Boxing Perspective: It Takes More Than A Title To Be A Champion

To become champion of the world used to be a dream that few accomplished. It was what young men who banged away at heavy bags in gyms across the world dreamed of while breaking a sweat and throwing wild punches that seldom met their target on point. While perfecting the speed bag a young hopeful thinks about their favorite fighter and imagines themselves getting ready just like they would for the big bout.

If you were the champion of the world you were somebody. Everyone knows who the world champion is and everyone wants to be just like them. Why wouldn’t you? Just think about everything that comes with being champ. You have fame; money, respect and most of all you have the chance to become immortal.

The chances for people to talk about you and your greatness for years to come even after you leave the sport, even after you die you know your name will mean something. Yes becoming champion is the ultimate goal for all who step in the ring. It meant something to hold a belt at one time but sadly I think that time is over.

So is the time when being champion not only meant the for mentioned but it also meant you carried yourself a certain way. Also even when you lost the title or retired you continued to have this aura of greatness, you continued to have it because you had achieved what so many want or have tried to accomplish before or after you. In no other words you are just that a CHAMPION.

Without even having to mention anything more than their names look at the list of men who have become immortal due to their time as a division king. Men like Joe Louis, Muhammad Ali, Ray Leonard, Marvin Hagler, Jack Johnson, Julio Caesar Chavez, Ricardo Lopez, Floyd Mayweather Jr, Salvador Sanchez, Evander Holyfield, to name a few.

These men have not only carried themselves like champions in the ring but out of it as well. It doesn’t mean they were choirboys in life but figures to be respected. Men who more so than not showed what hard work and dedication can get you in this world. Men who while champion came in the ring always in shape. They fought with pride and most of all deserved what they had managed to become. Like anything nothing is always perfect, we don’t live in a perfect world and down the stretch there have been some bad champions and one hit wonders but the majority have been top notch.

Somehow the sport of boxing is killing this honor of being champion. The governing bodies and powers to be are letting the word champion become just that a word. More than that once some win a title they are not always forced to be champions. Many are allowed to fight everyone but the top guy’s. Some just sit on the belts and wait to be stripped knowing they never had the intention of defending it from the get go.

The conduct of many of today’s champions is also out of control. A vast majority over the recent years have become more known for antics outside the ring rather than performance in it. In my humble opinion there are some changes to be made. A few things the sport as a whole should address to restore a certain amount of credibility. Nothing drastic just some minor adjustments to the order of things. We need to bring back a few old policies and maybe add a few new ones before we end up losing the credibility of the most cherished position in all of sports before it becomes to late.

Titles, Titles, Titles: We have so many of them. Why, I don’t know? Every time I turn around there seems to be a new one in some form or another. I am all for minor title’s I think they help groom a fighter for the responsibility of becoming world champion. I also think it helps weed out pretenders from legit contenders. Not to mention it keeps the rating system from being in too much of a disarray. I am not speaking of belts like state belts or region belts.

I mean a minor title that is sanctioned by major organization. NABF, NABO, USBA ECT. Plus time honored traditions such as the Commonwealth and continent titles like the European should stay in place.

As for world titles we have the big three WBA, WBC, IBF and now the recently added credibility of the WBO title over the last few years. Why can’t we leave it at that? Sure not all belts that have the word world attached to it are actually recognized by all as legit titles but why does the sport even allow it? Do we really need the WBU, IBO, IBU and those like it?

Some have been around a while but they actually have no real value to anyone but the guy who wears it yet are just enough to cause problems by allowing a second tier fighter being able to claim he is a world champ. If it was up to me we would have one champion in each division. It isn’t though so as of right now we have four that count we need to eliminate the rest. At the very least make them take the word world off their belt.

I won’t even go into the whole interim and outright insulting belts like “The Contender” world champ. At this rate we will have more belt holders than challengers. At least we still have Ring Magazine to help us in this situation.

It’s the top 10 or nothing!: I don’t care how weak a division is if you are the champ you fight nothing but a top 10 ranked fighter. I hear from fighter’s managers and promoters all the time about why they aren’t fighting a top ranked guy.

One had even told me that everyone in the top 10 was to busy for their guy to fight so he had to fight an opponent who wasn’t ranked. ARE YOU KIDDING ME! You name a division where all top 10 ranked fighters have a bout coming up or have injuries at the same time. You tell me the fighter that would rather fight someone else than the champion. NOT HAPPENING!

In all my years I have never heard a fighter say “ They offered me a title shot but I turned it down because I wanted to fight this guy for a fraction of the money and nothing to gain.” I am and always have been against the initial gimme defense of the title for new champions. From day one fight a ranked fighter or lose your belt.

It is time the sport started deciding who gets title shots rather than managers and promoters. If you can’t defend your belt against the top guy’s every time then you should not be champion period. It is not fair to the guys who work hard to be ranked and it isn’t fair to the fans to have to endure watching a champion defend his belt against a no hoper then listen to him brag about how great he is.

Paydays: This is yet another over rated and exaggerated excuse. How many times do we hear about big fights not coming off due to lack of money offered? It is time we put a standard of paydays. No more who is the bigger draw conflict unless it is among two champions in the same division.

For example let’s use Floyd Mayweather and Carlos Baldomir (I am just making an example here and not suggesting anything about Floyd or Carlos just two names making news at the moment). Let’s say Floyd just jumped to 147 and has no belt. He makes it into title contention and gets a shot at Carlos. Now Floyd is the bigger draw but Carlos is the champion.

Seeing how Carlos is the champ he should get the bigger purse. I mean that is a benefit of being champion no? Why should the challenger get to make the terms? If this was mandatory we wouldn’t even have the problem of going through the negotiations of who gets what percent. Anything extra outside the actual fight purse that the bigger draw receives should be something worked out with the promoter. If you don’t like the fact the champion gets the bigger purse here is an idea YOU DON’T GET A TITLE SHOT.

Beat the champ and you get the bigger purse next time, simple. How many fights can we all name that have not taken place because of percentages like this? Also the same goes for champions who decide not to defend for lack of money. Lets be like other sports and put a cap on title defenses. Make a bare minimum of a champion’s purse. Depending on how his opponent is ranked first second third and so on adjust the purse. This will cut down on fights not taking place.

Of course this is harder than it sounds. I know it is easier to just shout out ideas than to actually make it happen. I am a firm believer that if your making 3 million dollars to defend a title deciding not to fight because your not getting 4 is not a valid reason.

Defend your belt!: I am from the old school way of thinking. I feel if you are the champ defend your title often. One or two times a year is not satisfactory. I am not getting crazy and suggesting we revert back to the classic days that a guy fight once a month but there is no valid reason to not defend the title no less that three times a year.

This is not the early 1900’s when a guy could go years without defending and use the reason that there is no one worthy just to have them come in out of shape and lose the belt in 3 rounds. This is the modern era. Plenty of worthy challengers out there. Unless a champion is hurt or has a valid personal problem he should be forced to defend. If the mandatory is unable to fight then another top 10-ranked fighter should be given a chance. If by some crazy reason the whole top ten is not able to accept then go to the number 11 guy and so on.

I don’t suggest they fight once a month but once every 4 is not asking a lot. The NFL doesn’t play a game every 6 weeks. The NHL doesn’t have a game every 3 weeks and both are very demanding sports when it comes to the body. The go the whole season without stopping. If you are not hurt and you are first string you play or you lose your position. Same for boxing if you are healthy and do not defend your title then you get stripped. It shouldn’t be the long process of making a mandatory the giving time for negotiations and so on.

Fighters have managers and promoters for the money talk of the game. The fighter should train and fight that is their job. If a guy didn’t take 9 months off to sit around go clubbing and sit in the sun all day on their ass they wouldn’t need to take off 50 lbs and train for 4 months.

A fighter at that level, assuming there are no real injuries, should be fight ready in 8 to 10 weeks. That’s two and a half months to prepare. You have a month and a half between to yourself. Is that a lot of time off no not really but you are the champion of the world not CEO of a corporation. Your time as a fighter is limited. You will make enough money in your career to sit around and do nothing the rest of your life when you retire. If you can’t handle the job then give up the title. There are plenty of guys out there worthy and willing. Why should it have to be only a refusal to fight a mandatory before they are stripped?

You’re a champion conduct yourself like one! Boxing is a tough sport we all know this. It is also one of the few sports that require no college or high school background to compete in. Anyone with two fist able to pass a medical exam is eligible. Like any sport though once you reach that certain level you become a representative of the sport as a whole.

Many sports have codes of conduct. Their athletes have to conduct themselves in a manner befitting if they wish to continue. Some give heavy fines to those who get in trouble or act inappropriate outside the playing field. Others major sports teams will fire your behavior becomes to out of control. The same should be said of boxing. If a champion gets in trouble for certain offenses or fails to keep themselves acting acceptable then strip them of the belt.

I know many will argue with this. The old claim of I never got into this to be a role model excuse is not acceptable. You may have not gotten into this with that goal in mind and no one is saying you have to be a mentor or visit sick kids in the hospital but when you act up you disgrace everyone involved in the sport not just yourself.

The public never seems to remember the good guys but always remembers the bad ones. Is it so hard to stay out of jail, not sleep with teenage girls or fistfight in the street? You’re a millionaire do you really have to get arrested for driving drunk when you have a slew of hangers on to drive you around and a pocket full of cash to take a cab.

You are a professional fighter do you really have to slap around your wife? Not saying this happens all the time or everyone does this and I know we are human and everyone makes mistakes. I am not suggesting that a guy get punished for one mistake. I am not saying that these are the things every fighter gets in trouble for just some of the more severe ones over the last few years.

I just feel if a guy is constantly getting in trouble than he is not good for the sport. Again it hurts everyone involved someway or another be it by public opinion, attendance or even general stereotype status it doesn’t matter the behavior is not acceptable.

In no way do I suggest that every champion tries to defend his belt little as possible or against the easiest opponents possible. I am not insinuating that every champion holds out for nothing but his purse terms and if they are not getting the exact amount they want they refuse to fight. Or if the case warrants it make payday demands that exceed reasonable limits so they don’t have to fight.

I, most importantly, do not suggest that every champion does not conduct themselves in a manner befitting the title. These things seem to happen more and more often though. Eventually it takes the prestige away from the ultimate prize. Like a flawless diamond the more and more it is cut the more damage is done to it.

Finally, it becomes just another diamond. World titles are our sports diamonds. The men who control and rule the sport our so-called powers that be are the jeweler’s who possess the diamond. A jeweler who has a flawless gem would not just sell it to anyone. They want to make sure the possessor of the stone is going to keep it flawless. Such stones are rare and the holder of it will represent the jeweler and his craftsmanship when they show it off.

Our champions represent us and how they conduct them-self represent the craft of our sport so like the jeweler we want them as little flawed as possible. Those men who sell cubic zirconias are not true craftsman and this is why they don’t have the flawless stones. Every fighter is not championship caliber and this is why not everyone is a champion. Those that are should be little flawed as possible.