What do people mean when they say an ABC or alphabet belt ?
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What do people mean when they say an ABC or alphabet belt ?
Too many sanctioned bodies in the sport.
Example: IBF, NABO, WBA, WBC...etc
You get the picture? Trust me, none of us can keep track of this. LOL
So just how many sanctioning bodies does our beloved sport have, how many belts are there?
I don't know but I read that about 2 years ago there were 68 belts :o
PS. I did not write the following but it gives you a good idea. They guy is ranting and it's in layman's terms.
Problem 1: Too Many Belts
There are too champions in the same weight classes because there are too many governing bodies, each with their own corruptible ranking systems that determine different number champions and number one contenders so you never really know who is the champ and who is the challenger. Long sentence, I know but I'm ranting so cut me some slack. In fact, I could go on and on about just this topic but remember the days when you could name the champions and challengers in each of the weight classes and debate match ups and fantasy fights? (Ok, maybe I'm the only one who did that.) Well now you can't even name the heavyweight champ or middleweight champ. The WBC champion is one guy, the IBF champion is another guy and the WBA guy is yet another guy. WBC champ may fight WBA champ but IBF guy has to fight another guy because if he doesn't fight some no name guy from Europe that somehow became a number one contender, he'll be stripped of his belt. It gives me a headache just writing about it, leading to a "who cares?" attitude. Belts mean nothing to me anymore so all I look for is a good one on one matchup, read the results and wait for the television replay a week later.
The Solution:
The sport really needs one top league, like the boxing equivalent of the NFL, NBA, or NHL. This league needs to be closely governed by an unbiased committee and corrupt promoters need to be kept out. Right now, it looks like the best option would be for either HBO or Showtime, the two major pay-per-view boxing providers, to form their own leagues and sign fighters, taking promoters and managers out of the picture and making and promoting matches in house.
Problem 2: Suspicious Decisions and Suspicious Referees
I don't know how many times I've watched a boxing match that was very one sided and heard a decision that just robbed the guy who should have won. I've also watched several fights where a referee did things like issue continual warnings to one fighter while letting the other fighter get away with lots of dirty tricks or stop a fight way too early.
The Solution:
See the solution to Problem 1.
Problem 3:
Entire Article:
http://blogcritics.org/archives/2005/12/12/032943.php
Peace
Well in short it goes like this.........Origionaly the world champion was decided by Ring magazine....Then in the late 60's early 70's ( cant remember exactly when at the moment) there was the NBA title..Caused a big stir in the HW scene witht the whole Ali/Frazier scene....In the late 70's early 80's they started to come up with org's WBC-WBA-IBF and so on (not sure which was first WBA or IBF-WBC i think it was WBC)...each claimed its own chmpion good for money in promoters pockets bad for sport....No real Champion...We have undisputed champs who have all the major ones WBC WBC IBF----WE now have the WBO---which has become a major belt over the years as of late---So that gives us 4 ABC Champions----The ABC divisions have sub champs---If you watch pro wrestling at all they are equivelent to the Inter Contenentil Title--EG USBA-NABA-USBF-NABO---
WBC title holds the most weight in the sport---also most crooked---Then WBA---Probably most legit as far as ranking system IMO--IBF the weakest of the 3 but somehow seems to have the sturdiest of champs and it's belt holders usually last longer not alyas but in most cases...EG Hopkins--BYRD--the WBO is the up and coming star that has started to make big strides due to it's belt holders being faithful and defending it with the pride that any of the other 3 champions seem not to...NAZ was a long time WBO champ who stayed with it forcing the world to recognize him as a world champion---Same with Calzaghe---The Klitschkos mostly Wlad brought it to a new level amoung the heavys...Until then it was not thought much of----
All in all the ring magazine still names it's own champion. Most real fans and experts count their champ as the legit one of the division...It is all mostly a numbers game....
I could be more specific but it would take a while it's actually confusing..but That is the short overview..Hope it helped... ???......It gave me a headache thinking about it lol
1921- NBA/WBA - The NBA changed its name to WBA to give it a more global flavor, after the creation of the WBC in 1963
1963-WBC- Not recognized a legitiamate until the WBA stripped Ali of the belt against public opinion.
1976- IBF- Not recognized until 1983, when Larry Holmes decided he would defend the newer IBF title
1988- WBO- started to be recognized as legitimate around 2000.
1990- IBA- Not recognized yet
1993- IBO- not recognized as legitamate, however, they are rapidaly becoming a new recognized world title
Personally I only follow The Ring's champion, and I am glad to see ESPN is doing the same thing.
the belts that count for anything are the WBC, WBA, IBF and the WBO has gained some respect but its mostly the first 3 a mentioned.....the rest have as much championship value as the belt i wear to work.....none there just paper titles, i remember there was a belt which was only classed a world title in cork
HBO, ESPN and to a lesser extent Showtime are starting to rebel against ABC groups.
ESPN is the best, they constantly refer the ABC belts as "trinkets" and it was great when Brian Kinny made Floyd Mayweather say that Baldimer's Ring belt is the only real welterweight champion ship.
HBO half ass follows the ring, and ussually wont show fringe belts on air.
Showtime as made improvements by not mentioning that the winner of the crappy tournament will be the IBO super middle weight champion.
ok thankyou :)
So basically its any belt except the ring belt , because there are too many others to bother mentioning
I originally thought it meant "meaningless belts" , but might excluse some of the WBX ones , but i understand now,
This is the only belt that matters right now.
http://img474.imageshack.us/img474/4...eason23vx3.jpg
And if you think I am being serious, then you are more phuked up in the head than I am.
However, Jeff Wald did say in an interview that he wanted to be a respectable part of this sport.
"RJ: What are your dreams for "The Contender"? How would you like to see it grow from this point on?
JW: My dreams are that it builds a whole new series of stars. A whole bunch of new boxing stars. And that the sport isn't governed by phony sanctioning bodies and by promoters who manipulate those sanctioning bodies and that we're reduced to one champion per weight class like it was in the old days. Everybody knew who was THE Heavyweight Champion."
I guess I should post the article in a new thread.
I guess I should be handing out CC's here. Yes, that's what time it is.
I'm just throwing this out there, would we put up with 4 different superbowl champs, world cup champs, world series champs, stanley cup champs, the list could go on and on. So why do we put up with 4 or more different champs in every weight division? I go with the holder of the Ring belt.
It's even worse than that: would we put up with 4 different superbowl champs, one of which didn't even win the superbowl it played in, but just refused to pay its superbowl sanctioning body (so the lombardi trophy went to the team that lost the game)? The Ring's lack of fees and beat-the-man-to-be-the-man policy avoids that problem too.Quote:
Originally Posted by Canvasback
It wouldn't be so bad for me if, on top of the mandatories, they also had inter-organization mandatories, IBF v. IBO etc.
of course this will never happen as none of them want to relinquish power, but that's what I would like to see, since
the organizations aren't going anywhere.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Joe Petka
Well I feel like a fool I had no idea the wba was around that long
The Solution:
The sport really needs one top league, like the boxing equivalent of the NFL, NBA, or NHL. This league needs to be closely governed by an unbiased committee and corrupt promoters need to be kept out. Right now, it looks like the best option would be for either HBO or Showtime, the two major pay-per-view boxing providers, to form their own leagues and sign fighters, taking promoters and managers out of the picture and making and promoting matches in house.
I think this idea stinks on hot ice.