Max Kellerman on the Ring Championships

[EVIL~! alkeiper 0]

With more and more scandals in boxing, and abuses by the sanctioning bodies, boxing fans are more and more disillusioned by the sport every day. One problem many cite with boxing is multiple world championships. Ring Magazine along with USA Today are working to change that. They've begun issuing their own rankings and championships. They've done this for about three years or so. Max Kellerman explains in his latest boxing column......

 

There is no legitimate title on the line in the Gatti-Branco fight. Kostya Tszyu is the junior welterweight champion of the world. The Ring Magazine champ. Why is the Ring belt significant and all other belts meaningless? Is it because the Ring has some special moral authority that the sanctioning bodies do not?

 

Well, yes. They have moral authority derived from their championship policy. The policy is as follows:

 

 

A fighter can become world champion by beating the reigning champion.

 

 

The only three occasions when a fighter will lose his championship status are when he retires, moves to another weight division or is defeated in a championship bout.

 

 

Championship vacancies can be filled in one of two ways:

1) by unifying all three "major" sanctioning body belts in a division, or

2) by winning a box-off between The Ring's No. 1 and 2 contenders or in certain instances a box-off between the Ring's No. 1 and 3 contenders.

 

In other words, the Ring champ - the real champ - had to earn that distinction in the ring.

 

The Ring's system is not perfect. If their ratings were ever corrupted, for instance, a fighter could emerge with the Ring belt without having fought the best in his division. But as my father the shrink is fond of saying, "the perfect is often the enemy of the good." Or, as Ring Magazine Editor-in-Chief Nigel Collins told me:

 

"The sanctioning bodies' system of stripping fighters of their titles has lead to wide spread abuse. Every now and then a Lennox Lewis essentially holds a division hostage by sitting on the title and not defending it for a while, and it would be better if that were not the case, but in such cases patience is preferable to rash action." Not to mention sanctioning body corruption.

 

The sanctioning bodies are never going to unify the titles. The only solution is to ignore them completely. Pretend they don't even exist. Next time someone tells you the IBF Jr. Featherweight Title is on the line, ask them if its some sort of bagel. Its the only way we'll see legitimate champions again.

[razazteca 0]

Who has Kostya Tszyu defended his championship against in the last year?

[EVIL~! alkeiper 0]

Apparently his last fight was last January. He is apparently scheduled to fight Sharmba Mitchell in February.

 

Still, this system is superior to the other. Like the column says, once in a while a champion will sit on a title. But having titles won only in the ring adds more legitimacy to them, which is very important.

[razazteca 0]

Well If boxing was on free tv more often and if the PPVs did not cost a fortune maybe it would have a bigger fanbase. Also if they fought more often instead of once or twice a year than maybe more people would pay attenion and stop asking for a Tyson comeback.

[Guest Agent of Oblivion]

More often? It takes a long time to train for, and recover from a top-rank prizefight. With MMA, the fight doesn't generally include 36 minutes of being beaten in the ribs, abdomen, arms, and face while attempting to do the same to your opponent. If it DOESN'T go that long, it's because someone got KO'ed, usually, which can take as long as a lifetime to truly recover from, or else not at all, if they fight "More often". (Muhammad Ali)

 

The sport itself, and the fighters right now are FINE, overall. It's the creeps that control the sport, which has been the problem since day one, and the major complaint since day one. Oddly enough, you mentioned showing fights on free tv more, when it was doing just that that gave us our beloved "Alphabet soup."

 

Bottom line, there's great fights and great fighters right now, and it's not hard to tell them apart from the lunks that sit on a piece of leather and tin.

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There IS a dearth of talent in the heavyweight division, and the problem is the sport's image. Boxing will always have plenty of lightweight guys, because what the heck else are you going to do when your an athlete and you weigh 112 pounds? But heavyweight boxing has to compete with baseball, football, basketball, etc. Boxing needs another Tyson to clean up the division and create interest in the sport again.

[lomasmoney 0]

too bad there will never be a fighter like Mike Tyson (1986-1990). Tyson really would have been considered one of the all time greats if not the best ever if he had not got involved with Don King and stayed with his original camp

[Guest Agent of Oblivion]

There IS a dearth of talent in the heavyweight division, and the problem is the sport's image. Boxing will always have plenty of lightweight guys, because what the heck else are you going to do when your an athlete and you weigh 112 pounds? But heavyweight boxing has to compete with baseball, football, basketball, etc. Boxing needs another Tyson to clean up the division and create interest in the sport again.

 

Seriously though, he's big, he's strong, he's quick, and he just got blatantly ducked by a world champ. Vitaly needs to start eradicating every chump in the division until he's either pressured into fighting his brother, or until the next big thing pops up. Mike Tyson he ain't, but he's as good as the division is going to get for a while.

[The Czech Republic 0]

There is no legitimate title on the line in the Gatti-Branco fight. Kostya Tszyu is the junior welterweight champion of the world. The Ring Magazine champ. Why is the Ring belt significant and all other belts meaningless? Is it because the Ring has some special moral authority that the sanctioning bodies do not?

 

Well, yes. They have moral authority derived from their championship policy. The policy is as follows:

 

Good answers will get two points, and great answers will get three.

 

We use the mute button for a bad answer or to direct traffic. I'll demonstrate it on Woody.

 

We eliminate guys, so a one-on-one showdown determines the day's winner.

 

Let's make it happen.

[razazteca 0]

More often? It takes a long time to train for, and recover from a top-rank prizefight. With MMA, the fight doesn't generally include 36 minutes of being beaten in the ribs, abdomen, arms, and face while attempting to do the same to your opponent. If it DOESN'T go that long, it's because someone got KO'ed, usually, which can take as long as a lifetime to truly recover from, or else not at all, if they fight "More often". (Muhammad Ali)

 

The sport itself, and the fighters right now are FINE, overall. It's the creeps that control the sport, which has been the problem since day one, and the major complaint since day one. Oddly enough, you mentioned showing fights on free tv more, when it was doing just that that gave us our beloved "Alphabet soup."

 

Bottom line, there's great fights and great fighters right now, and it's not hard to tell them apart from the lunks that sit on a piece of leather and tin.

Its hard to follow boxing without Showtime and HBO, this is where the big fights happen. So far I think the only boxing on standard cable is ESPN2 Friday Night Fights, Fox Sports, Telemundo/Galavision. The sport of boxing needs a program on a big network that can promote the "Sweet Science" to produce some new stars. Gatti/Ward might of been the match of the decade but until Max Kellerman started to talk about it nobody knew who there were and the public probably don't know which one retired recently.

 

A simple solution to get rid of the "alphabet soup" would be to settle it on tv. There would big money to be made if the different promotions put there champions in a tourny to see who is the true champion, then have the finals on PPV.

 

Also I think the whole deal with the press conference fights has given the sport of boxing a bad stigma as it has made it look as bad or worse than pro wrestling. How can boxing be taken as a serious sport when promoters like Don King acting like Vince McMahon and promotions strip fighters of their championships? Boxing better watch its back because the other fighting sports are catching up and could steal its spotlight.

[Guest Agent of Oblivion]

Don King's a genius in the same way Vince McMahon is a genius, though. They've both got an essential monopoly on their respective industries, although there's room for others to exist. Not to mention the fact that they're easily recognizable, ballsy, and charismatic. They're also both absolutely horrible for business.

 

As for stripping fighters of their belts. As far as I know, that only happens when a fighter won't defend them, which justifies removing their championship. In the end, the great fights still get settled in the ring, and that's what makes it worthwhile.

[EVIL~! alkeiper 0]

A simple solution to get rid of the "alphabet soup" would be to settle it on tv. There would big money to be made if the different promotions put there champions in a tourny to see who is the true champion, then have the finals on PPV.

 

We've had unified heavyweight champions twice in the last twenty years. The only way this plan would work is if the alphabet organizations dissolved after the fights. That's obviously not going to happen.

 

As for stripping fighters of their belts. As far as I know, that only happens when a fighter won't defend them, which justifies removing their championship. In the end, the great fights still get settled in the ring, and that's what makes it worthwhile.

 

It happens mostly when fighters won't defend against the organization's "#1 Contender." For example, Lewis was stripped by an organization for not defending against John Ruiz. Two questions. One, what in the blue fuck has John Ruiz ever done to warrent a title shot? Roy Jones picked his spot against him for a reason. Two, why does every organization have a different #1 contender? The ratings are bullshit, with underhanded deals and money passed around all over the place. Legitimate champions are stripped constantly because they won't face Johnny Scrub, who has no credentials except a top promotor and a #1 ranking.

[razazteca 0]

The Great White Hype movie is what the boxing business is today.