Ok guys. At the risk of sounding out of touch, I started this thread to get some earnest discussions going about the ins-and-outs of boxing rankings.
Let's take welter, for instance (since there's so much discussion lately of Spence vs Crawford and how it may or many happen).
Ok, so Bud holds the WBO belt while Spencer holds the other 3 major belts. So far so good. But... how is it that Spence is not even ranked in the top 15 by the WBO, while Crawford is nowhere to be found on the contender lists of the other three orgs? Is it a promoter issue? If so, why are other contenders on every list? (Example: Ennis is #2 WBO, #1 IBF, #3 WBC, #2 WBA). Thurman is #3 WBO, #6 IBF, #1 WBC, #3 WBA. Connor Benn is 4, 5, 5, 4, respectively. You get the point. What is it about Spence and Crawford that keeps them apart on alphabet org lists?
IMO, a ranking is a ranking. Promoters be damned. A WBO not ranking Spence loses immediate credibility. Ditto with the other orgs for not ranking Bud.
Is this somehow related to what keeps these guys from fighting each other? Spence is PBC, right? Does this mean the WBO snubs ALL fighters promoted by PBC? Or is this strictly a "Spence thing"? Crawford parted ways with Top Rank. Was Bob Arum the reason why Bud wasn't ranked by any org outside the WBO? Do these orgs rank ANY fighter under Top Rank?
Somebody help me out here. This is thoroughly confusing, even for a college grad.
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