The Transnational Boxing Rankings

Will Stevenson duck his new #1 contender?

Light Heavyweight
Champion Adonis Stevenson
1. Sergey Kovalev ↑ from 2
2. Bernard Hopkins ↓ from 1
3. Jean Pascal
4. Andrzej Fonfara
5. Juergen Braehmer
6. Beibut Shumenov
7. Eleider Alvarez
8. Isaac Chilemba
9. Gabriel Campillo
10. Artur Beterbiev

 

The new P4P list:

Pound for Pound 11/18/14
1. Floyd Mayweather
2. Manny Pacquiao
3. Roman Gonzalez
4. Timothy Bradley
5. Wladimir Klitschko ↑
6. Juan Manuel Marquez
7. Carl Froch
8. Guillermo Rigondeaux
9. Juan Francisco Estrada
10. Sergey Kovalev *
Andre Ward (2) exits for inactivity

And a brief explanatory statement as to why Ward is still the Champ:

There is a new P4P entry at #10. Andre Ward has exited the P4P Rankings after a year's inactivity, as per the charter. However, please note that he remains the True Champion at Super Middleweight. The charter does not allow us to strip a champion and there are reasons for that. The practice of stripping champions has a high cost to the sport and this has been demonstrated throughout boxing history --it fosters confusion and chaos and we have enough of that already. The Transnational Rankings Board recognizes that a champion has earned the right to his throne by combat and we would be reluctant to deny that without good reason.

 

So Robney, no, not "until the cows come home" but he will not be stripped after a year of inactivity.

 

I'll make it simple: we don't strip Champions based upon who they do or don't fight. That doesn't happen. It doesn't matter who Ward fought twelve months ago or what happened before that - he is twelve months inactive according to charter.

It's true that this situation might become something that needs to be dealt with more directly in time, but the board thinks it's considerably worse - and i'm in total agreement - to undermine the basic mission at hand which is to identify with clarity the lineal Champions of all seventeen weight divisions. Ward has established that lineage, and it will take more than a year off to have him stripped.

I think the WBC waited 8 months - then they made Ward "Champion Emeritus" or some bull****, then they made Bika some other kind of Champion, then they installed Chavez Jnr., who had never fought at SMW the #1 contender. Obviously that's drunken lunacy, but what is the alternative?

Well the sober alternative, frankly, is not much better - it is to strip Ward and make Carl Froch and Arthur Abraham the #1 and #2 contenders to the legitimate SMW title. That's Abraham - utterly thrashed by Ward - and Froch - utterly thrashed by Ward. That's a fight that isn't going to happen, that nobody really wants to see, that is to be contested between two losers. It would be ludicrous, almost untenable.

But to tell you the truth the circumstances don't matter. It's just a perfect example, a perfect storm. What TBRB is saying is that lineage is more important than boxing politics, promotional issues, or injury status. It's saying that the Champions - the real, legitimate Champions of the sport - are worth more respect than that.

TBRB is saying that yes, an inactive Champ is acceptable. Yes, an inactive Champ is valid.

On the other hand, Ward will be judged by history as an inactive Champion and will suffer for it. People are tired of him and his bull**** and they are right to be. They can say he is tarnishing the title; they can say he is useless as a Champ; they can say he is inferior to Froch - they can say that he's overstayed he's welcome. They can even call him a coward and hold onto some semblance of reason in these circumstances.

What they can't say is that Froch isn't the Champ. That's because King's are crowned in the ring, not in the boardroom. That's because we've seen what happens when you let suits and wonderboys and "business men" make the Kings in the boardroom - a corrupt, unintelligible, dying sport that makes almost no sense to your casual fan who can be told, literally, six times in the same newspaper article about who the middleweight Champion is.

Ward is the King at 168lbs.

"And I don't have to use the word FM - backwards." - James Brown

 

I don't know how you could really say that based upon the fact that there is a pound-for-pound list form which Ward has just been removed and top tens in seventeen divisions. In fact I'd suggest that lineage is only one aspect and arguably not the most important one; but if that's what you personally have taken from the website and the above, it's probably not going to be for you.

And that's fair enough. WBC, WBA, IBF etc, all strip Champions more in accordance with your thinking.

I think it has done that - if you mean, was TBRB supposed to do what every boxing fan wants in every situation, no, that's not possible. Even something vaguely approaching that is not possible.

You, for example, are broadly speaking "anti-Ward" on the forum or at least that is my impression of you. For a different reason, another poster would be equally appalled at Froch-Abraham being made for the lineage. So pleasing "the real boxing fan" is impossible, because I am one, and i'd be horrified at that.

This is a problem that can only exist if there is a champ in the first place. One that is recognisable. One that fans can actually recognise.

For all of boxing history, champs have ducked their #1 contenders. For literally all of history. Lennox Lewis, Joe Louis, Rocky Marciano, Sugar Ray Robinson, Jack Dempsey, all these guys missed "the real deserving challengers" at one point or another. Jack Dempsey did it for his entire reign. So did Jack Johnson.

Stripping Champions every time they miss out on a guy a "real fan" thinks they should fight results in exactly the situation we have now - make no mistake, that is exactly what has happened.

Superficially my advice to you, sadly, would be to take up the WBC as your champion. They are proven corrupt, rank fighters for money, but strip in accordance with your wishes. Bika/Dirrell is your Champion now, I think, though it's very hard to keep up...

...however, I don't think you will end up following them. I think it will still be TBRB for you. I think Ward is a singular problem for you, and I think that in two or three years he won't be.

But if you're pushing for me to recommend his stripping to the Board, you ARE wasting your time. That would never happen - I wouldn't recommend it, and they would never do it. And they're quite right IMO.

 

I think that you are right in that sooner or later, the point will come to a head. Let's say Ward is inactive for two years, or three - at what point does it become untenable? Well, three years wasn't enough in the case of Jack Dempsey, or Jim Jeffries or entirely, Muhammad Ali - and that was despite his retirement.

But times have changed. TBRB has had great exposure, is engendering respect across the board, but it's not yet anywhere near the stage where a fighter asks "who should I fight"? And it probably never will be. But if it does approach that sort of status, this type of problem becomes more acute.

Right now, for me, we're about telling the fans who is who - and Ward is the Champ at 168lbs. The good news is, if that changes, ESB will be among the first to know and via this thread.

 

That's just a freakishly bizzare thing to say. I think what you mean to say is that the entire board as follows has been collectively smoking crack:

Adam Abramowitz is the founder and head writer for Saturday Night Boxing.

Carlos Aguirre is a sports writer for Zeta Weekly in Tijuana, Mexico. He covers local fights, up-and-comers, regional fighters, and major events in the Baja California and Southern California area. He also covers MMA, soccer, National Olympics, and local events.

Ramon Aranda is the founder and editor-in-chief at 3 More Rounds. He also co-hosts the 3MR Podcast and is a contributor to Primer Round Magazine.

Kevin Byrne is a sports journalist on the desk of the Irish Sun. His column “Seconds Out” appears every Friday with news from domestic and world boxing. His work has also appeared on various websites including irish-boxing.com.

Brian Campbell is a contributing writer and boxing/MMA editor for ESPN.com. He is also a studio ****yst on ESPN.com’s weekly show, Making the Rounds.

Abac Cordero is a Filipino who has been covering the sports beat since 1989. He is the former assistant sports editor for Malaya and currently writes for the Philippine Star, chronicling the golden era of Philippine boxing.

Jake Donovan (Record Keeper) is the managing editor of Boxing Scene. He is based out of the southeast United States, but was born and raised in New York where he began his writing career in 1997.

Oliver Fennell is a British boxing writer based in Bangkok. He has covered boxing since 2000, most notably for UKWeeklyMagazine and Boxing News, for whom he is currently the Thai correspondent. His specialties are the heavyweight division, and British, American, and Asian boxing.

Billy Ferguson is a correspondent for Fight Hype UK. He also has a weekly column called “Monday Musings” and a blog inviting fans to discuss boxing and football. Ferguson lives in Edinburgh, Scotland.

Damián Ferrer Reyes is the creator of “La Esquina Nutral” the independent boxing Facebook page in Spanish with the world’s biggest following. Damian hosts his own Radio Show every Saturday at 7 PM (the only radio show in Puerto Rico dedicated to boxing).

Andrew Fruman is a Canadian boxing writer based in Toronto. He writes for The Cruelest Sport and The Living Daylights, and is an assistant editor for Bad Left Hook. He is a member of the International Boxing Research Organization and a contributor and editor for the BoxRec database.

Stewart Howe has worked closely with boxing personalities on both sides of the ropes and on both sides of the Atlantic. He is an artist and graphic designer by trade and a founding member of the Transnational Boxing Rankings Board. Howe lives in Peterborough, England.

Jason Karp is a columnist and ****yst. A regular contributor to The Cruelest Sport, his work has also appeared on Bad Left Hook and The Boxing Bulletin. Karp lives in Toronto, Ontario.

Ronan Keenan is a freelance writer based in Dublin, Ireland. His boxing writing has appeared on sites such as The Sweet Science, Boxing Scene, Seconds Out and Fox Sports.

Jeandra LeBeauf, based out of Los Angeles, CA, is the creator and head writer of BadCulture.net.

Kelsey McCarson is a boxing writer for The Sweet Science and a member of the International Boxing Research Organization. He lives and works just outside of Houston, Texas with his wife Rachel.

Alex McClintock started writing about boxing on the Queensberry Rules blog. He is now the deputy editor and has written about boxing and other subjects for The Ring website, The Sweet Science, Men’s Fitness, and The Guardian.


Yuriko Miyata of Tokyo, Japan, is a former freelance sports writer and editor of Japan’s Boxing Magazine for seven years. She moved to Los Angeles to observe the American boxing scene and returned to Japan four years later to found Boxing-Zine.com along with other boxing writers and a photographer. Miyata is editor-in-chief.

Diego Morilla is the current boxing writer for XN Sports.com, a regular contributor for RingTV.com (The Ring online) and a freelance writer for several other media outlets. He was a boxing writer for ESPN.com/ESPNdeportes.com for several years, as well as for a number of other sports media outlets such as MaxBoxing.com, PSN.com, Latino Boxing, Lo Mejor del Boxeo, and many others.

Gautham Nagesh is a journalist based in Washington, DC and the founder and editor of StiffJab.com, one of the most popular boxing and MMA sites on Tumblr. His boxing writing has been featured by The Washington Post, The Atlantic, The Hill, NPR, ***********, RingTV.com, and The Queensberry Rules, among other outlets. Gautham is also the National Treasurer of the Asian American Journalists Association.

Arvin Nundloll is a seasoned boxing writer and founding editor of Two Dice Boxing. He currently writes for FightNews and FightNight.pro. Having developed his love for the sport in London, England, he is now based in New York City and covers boxing at all levels.

Jeremy Foley O’ Connell is an archivist of fight films and the founder of Pound4Pound Ireland.

Takahiro Onaga is one of the founding members of asianboxing.info, a website designed to keep fans up to date with developments in the Asian boxing scene. Onaga has also contributed to RingNews24 and seeks to increase publicity for fighters from across the continent of Asia. Onaga was born in Kanan, Osaka in Japan and currently resides in North West England.

Alister Scott Ottesen is a boxing writer and historian based in Norway. He has done work for Norwegian newspapers, television, and contributed with research to several boxing related books. Ottesen is also a contributor and editor for BoxRec.com and a member of the International Boxing Research Organization.

Harry Otty

Per-Ake Persson is a boxing writer/record keeper based in Lund, Sweden.

Ken Pollitt is the Main Page Editor and Rankings and Results Editor at The13thRound.com (TTR).

Eric Raskin is a former associate editor, managing editor, and contributing editor for The Ring who has written for Grantland.com, ESPN.com, HBO.com,The Sweet Science, Maxboxing, and Boxing Monthly.

Cliff Rold (Chair) is the managing editor of Boxing Scene, a member of the Yahoo Pound for Pound voting panel, the International Boxing Hall of Fame Committee, and the Boxing Writers Association of America. Rold is also a founding member of the Transnational Boxing Rankings Board.

Victor Salazar is one of the founders of ThaBoxingVoice.com and its official radio show The Voice of The People, Boxing Voice Show. Along with co-hosting the show, he is the managing editor of TheBoxingVoice.com. Covering boxing since 2011, he looks to get the answers to the questions the fans want answered. He is an avid New York sports fan and old school hip hop junkie.

Mauricio Salvador (Record Keeper) is a Mexican writer based in Mexico City. A former fiction reviewer, he is now the director of the digital magazine HermanoCerdo and editor of Esquina Boxeo, a boxing magazine published in Mexico City. Salvador contributes to The Cruelest Sport and is a founding member of La Dulce Ciencia Ediciones, a new press house dedicated to the world of boxing.

Retech Son (Record Keeper) is a Filipino boxing writer based in Kuwait.
Tim Starks (Chair) is the founder and editor of The Queensberry Rules, a boxing blog that has been praised by TheWall Street Journal, The New Yorker and other top publications. He has written about the sport for The Guardian, The Ring, Boxing Scene, The Sweet Science, and Bookforum. Starks is also a founding member of the Transnational Boxing Rankings Board.

Brandon Stubbs is a writer and radio host born and raised in Kansas City, MO. He is the founder of Punch2TheFace.com and writing contributor for The Title Fight. When not covering the great sport of boxing, Stubbs is a contributing MMA writer for Bad Culture.net He is a lifelong Dallas Cowboy fan, who is always heartbroken in early January.

Alexey Sukachev holds a Ph.D. from Moscow State University and hails from the Kon’kovo district of the Russian capital. He is very likely to be found sitting ringside at major boxing shows and local fight cards alike in Russia.

Springs Toledo (Oversight) is the author of The Gods of War (Tora, 2014). He is a member of the Boxing Writers Association of America, the International Boxing Research Organization, the International Boxing Hall of Fame Committee, and an editor for the BoxRec database.

Luis Torres is a Puerto Rican boxing fan/writer. He is the founder and editor in chief of Revista La Pelea, a boxing magazine published in Puerto Rico. Luis is a former amateur boxer and a contributor for many boxing websites both in Spanish and English languages since 2007.

Paul Upham, of New South Wales, Australia, is a television studio boxing ****yst for Fox Sports News. He has appeared live on air as a boxing commentator for Main Event, Sky Channel, Sky News Australia, SBS television, Radio 2UE Sydney, Radio SEN Melbourne, Radio ABC, and Gadigal Koori Radio. He emceed the Australian Boxing Hall of Fame from 2006 to 2010 and was the host of the Kostya Tszyu Live Stage Show, which performed around Australia.

Steve Zemach is a boxing writer and sports radio producer based in Miami, Florida. He contributes to The Queensberry Rules and has covered boxing since 2006. Zemach is the senior producer for the Sid ********* show, a major radio show known for placing a strong emphasis on boxing.



That's obviously an absolutely astonishing accusation to levy at the deepest assembly of boxing people anywhere on the internet, but I get a feeling that random accusations of extreme wrong-doing in response to boxing opinions different to your own will be a consistent factor in your posting.