Tarver and Johnson Cut Through the Bull.

The sport of boxing in 2004 is a confusing place. Too many weight classes, too many titles within each class, organizations whose rankings are clearly incompetent, and too many great fights that are never made because of ‘politics’ (see also:

‘bullshit,’ ‘TV networks’ and ‘money’). These are just some of the problems that boxing is facing in this day and age. But, as is in my nature, I try to see the positives in these things, and rest assured gentleman, that with this litany of alphabet bodies in the world of boxing today one positive has arisen: Nobody cares anymore. Does anybody even know that the Kostya Tszyu-Sharmba Mitchell fight a few weeks ago was for only the IBF portion of the crown? Does anybody know what titles were on offer when Barrera beat Morales? What about the fact that when Antonio Tarver knocked out Roy Jones Jr. this past May, he claimed no less than five title belts? (WBA, WBC, IBO, NBA and IBA if you’re really interested).

The aforementioned fights were staged for one reason and one reason only-to decide who the better man was, and that is precisely why a fight should be staged. As long as any old organization sanctions it so it can be a twelve-rounder, why the hell should we care what title it’s for? This Saturday night at the Staples Centre in Los Angeles, another such fight will take place. Antonio Tarver will do battle with Glen Johnson to decide who the best light heavyweight in the world is, and the only belt on offer will be Tarver’s IBO title. That was the only belt that Tarver has left since conquering Jones, even though he has not fought since. Both men have decided to relinquish their meaningless titles, for the sake of something much more important-recognition as the best in the business by the industry, the scribes, and most importantly the fans.

For Tarver’s part, he was asked to face his WBC mandatory, Paul Briggs from Australia. Briggs, who boasts an imposing 23-1 record, has fought outside of Australia only once and his record makes very interesting reading. In short, it’s awful. The only names of reasonable note on there are Australia’s Glen Kelly, who was obliterated by a clowning Roy Jones in his previous fight, and Jesus Ruiz who boasts losing fights to Montell Griffin and Rodney Toney. Still, who are we to question the wisdom of the WBC in installing Briggs as number one? I understand that he owns some very nice pairs of trunks and some gloves. Come to think of it, so do I. If I can rustle up the cash for a mouth guard, and make a few calls to Jose Sulaiman, I could probably secure a title shot by the middle of next year.

Johnson’s mandatory, Rico Hoye, similarly has done little to set the boxing world on fire and deserve his mandatory shot. At best, Hoye is nothing more than a good prospect with some potential. But since when did that qualify you for a title shot? Probably since boxing organizations began taking bribes and kickbacks. Remember that movie ‘The Great White Hype,’ with Cheech Marin as ‘Julio Escobar,’ taking a bribe from Rev. Fred Sultan to maneuver ‘Irish’ Terry Conklin into a shot at the champion? Try as I might, I can’t think for the life of me where the writer of that film could have possibly gotten the inspiration for those characters.

Governing bodies are scum, sanctioning every kind of meaningless title fight they can just so they can get their greedy little mitts on some more cash. Can anybody tell me who the WBC Intercontinental Pan Pacific middleweight champion is? I don’t even think that he himself would know, but you can rest assured the next time he fights 5% of his hard-earned cash is going straight into the coffers of the WBC. It would be so easy for Johnson and Tarver to have remained the IBF and WBC champions respectively andsnacked on the sacrificial lambs that those organizations were to serve up. Hell, Roy Jones did it for most of his career, but these guys wanted more than that.

Kudos to Antonio Tarver and Glen Johnson, for by giving up their titles that they worked so hard to win, they have given us, the boxing public, something that we don’t see as often as we should. A real fight for something more tangible than any alphabet title: recognition as the best on the planet at 175-pounds.

Greig Johnston can be reached at levibillups@yahoo.com