A brief history of the ABC era (boxing's sanctioning organizations)

IntentionalButt · Feb 27, 2018

PinoyProdigy said: ↑

I was hoping to see the Philippines Games & Amusements Board (GAB) here. Was a hobby of mine to fix the title lineages of the GAB titles on BoxRec, along with the Orient (before the OPBF was formed, no sanctioning body governed the Orient Championship so the lineages could get a bit confusing), and the original Philippine Titles.
Click to expand...

Added.

I had actually meant to make it as thorough and comprehensive as possible, and just hit a wall. It was a lot.

And probably half my research time ended up being spent in vain, wasted on attempting to document just which 13 states (or 17) comprised the initial NBA membership. It proved IMPOSSIBLE to find anything concrete, outside the fact that Rhode Island and New Jersey were two of them, and that within a couple of decades all but the NY and Massachusetts commissions had joined. I was tearing my goddamn hair out.

IntentionalButt · Feb 27, 2018

I debated internally whether or not to include PBC; ultimately deciding they are not a legitimate sanctioning authority (despite taking it upon themselves to dictate to commission supervisors and ring announcers to not refer to champions by individual org, and undertaking creation of their own proprietary championships; this I consider to be a vanity project of a media entity, much like the Ring Mag title which I have also excluded)

janitor · Feb 27, 2018

If we only had more!!!!!

janitor · Feb 27, 2018

This explains a lot (see Narcos):

1962 - WBA (World Boxing Association) formed. HQ: Panama City

1963 - WBC (World Boxing Council) formed. HQ: México City1983 -

1983 IBF (International Boxing Federation) formed. HQ: Springfield, NJ

1988 - WBO (World Boxing Organization) formed. HQ: San Juan, PR

Russell · Feb 27, 2018

It's the definition of a quality post, so why haven't more people liked it?

Russell · Feb 27, 2018

PinoyProdigy said: ↑

I was hoping to see the Philippines Games & Amusements Board (GAB) here. Was a hobby of mine to fix the title lineages of the GAB titles on BoxRec, along with the Orient (before the OPBF was formed, no sanctioning body governed the Orient Championship so the lineages could get a bit confusing), and the original Philippine Titles.
Click to expand...

I too have strange boxrec habits, which include filling up pages at random with pretty comprehensive information.

LANCE99 · Feb 27, 2018

Nice work IB!

CST80 · Feb 27, 2018

IntentionalButt said: ↑

All of the Big Four are problematic in various ways in modern times, and of course everybody yearns for a return to a simpler time with a single recognized champion in each division (although in reality that is a mythological construct; there was literally never a point in the sport's history where that happened) but there is a lot of misinformation and guesswork floating around when it comes to all the different bodies and how they interrelate. Particularly, the WBA is frequently cited as the "oldest" with the strongest connection to lineages of the 19th century up through 1921, and that is false. Even in their previous incarnation as the NBA, they are younger than NYSAC, which insomuch as, in the early 20th Century, it used to be a sanctioning body (dictating rankings and recognizing championships in their own name) rather than simply a state athletic commission as they are now (issuing boxers their individual licenses per medical exams and enforcing state legislative rules pertaining to combat sports) is the predecessor of the WBC and the core around which all the other constituents pledged when first chartered.

So all the circuitous arguments you see half-informed or flat out ignorant fans having about them, where somebody will say "the green belt is the most coveted! Floyd Mayweather Jr. and these others guys all grew up watching the WBC title battled for on TV and dreaming of capturing it!" and somebody else will retort "yes but the WBA came first and is the one that you can trace all the way to before the fractured era when there was just one champ!" and then someone else chiming in "well they are flip sides of the same coin anyway, didn't they split from each other at one point after previously being the same organization?" etc. - can now be nipped in the bud.

I would argue the WBC, though certainly never a perfect entity, is both the "eldest" and the most prestigious of the Big 4, when you consider its original charter members included the NYSAC (the first American group bold enough to decree world champions) the venerable and honored BBBofC (which does bridge the gap with the LPR era via its predecessor the National Sporting Club), and the CBC, EBU and OPBF giving it not only massive territory by area but also marrying it to all the proud traditions of those regions' histories in the sport, having been governed by those charter members for several decades before the WBC held its first convention. The WBA is their nearest rival, and longest-running arch-nemesis (with, admittedly, perhaps the original claim to having the moral 'right' on their side when the dozen-plus state commissions balked at New York monopolizing the ability to crown world champions, thus opening the door to favoritism toward boxers that competed at the "Mecca"), but also has been rife with corruption for a good chunk of their history and clearly had a hard time keeping their house in order considering not one but TWO coups/walkouts have been led to directly poach from their number executives of a new rival startup org - and they are probably the one against which fans today levy the most complaints about their administrative policies (interim/regular/super etc). Plus, the fact is that most boxers themselves (and coaches, etc) do value the WBC highest, followed by the WBA. By necessity the IBF and WBO can never rise to higher than #3 and #4 respectively. The positions are pretty much all fixed IMO barring sweeping changes that would affect their relative degrees of respectability.

At this point any other entity (the IBO seems to be the most robust to emerge in recent years) is going to have a whale of a time even catching up with the WBO to break into the Big 4. For all the problems they each have, there is just too much collective history between the WBC and the WBA (and its spawn) to be trumped by a latecomer.

Dismissing them all en masse and saying you acknowledge only the Ring Mag, or "lineal" (whatever the **** that is; see GlaukosTheHammer's thread for a quick lesson on what a pointless fool's errand and cluster**** keeping track of that is), or TBRB or anything else is all very well and nice and hipstery, but the fact is that no fighter cares about those, no fighter has ever declared that his ultimate goal was to become Ring or lineal or TBRB champ, and no fighter is paying any of those sanctioning fees in exchange for the privilege of holding those distinctions. World titles matter; they are the whole point and the ultimate prize of prizefighting at the highest level, and so establishing a pecking order among them based on historical trends and realizing as fans which are worthiest of attention, or why, is knowledge that has its place.
Click to expand...

Solid post, don't disagree with any of it. But.... I just don't give a **** about belts in general, they're all meaningless trinkets that hold zero significance to me. Belts mean nothing to me, opponent quality means everything.

IntentionalButt · Feb 27, 2018

CST80 said: ↑

Solid post, don't disagree with any of it. But.... I just don't give a **** about belts in general, they're all meaningless trinkets that hold zero significance to me. Belts mean nothing to me, opponent quality means everything.
Click to expand...

Yeah that's fair.

Russell · Feb 27, 2018

It's astonishing how much further the 80's went to further fracturing existing titles and creating entirely new ones to confuse matters. The formation of two today pretty important boxing organizations, both the IBF and WBO founded within 5 years of each other in that decade.

Good stuff IB, thanks for the data.

Kiwi_in_America · Feb 27, 2018

Awesome work, IB.

Dubblechin · Feb 27, 2018

Sphillips said: ↑

Why did the IBF gain almost immediate traction compared to all the others that have attempted the exact same thing?
Click to expand...

The IBF did the smart thing and immediately offered its belt to existing champs. Larry Holmes was offered the IBF heavyweight belt. Marvin Hagler was offered the IBF middleweight belt. Donald Curry was offered the IBF Welterweight belt. Aaron Pryor was offered the junior welterweight belt. They were kind of the big names in terms of profiles at that moment.

They didn't have to fight anyone for it. They were just offered them.

The other orgs always seemed to want to crown their own champs. The WBO started out at a crawl because Mike Tyson had the WBC, WBA and IBF belts, and the WBO decided to name the winner of Francesco Damiani and Johnny DuPlooy as its first heavyweight champ.

It didn't make any sense.

Tyson was the biggest star in the sport at that moment. The WBO would've helped itself if it just offered their heavyweight belt to him. He'd have probably accepted it.

Kiwi_in_America · Feb 27, 2018

Yep....

GlaukosTheHammer · Feb 27, 2018

I doubt this missed your attention give how well done this thread is, but just in case, the IBU is still active as the IBU, sort of: http://ibuboxing.com

Outside of that, Kevin R Smith's Caramel Kings series does name the authority that organized the colored titles. If my memory is on it was a club not unlike the national sporting club along with promoter/journalist Richard K Fox. If you're interested I'll give those books a gloss and get the details messaged to you.

Excellent work.

IntentionalButt · Feb 27, 2018

GlaukosTheHammer said: ↑

I doubt this missed your attention give how well done this thread is, but just in case, the IBU is still active as the IBU, sort of: http://ibuboxing.com

Outside of that, Kevin R Smith's Caramel Kings series does name the authority that organized the colored titles. If my memory is on it was a club not unlike the national sporting club along with promoter/journalist Richard K Fox. If you're interested I'll give those books a gloss and get the details messaged to you.

Excellent work.
Click to expand...

I actually was thinking about including the underlying jurisdiction that oversaw the Colored World Championships but was daunted by the idea of it, at minimum, quadrupling my research time since it seemed like it would require some hardcore digging (to find the name of the sanctioning authorities, their incorporation date, and their headquarters location if known). I'd be much obliged!

As for the IBU, the currently extant one based in Atlanta GA doesn't bear any relation, I believe, to its more Eurocentric predecessor from the nineteen-aughts through WWII (whose world champs recognized included luminaries of yesteryear such as Panama Al Brown, Battling Siki, Frankie Genaro, Georges Carpentier, Marcel Thil, and Jon Gutenko). However, perusing the lineages of some of their divisional belts, it probably is no less a 'legitimate' pretender than some of the ones I did include (IBA, IBC, WBF and their neighbors the WBU, also headquartered in Atlanta, GA and just three years their senior) so I'll add them onto the list.

Log in or Sign up

A brief history of the ABC era (boxing's sanctioning organizations)

IntentionalButt Guy wants to name his çock 'macho' that's ok by me

IntentionalButt Guy wants to name his çock 'macho' that's ok by me

janitor VIP Member Full Member

janitor VIP Member Full Member

Russell Loyal Member Full Member

Russell Loyal Member Full Member

LANCE99 Boxing Junkie Full Member

CST80 De Omnibus Dubitandum Staff Member

IntentionalButt Guy wants to name his çock 'macho' that's ok by me

Russell Loyal Member Full Member

Kiwi_in_America The Tuaminator Full Member

Dubblechin Obsessed with Boxing Full Member

Kiwi_in_America The Tuaminator Full Member

GlaukosTheHammer Well-Known Member Full Member

IntentionalButt Guy wants to name his çock 'macho' that's ok by me

Log in or Sign up

Forums

A brief history of the ABC era (boxing's sanctioning organizations)

IntentionalButt Guy wants to name his çock 'macho' that's ok by me

IntentionalButt Guy wants to name his çock 'macho' that's ok by me

janitor VIP Member Full Member

janitor VIP Member Full Member

Russell Loyal Member Full Member

Russell Loyal Member Full Member

LANCE99 Boxing Junkie Full Member

CST80 De Omnibus Dubitandum Staff Member

IntentionalButt Guy wants to name his çock 'macho' that's ok by me

Russell Loyal Member Full Member

Kiwi_in_America The Tuaminator Full Member

Dubblechin Obsessed with Boxing Full Member

Kiwi_in_America The Tuaminator Full Member

GlaukosTheHammer Well-Known Member Full Member

IntentionalButt Guy wants to name his çock 'macho' that's ok by me