Pacquaio v Marquez... Fighting for the WHAT??

So I was just on Boxrec and I can't help noticing that Pac-JMM IV is for the most ridiculous title I've ever seen...

Forget your baloney WBC Silver nonsense...
Don't get me started on WBA Super belts...

But this one is for the WBO Fighter of the Decade belt!!

What?

I mean technically we're only 2 years into this decade so this seems a bit premature but seriously...

Why?
Who thought this was a good idea?

Is this a belt that needs to be defended?
Can you vacate this?

Why is this happening to our sport?

A load of balomy!

I love boxers to start boycotted the boxing orgs but won't happen.

I loved it when Mayweather didn't bother fighting for a belt a couple of fights back (can't remember what one?) and said belts don't mean $h!T nowadays.

His reasons were more money orientated but at least the WBC or whoever it was didn't get their own way.

I think they wanted $1m to authorise a fight for their belt, crazy!

I remember this being said a while back, it really is a moment.

Haha, look forward to hearing the announcer crown the new champion after the fights conclusion.

I would say that this tarnishes the fight....but it doesn’t really.

Hopefully its a swansong for both fighters and they both ride off into the sunset without any injury. Both have been good for the sport, but both really need to walk away now.

Saw this a few weeks back, and it still sounds just as stupid now. I suspect the WBO realised that this was the first time since emerging as a mega star that Pacquiao has headed in to a fight without some kind of 'world title' to his name, or isn't at least fighting to claim one. Naturally, as all of us boxing fans are thick and fickle, they realised that nobody will want to watch the fight if it doesn't involve some shiny world title, because there's no way anyone could possibly just appreciate it for what it is - a fine boxing match between two top fighters who share a storied history against each other.

Despite the fact that it's a gratuitous belt that they've only just invented, the pathetic thing is that the WBO will probably start to market this belt as something meaningful, laying out a series of mandatories and demanding sanctioning fees.

The winning fighter of the Pacquaio-Marquez bout on December 8, at the MGM Grand Arena in Las Vegas, will be awarded an exclusively crafted and elaborately refined rendition of the WBO Championship motif.

“This Champion of the Decade belt is a work of art,” Francisco “Paco” Valcarcel, WBO President, said.

“It’s a magnificent job by Master Craftsmen Ardash Sahaghian and Edward Majian who once more have demonstrated their unsurpassable creativity and originality.”

With perfectly detailed contours and a hand polished mirror finish, the winner takes home a truly one-of-a-kind trophy to mark his aggregate contribution to the sport of boxing and the World Boxing Organization.

“Every crevice of this belt has been carefully finished, and the results, I think, speak for themselves,” Edward S. Majian, President of SARTONK, stated, before reflecting: “Some purists criticize belts. But ours is the perspective of the craftsman. Our work aspires towards perfection, and we put every ounce of ourselves into that aspiration. What you see in this belt is devotion to boxing. And don’t the fighters deserve that?

"When the moments are long-gone, this belt will immortalize the time these men met to put themselves on the line and gave their fans one more epic bout.”

President Valcarcel will travel tomorrow, Wednesday, December 5th, to Las Vegas to attend the Weigh-In and the unveiling of the belt, and to attend the historic fourth fight between the two great Super Champions and future Hall of Famers, Manny Pacquiao and Juan Manuel Marquez.

doesnt marquez hold an actual world title anyway?

i feel sorry for modern boxers, the dream of lifting the world title means nothing any more, unifying the divisions is now impossible and forcing anybody to fight you is impossible- future sporting stars would be crazy to take a career in boxing if they wanted to leave a legacy behind

eddyfightfan wrote:doesnt marquez hold an actual world title anyway?

i feel sorry for modern boxers, the dream of lifting the world title means nothing any more, unifying the divisions is now impossible and forcing anybody to fight you is impossible- future sporting stars would be crazy to take a career in boxing if they wanted to leave a legacy behind

Think he holds an interim Light Welterweight title.

Bartley Gorman wrote:

eddyfightfan wrote:doesnt marquez hold an actual world title anyway?

i feel sorry for modern boxers, the dream of lifting the world title means nothing any more, unifying the divisions is now impossible and forcing anybody to fight you is impossible- future sporting stars would be crazy to take a career in boxing if they wanted to leave a legacy behind

Think he holds an interim Light Welterweight title.

He did hold the WBO interim, but was upgraded to full WBO Champion when Bradley moved up, but as this fight is at 147 it is not on the line.

Since this mickey mouse belt / work of art goes to the winner, I am starting to smell a stitch up on Marquez where he "will have to knock <Pacquaio> out to get a draw". Let's hope it's all fair and above board

Interesting story about Ardash Sahaghian, the Master Craftsman responsible for the belt.

http://hudsonreporter.com/view/full_story/20993772/article-The-man-behind-the-belts-UC-craftsman-honored-by-N-J--Hall-of-Fame-

Union Cane wrote:

Bartley Gorman wrote:

eddyfightfan wrote:doesnt marquez hold an actual world title anyway?

i feel sorry for modern boxers, the dream of lifting the world title means nothing any more, unifying the divisions is now impossible and forcing anybody to fight you is impossible- future sporting stars would be crazy to take a career in boxing if they wanted to leave a legacy behind

Think he holds an interim Light Welterweight title.

He did hold the WBO interim, but was upgraded to full WBO Champion when Bradley moved up, but as this fight is at 147 it is not on the line.

suprised they didnt have it at a LWW catchweight of 146 or something and use the real belt, even that would be more credible

This does sound stupid.

But.....what sounds more stupid out of the following:

WBO Fighter of the Decade

or


Primetimes Earthquake in Essex?!

bhb001 wrote:Since this mickey mouse belt / work of art goes to the winner, I am starting to smell a stitch up on Marquez where he "will have to knock <Pacquaio> out to get a draw". Let's hope it's all fair and above board

Unlike the last three fights between them which was all fair and above board........

mobilemaster8 wrote:This does sound stupid.

But.....what sounds more stupid out of the following:

WBO Fighter of the Decade

or


Primetimes Earthquake in Essex?!

Hmmm...it's close but WBO fighter of the decade for many reasons. For a start it's only 2012!?

However, deep down, I know I'm glad it's a 12 rounder. Despite whatever nonsense is making it a 12 rounder.

Very True JW.

Tune into boxingscene and read up on Mick Hennessey latest outburst.

That is defo up there with stupid.

That guy, along with Fury, are planks.

Super D Boon wrote:

bhb001 wrote:Since this mickey mouse belt / work of art goes to the winner, I am starting to smell a stitch up on Marquez where he "will have to knock <Pacquaio> out to get a draw". Let's hope it's all fair and above board

Unlike the last three fights between them which was all fair and above board........

Sort of what I was alluding to really