Wanna save boxing? Go back to 8 weight classes

[Rusty Tromboni]

Have you guys ever thought how stacked every division would be if we just used the original 8 divisions?

Just think of all the names at the super/light divisions that would have to move up.

Boxing would be so much more exciting.

I feel like flyweight, bantamweight, featherweight, lightweight and middleweight would be especially exciting divisions.

The original 8 were pretty arbitrary. I agree there are too many divisions, but the original 8 were pretty unrealistic, and themselves somewhat fluid in the early decades. And almost as soon as they were settled and universally accepted, Junior weight divisions emerged - namely Jr. Lw and jr Ww. which makes sense when you realize that's where the greatest concentration of talent has been across the sport's history.

I say mimic Wrestling's weight classes. Much fairer.

But even then doesn't solve everything. We need day-of weigh-ins, and an end to Alphabet belts.

[EDD1]

I get that people think there are too many belts, but if you really think about the fact that boxing is a global sport and there are opportunities for for every culture and nationality to develop boxing talent, the number of opportunities are actually limited.
If the titles were limited to 8 weight classes it is fair to say we might not have had a Manny Pacquiao, or a Valero or many of the fighter to come out of poor regions like Baja California or Thailand because promotions would focus on athletes with the means.
We would have a select few top athletes who would never have to meet someone they didn't know.
A good example of this is soccer in the USA, in every state there are great talented players from the Hispanic community, from the Asian community and from other immigrant communities, yet if you look up the top college teams or even the women's game and most of the opportunities are reserved for upperclass player with the means to do travel ball.
As boxing stands right now, I like that there is not NFL or nba like organizations or or UFC controlling the direction of the sport, it is free for anyone to have the opportunity