Boxing - the most complicated and dirtiest of all sports

Over the last few days, I have been thinking more and more about boxing as a sport. And it saddens me to see the sport in the state that it is in.

Now I am not talking about the actual physical aspect of the competition but more about the politics and characters involved.

As many of you will know, I enjoy watching pro wrestling and for that I am quite rightly ridiculed. However, in some aspects wrestling is more legitimate than boxing.

Let me explain.

Whenever someone finds out that I like wrestling, they usually come out with a long line of comments which include references to "does Hulk Hogan still wrestle", the fact that its fake and that its a load of all nonsense - all of these things are indeed true. However, these are things that are not hidden or things to be embarassed about. Wrestling is what it is - a soap opera with staged fighting. And that is exactly how I position it with any person who asks me about it.

However, if someone was to ask me about boxing its hugely more complicated and fake than anything that the WWE can put on its screen. Lets have a look at some examples and lets assume that its describing boxing to someone who has no understanding of the sport other than the hitting each other aspect!

So who is the best fighter in the world - the world champion surely?

Err.....well there are lots of world champions. They are categorised by weight class.

So, who are the champions at each weight class?

Err.....well there are lots of champions at each weight class. There are different sanctioning bodies for the belts. Some boxers hold more than one belt in the weight division.

So why dont they just fight each other to find out who is the best?

Well its not that easy. Because some fighters are tied to a promotional company that arent allowed to fight another promotional company. And some, sanctioning bodies wont let you have two belts. Also, some fighters refuse to fight each other such as the K bros.

what about the challengers then - they must be the same challengers for all the belts

Not quite. The different sanctioning bodies rate the challengers differently. there can quite a few different No1 challengers for the various belts at one time. And if they win, then they can be considered a world champ, although there are 3 other fighters who can as well.

But at least when a champ loses, they are no longer champ?

You would think so wouldnt you. Lamont Peterson got knocked out in 3 rounds the other night but is still the IBF champ as it was a non title fight. He would have still been WBA champ as well if he hadnt been caught for PEDs.

so he was caught using PEDs? So how was he IBF champ?

Well PEDs were only considered by the WBA to be cheating. The IBF were fine with Peterson, who just got knocked out, using them. This is the IBFs world champ.

So apart from that, the 4 champs are considered the best at their weights?

Actually, no. There are some fighters like Manny who have won 8 belts at different weight classes. Mayweather is currently a two weight champ.

So Floyd is the best at both weights?

Err....well he doesnt really want to fight anyone at 154lbs.

So he has been stripped of his belt then?

Not quite. He is still champ and has no signs of being asked to vacate or fight at the weight again.

Right....but at least each body recognises one person as the champ in each weight class?

Of course it does! Well, except for the WBa which has as many as 3 champs in each weight class. For example, the WBA Super Middleweight division recognises Ward, Kessler and Kashtanov as World Champs. To be fair though, they only have two champs in each other division.

So who is the best p4p boxer out there?

Easy. It depends on which body you believe is the best, which weight is the optimum one, what weight they want to defend their belts at, who is the challenger, who they are allowed to fight, whether they want to fight them and whether you are allowed to take PEDs.

so basically Paulie Mallignalli is the p4p champ. Easy!


As you can see, boxing is so overly complicated, it has no chance to draw in new blood as long as the insanity outlined above continues.

What is needed, is one sanctioning body, where weight classes are clearly defined, drugs suitably banned and a clear ranking system is in place.

Thanks for reading, I am off to watch some MMA.

You could have mentioned the Ring magazines independent rankings that fans have looked to for years. Or maybe not as Golden Boy bought and corrupted the Ring.

MMA has loads of organizations as well and there's too much up close and persoal prolonged hugging. Classless activity really.

A bit of libelling of the IBF there me thinks........

I thought he kept the belt because the quantity found in his system was in line with the therapeutic excuse he gave to the commission......

As far as I'm aware the IBF are as against PEDs as any other organisation..Might have helped Petersen being American though..

Perhaps as well not to be suggesting Goldenboy are corrupting anything either..

The ring was a tragedy when he took it over...best remember that..

I play Chess my Wife maybe once a week.... and as my "Sicilian defence" get chucked back in my face regularly....... both during the game and after..

I generally think that chess is slightly more complicated.........

And he plays chess too.......

Is there anything this man can't do???

The ibf champ keeps his belt after failing a drug test. But he also gets pancaked in 3 and yet again is still the reigning ibf champion of the world.
Peterson couldn't give that belt away. But on the bright side at least he doesn't wear tights.

It's the reason I'm not as big a follower as I used to be. It is incredible that the best can avoid the best. Imagine if Nadal refused to play Federer, or Barcelona refused to play Bayern.

Has always been the case and sadly there is no answer. Boxers will never be told who they have to box and with so many promoters with their own interests they will not unite to make it a better place.