Which is better for boxing (with no politics)? League format or knockout?

[stiff_back]

The WBSS tournament has got me thinking about what the best regular format for a boxing season would be.

Assuming there is no politics or other BS (fighters will fight anyone for the same money etc) what is the best format for boxing to take?

The rules are fights have to be scheduled automatically - not picked by a promoter (if seeded fighters can pick who they face themselves like in the WBSS then it has to consistent for every fighter in that round). Ideally there should be as little micromanagement from tournament organisers as possible and the systems works things out to make the best matchups possible.

In boxing we've always seemed to do different things to other sports - for example we have linear championships rather than annual championships.

In a straight knockout tourney like WBSS the downside is that champions would have to be crowned annually rather than keeping their status as no. 1 until they are defeated. e.g. if Andy Murray wins Wimbledon one year, then pulls out injured the next year, he won't be seen as the champion anymore. But in boxing many people consider a guy "the champ" until he is defeated in the ring.

On the other hand, I like how clear the KO format is and it has the potential to develop good storylines...

I would probably prefer a league/ knockout hybrid but I don't really know what it would be like.

What are your ideas?

[Eff Pandas]

I don't think a yearly tournament is conducive to boxing.

I do think its possible you could do a tournament every other year (9 divisions the first year/8 divisions the second year, rinse & repeat), every 3 years (6 divisions, 6 divisions & 5 divisions) or every 4 years (5 divisions, 4 divisions, 4 divisions & 4 divisions) with the champion defending his title during the off years of the tournament & then throwing the title holder, when the tournament comes around, in with the top 7 contenders to insure the best guy has to regularly prove he's the best guy in a tougher way then champions currently have to do.

So I think if the WBSS becomes successful & they eventually spread out among all divisions on a regular cycle it could revolutionize how often we see the top guys fight in EVERY division which would be amazing for boxing & likely push it more mainstream as casuals & sports fans tend to love the idea of a tournament & everyone likes to see the best compete against the best in nearly anything.

[RedZmaja]

It's good in stacked divisions where there are a lot of top contenders without a clear top guy among them.

The problem is that boxers only fight twice a year so a tournament for 8 people takes about a year and a half and could get messed up due to injuries. That's a long time in boxing and it means that all the guys in the division who didn't enter the tournament for whatever reason are sidelined during that time. It would also mean that a dominant champ would be tied up during that time and prevented from moving up. It could produce a lot of pointless matches and prevent some good ones. We would get some Lomachenko vs Marriaga match ups in early phases in some divisions, particularly in the lower ones.

Also, some of the older guys wouldn't want to be tied up for 2 years. Fighters who are big draws also wouldn't be interested. For example guys like Floyd Mayweather or Canelo would never enter such thing which in turn causes other fighters to stay away from the tournament and rather pursue the big money fight outside of it.

I think the best way is a mixture of both formats, depending on the landscape of the division.

For example an 8 man tournament might have been a cool thing in the HW division in early 2016 with say Fury, Wlad, Wilder, Povetkin, Joshua, Ortiz, Pulev and Haye, but at this point where Povetkin, Fury and Wlad are pretty much out and Haye is clearly shot to pieces it's better to just match up the remaining 4 without an extensive tournament type and wait to see what happens with the rest of the division.