I was shocked, horrified, sickened to see the latest WBC rankings sheet on which the grossly unproven Domenico Spada is ranked #1. He may not, in reality, be first in line to get a crack at Kelly Pavlik's title belt, but even the suggestion that he belongs several spots above Khoren Gevor, Dmitry Pirog, Roman Karmazin and Sebastian Zbik turns my stomach. Even the now-revealed-as-limited John Duddy has done more to deserve the spot...which is to say, not much. I know that each of those guys can be rightly criticized for various aspects of his game, but, come on, it's an absurdist prank for Spada to be sitting on the pole position. As a matter of fact, Spada, presumably because of his wins over fighters untested and unranked anywhere by anyone, with losing (or nearly losing) records is even ranked above the one decent or, perhaps, capable fighter he fought Mahir Oral...who, incidentally, beat Spada (by what should have been a unanimous verdict) and has not lost since against better competition. Can anyone tell me anything about Domenico Spada that could possibly justify his ranking? I have watched his last seven fights and all I see is a natural welterweight or junior-middleweight scrambling around the ring trying to play hide and go tap with substandard middleweights. Further, the WBC's middleweight rankings are skewed and screwed way beyond that one glaring insult. I invite you to take a crack at re-ordering the rankings in a more reasonable fashion than their current arrangement.
I think Spada got his ranking for playing the game for want of a better way o putting it. He's held the WBC youth and international titles I think, he's definately had at least one of them. There is no way he deserves the position on pure ability.
you know, you're right. he held the ibf youth title. i hadn't considered how much that might play a part. he also holds the wbc international belt...which, i admit, he won from and defended against guys around his experience who had decent, if thin, undefeated records. good call on that. perhaps, i jumped the gun a bit. it's just hard to swallow in a division with so many able vets and decent prospects ready to chop off an arm for the #1 ranking.
I, too, had to go to the bathroom and vomit after I saw the rankings. Although, I'm not sure if it was the ranking or bad fish that I ate that made me puke. Either way, the rankings are horrendous.
Bottom line is there's too much political (not literal) influence in the ranking system and in the sport in general.
I don't know a damn thing about Spada. Is this worse than Gary Lockett being WBO #1. We know what that was about, and deserving it was NOT part of the picture.
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I agree with what you are saying. However, traditionally and historically, the NABF title has played that roll in the WBC, and Karmazin now holds that title.
Huh. That explains why I've never heard of him... boxrec says he's only fought 3 times outside Italy and those were in lesser German venues, plus his last opponent was 7-21-1. Half of his last six dancing partners had 3x or more losses than wins! The ranking has got to be a gift bone thrown to Italy. I think Duddy's always looked limited, though. Nice guy and good advocate for Irish illegals, but more pretty face than pretty boxing.
Duddy showed improvement in his last outing. I think Burns is serious about moveing John down to 154. That's a good idea.
Good post,mate! Very well spoken! Karmazin,Pirog,Zbik,and Gevor would wipe the floor with the limited Italian. Anyway! What carries off the prize is that Spada is ranked nr.1,and not his conqueror Oral! Amazing!!!:huh