Duran was quite old, but still fighting contenders and winning, earning a well-deserved ranking in the top 10, but Ring Magazine would not put him in there because they thought he was too old and ought to retire. Well, he earned his spot in the rankings in the ring. So you all can whine and complain about the sanctioning organizations but, fickle public that you are, the first time a different sanctioning organization does something fishy, you will be all over them like flies on s**t the same way you are railing about the middleweight division right now. So, if you don't like it, maybe you should start your own free, but accurate, rankings with no money or strings attached, and let's see how long it is before you start taking bribes to put some guy on your list, or at least look harder at some than others. Boxing is all about money. Always has been and always will be.