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Could somebody please explain all the governing bodies? Big ufc fan but want to expand into boxing. Wanting to watch the mainstream fights but confused at all weigh classes and titles. If anybody could explain which weighckasses are the most popular and which titles are the most sought after then be greatly appreciated
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There are only 400 titles that actually mean anything, then there is like a couple hundred more that aren't as big. They are all very popular. The weight classes start low, but at the end...they get really high. Everyone like them all.Originally posted by nytoman View Post -
The 8 OG weights are flyweight, bantam, feather, light, welter, middle, lightheavy, heavy. Now there is one weight class between each of those. Originally just one title but in the 70s it became 2, a WBC title and a WBA title, then in the 80s IBF, then in the 90s/2000s the WBO.
I would say watch whatever you can and see what styles or particular fighters you like
When I first got into boxing it wasn't as easy to find videos but I read some old books on the great heavyweight champions of the past and it really drew me into their careers. If all the current titles, divisions are a bit much then there is a lot of boxing history worth watching, this doc is good
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Heavyweight, Welterweight, and Middleweight are the most prestigious divisions, historically-speaking. Going down to the lower weight classes, you will struggle to find as much coverage or interest in the fights, even amongst boxing fans.
The big four sanctioning bodies are WBC, WBO, WBA, IBF... probably in that order for importance but certainly, IBF is the least valuable of the four. There is also the IBO but nobody cares about that (unless your name is Chris Eubank Jr). And there is the Ring Magazine belt too, which according to some represents official lineal status (i.e. the man who beat the man). This is, of course, all up for debate, as all the sanctioning bodies are corrupt as fuck! The bottom line is that belts don't mean shit sometimes... the man makes the belt, not the other way around.
I'd recommend you pick a particular weight class (ideally one of the original 8) and familiarise yourself with some of the historical and current champions. That will give you a good foot in the doorComment
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In short, no. You're welcome.Comment
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The weight classes usually considered to be most important have been heavyweight and middleweight.Originally posted by nytoman View Post
In recent times, heavyweight's been weak but it's had a spark recently. It'll always be considered important just because it's the big boys, people can talk "pound for pound" all they want, if Floyd Mayweather fights a half decent heavyweight he's going to get killed. The public see a 6 foot 6 man and even a none fight fan takes notice.
In recent years the best talent's been what I consider to be the small end of mid size, Welterweight and Junior Middleweight have probably had the most big name fights in the last 15 years. These big names have mostly gone now but it's still talent laden area.
Super middleweight has the stigma of being the newest weight division and lacks a certain historical significance, but it's been the best of the mid sized divisions for some time in my estimation. A lot of European talent seems to gravitate to this division. Others may disagree.
The really small weight classes (lightweight on down in my eyes) have been dominated by smaller Asian and South American fighters for years and don't get the same attention from the American-centric fight mainstream, unless a Latino gets popular which would appeal to that demographic in America (there was a hot period with Erik Morales/Marco Antonio Barrera and Manny Pacquaio at Featherweight about 15 years ago)
As for the belts, we're pretty much back to the original way boxing worked where the "champion" is decided by public recognition rather than the belt they hold, because there's so many of them.
The main bodies are the WBA, WBC, IBF and WBO. There's a lot of minor belts that no one cares about, the IBO is held by some big name fighters but mostly we keep to the "big 4". The WBA and WBC have been around a lot longer and used to be considered better but these days it doesn't matter. The WBA has turned into a joke, the WBC was almost sued into bankruptcy for breaking it's own rules by stripping a fighter of a belt he won so they could give it back to someone more famous, the IBF president went to prison for corruption. The WBO's been relatively clean but still has the stigma of giving it's belts to relatively unknown European fighters.
The best fighter in the division could be holding any of them. At the end of the day is Floyd Mayweather is in a division and holds the IBO belt, consider him the champion and Whoever holds the WBC is just a guy with a belt.Comment
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I resent that statement. I believe it's the other way around. I think lighter weight classes get more attention from the Latino-centric fighting audience, because that's where they get the most representation. There is absolutely no major fighting sport where bottom weight classes get more recognition then middle/top ones barring maybe Muay Thai for obvious reasons.Originally posted by Razor Ramon View PostComment
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The title situations in boxing is stupid!Originally posted by nytoman View Post
They lose their significance overtime.
For one thing, there’s 4 big ones floating around in every weight, not even including IBO. Add in the stupid ‘Super’ or whatever the WBA has going on and it makes it stupider. I feel stupider talking about it.
The organizations just want to collect more sanctioning fees.
So you add these titles and IMO they really only mean something when you collect all of them and unify, or defend them for an extended period of time.
Winning a title isn’t a huge deal these days.Comment
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My first point is, America's the boxing capital of the world, hence the sport is "America-centric". The big fights that happen there get more attention than those that happen anywhere else, Americas fighters best fighters have usually been welterweight on up, that's always been the divisions the big networks and ppv's, boxings mainstream, got behind.Originally posted by KingHippo View Post
My second point is sometimes a smaller, usually Latino fighter gets popular enough within their demographic they get more mainstream attention and a platform on the bigger levels of boxing like American PPV, Like Morales, Barrera, JCC etc did, but that's the exception, not the rule, and usually a junior featherweight fight doesn't get as much hype as a middleweight fight of similar calibre would.Comment
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