The 800lb Gorilla in the Room...

[ArawakWarria]

I know many people think that the Welterweight Division is all sealed up b/c PBF won a unanimous decision over Baldomir. But in honesty, the whole division needs to be looked at in a different perspective...

The longest reigning champion in the Welterweight division is Antonio Margarito. Since he has been champ (2002), the undisputed championship has changed 7 times:

Shane Mosley
Forrest
Mayora
Spinks
Judah
Baldomir
Mayweather

None of these people have even come close to challenging Margarito. Now people dismiss Tony as having fought no one, but none of the top welts in the world would touch him, including

Ricky Hatton
Luis Collazo
Mark Suarez
Arturo Gatti
Oktay Urkal
Joel Julio


Now Margarito has a his own problem...

6'1" (186cm), with a 81" (206cm) reach, Paul Williams is now the WBO #1 contender.

He is a nightmare to anyone who steps in his path. Averaging over 120 punches per round through his career so far, he is causing fits among the American division, and now the most avoided man in boxing just might be avoiding Williams.

Problem is, Margarito hasn't fought a mandatory in a long time. Between exceptions to negotiate big fights (that never work out) and fighting their subesequent fill-ins, Margarito sits right now on a Mandatory defense. The man he is fighting in December (Clottey) is ranked #5, so Williams may have a shot at either Margarito or Cotto in 2007.

No one is saying it, but this boy can box! His defense is somewhat limited, but his size, output and sheer will to win can put him over any welterweight right now. He dominated the last WBO #1 (Mathysse), and got even more vicious after he got hit. He dismantled Sharmba Mitchell in four rounds, and is simply overpowering all of his 'get ready' opponents.

Does anyone see a person at 147 who can stop him?
When do you think he will get to shine?
Can he go up in weight and do the same thing?
At MWT? Taylor? Calzaghe?

Let me know!!!

[BoxingGorilla]

Worth a think

[Violent Demise]

Margarito won a vacant 4th rate minor league belt that Ring Magazine never even recognized. To call him a champion is a joke.

[ArawakWarria]

If that is the case, then Joe Calzhaghe isn't a champion either, even after almost 20 defenses against just about every top SuMwt in the world. If it is so useless, then why did so many people travel to him to try to get it? It was the only belt he had until he beat Lacy...

If that is the case, then Fernando Montiel is not a champion either.

If that is the case, then Cotto was never champion at 140...

Nor is Shannon Briggs, or were Lamon Brewster, Vitali nor Wladimir Klitschko when they won it.

There was a time when there was only one belt. then two... now there are four, and in my opinion moving up to five (IBA). This belt was not in high regard in the 80's and 90's, but is now rated among the top journalists in the world and sought by all of the fighters throughtout the weights.

[ICB]

If that is the case, then Joe Calzhaghe isn't a champion either, even after almost 20 defenses against just about every top SuMwt in the world.  If it is so useless, then why did so many people travel to him to try to get it?  It was the only belt he had until he beat Lacy...

If that is the case, then Fernando Montiel is not a champion either.

If that is the case, then Cotto was never champion at 140...

Nor is Shannon Briggs, or were Lamon Brewster, Vitali nor Wladimir Klitschko when they won it.

There was a time when there was only one belt.  then two... now there are four, and in my opinion moving up to five (IBA).  This belt was not in high regard in the 80's and 90's, but is now rated among the top journalists in the world and sought by all of the fighters throughtout the weights.

calzaghe has beat few good names i dont think antonio derserves a shot against mayweather hatton ect he needs more big names first

[JT Rock]

I have never been to High on Margarito because of the above referenced things....But I will say Paul Williams is a Stud IMO...If he can tighten up that defense, he's going lay an azz whoopin on the welterweight division....I have no doubt he will take Margarito out..The only thing that concerned me was in his last fight he threw everything but the kitchen sink at his journey man opponent and couldnt put him away....Not sure about his one punch power, he is one hell of an accumalative puncher though...

We shall see how he fills into his frame before talking about Middle and Super middle weight.

[Violent Demise]

If that is the case, then Joe Calzhaghe isn't a champion either, even after almost 20 defenses against just about every top SuMwt in the world.  If it is so useless, then why did so many people travel to him to try to get it?  It was the only belt he had until he beat Lacy...

If that is the case, then Fernando Montiel is not a champion either.

If that is the case, then Cotto was never champion at 140...

Nor is Shannon Briggs, or were Lamon Brewster, Vitali nor Wladimir Klitschko when they won it.

There was a time when there was only one belt.  then two... now there are four, and in my opinion moving up to five (IBA).  This belt was not in high regard in the 80's and 90's, but is now rated among the top journalists in the world and sought by all of the fighters throughtout the weights.

I got no problem not calling Calzaghe a champion.  As well as Briggs and the rest.  I don't think highly of the WBC, WBA or the IBF at all.  But when it was just them 3 boxing was doing alright.  Boxing was actually on free TV on a regular basis.  And boxing still got some love from the mainstream.  You had 3 champions but they would unified every so often.  Champion versus champion actually meant something.  When the WBO came in it fucked every thing up.  Not only did it open the door for the sorry ass IBA, WBU, WBB, IBO and the other garbage.  It started making up it's own rules, like the 3 knock down rule.  It also let big stars like Hamed avoid there mandatories.  The WBO is fuckin garbage.  And I don't consider there belt holders champions.  How can you take an organization that actually moved a fighter up in it rankings weeks after he passed away seriously?

[Violent Bob]

If that is the case, then Joe Calzhaghe isn't a champion either, even after almost 20 defenses against just about every top SuMwt in the world.

He is the champion now. He was universally recognized as the #1 fighter in the division and dominated another universally recognized (however wrongly) top 3 fighter in the division (Lacy) to become champ.

If it is so useless, then why did so many people travel to him to try to get it? It was the only belt he had until he beat Lacy...

He became undisputed champ by beating Lacy. It definitely was not the alphabet straps that created the fuss about that fight--it's the fact that these guys were recognized by most as the two top guys in the division, and it was therefore seen as the first important fight at SMW in a very long time. It was also seen as Calzaghe finally stepping out to fight someone decent and prove that he belonged at the top.

If that is the case, then Fernando Montiel is not a champion either.

That's right, he's not.

If that is the case, then Cotto was never champion at 140...

Also correct. Tszyu and then Hatton were the champs at 140 while Cotto was there.

Nor is Shannon Briggs, or were Lamon Brewster, Vitali nor Wladimir Klitschko when they won it.

Correct. They are all titleholders, but there has not been a HW champ since Lewis retired.

There was a time when there was only one belt. then two... now there are four, and in my opinion moving up to five (IBA). This belt was not in high regard in the 80's and 90's, but is now rated among the top journalists in the world and sought by all of the fighters throughtout the weights.

None of these belts mean shit. They are a joke--you can win them without beating a titleholder (like Margarito did), you can lose them without ever losing a fight (like Hatton did), and you can win a fight against the titleholder and not win the belt if you don't pay money for it (like Baldomir did). You can even lose a fight and keep the belt (like Zab Judah did). The Ring title is the only one that you can only get by beating a champ, and doesn't require surrendering a bunch of your purse to a corporation.

In any case, what's sought by the fighters above all are the biggest paychecks--not some alphabet trinket. That's why Calzaghe is vacating his IBF strap to try to fight Peter Manfredo. Money is the ONLY thing that makes sense out of that.

[brocktonblockbust]

900 lb gorilla now looks like, hey?