The Silliness of the Alphabet Gangs

[marbleheadmaui]

To be fair to the IBO, they have a pretty solid way of ranking fighters.

The problem with all these straps is that they really have no way of defining themselves past the colour of their belts. I mean as we all know things weren't always so bad, it takes fighters and promoters alike to give fuel to this descending maddening of the boxing world. I mean really, it takes nothing to attempt to establish a new sanctioning body yet it takes fighters and promoters to give it credence.

Here's an idea? I'm not fully versed in the business of boxing but from my perspective, it's almost tragic irony that (for example) the IBF is only regarded as a mere promotional tool because if you look at say UFC (essentially a promotion AND a sanctioning body), which only forms and tiny, tiny part of the wider MMA market yet has managed to stand out through GREAT marketing and direction, you can see how the IBF (for example) could stand out past the colour of it's flashy-flash Red belt.

I'm not entirely comfortable with going by what a magazine says, I mean I have full respect for the magazine but it is just as corruptible as any sanctioning body. Their P4P rankings already have my disapproval, a mere popularity contest IMO.

The IBO? Really? They don't rank any of the "champions" in their rankings at all. Their 160 champ is some guy named Khurtzide from the Ukraine who has beaten, well, absolutely nobody I've ever heard of. I get the attraction of a computerized rankings (what boxrec does as well) but unless I can see the formula? I have no way of judging whether it makes any sense. I haven't seen the IBO formula (if you know where to find it I'd love to see it) and the boxrec one has some really arbitrary elements to it.

I fundamentally disgaree with the bold for several reasons

1) Ring Magazine only recognizes six champions at the moment. Wlad, BHOP, Sergio, JMM, Wonjonkam and Segura. Exclusivity is a plus in my view!
2) Ring has ZERO financial interests in who is a champion or that there are champions at at all. They don't make money by sanctioning fights. So they have no built in incentive to create BS champs.
3) While it is owned by Oscar, thus far there is ZERO reason to believe Golden Boy's financial interests have imposed a view on Ring's editorial content. It is something to keep an eye on. But they also have an awfully good advisory group.
4) How exactly are Ring's p4p rankings "a popularity contest?" Those decisions are made by the Ring editors same as other rankings. And p4p doesn't carry any real weight in any case nor do they infringe on Ring's divisional rankings.