The Silliness of the Alphabet Gangs

[Fenster]

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.

Although not bombproof - some of the Ring's current ratings are out of kilter because they IGNORED their own boxing history - just compare those alphabet middleweight rankings with The Rings' current top 10?

Sergio Martinez
Felix Sturm
Daniel Geale
Paul Williams
Matthew Macklin
Sebastian Sylvester
Julio Cesar Chavez Jr.
Sebastian Zbik
Dmitry Pirog
Hassan N'Dam N'Jikam
Marco Antonio Rubio

This list is far more realistic than any above.

[Fenster]

I'm not sure anyone apart from us boxing nerds take the Ring title seriously. Certainly not British broadcasters "educating" millions of casuals.

Get this - when Nathan Cleverly defended the WBO light-heavyweight title, which he didn't even win in the ring, against Aleksy Kuziemski (yes.. who?), Ian Darke proudly hailed him as Wales FIRST ever light-heavyweight world champion.

Yet Joe Calzaghe, who beat Hopkins for The Ring lightheavy title, was sitting in the studio. And had already mentioned that night how proud he was to become a TWO weight world champion.

So for Darke/Sky the Ring title certainly didn't mean a thing. Even though Calzaghe had beaten a man that was universally recognised as no.1 at the time. Madness.