Fighters that shouldn´t have become champion but did

John Ruiz
Hilmer Kenty.
Lonnie Smith.

 

I have to disagree here.

Braddock might have been a verry long shot to win the title, but he eminently deserved his title shot, and he won the title fight fair and square.

 

I somtimes think that you are a bit harsh on McTigure.

That aside, you don't rate Carpintier, Siki, or McTigure.

You must think that the LHW title was prety much held hostage over that period.

 

heavyweight michael bent

 

Willard was given a lot of advantages, (you know why) in his favor....Why did Willard get a title shot and others (better) fighters dont ??
Thats what im talking about !

 

Exactly ! :good

 

Absolutely true.
To be fair to Leonard though he wasn't actually interested in the title.

 

Since people are including alphabet titles, I think the one Manny Pacquiao picked up the other day was a joke.

According to the WBC, they allow a man who's never fought a 154 pounder in his life to contest the VACANT 154 pound world title at 150 pounds !?
The opponent Margarito's credentials were not much better.

Do people even consider these fights these days as meaning anything at all ?
It's like boxing has imploded in on its self, destroyed by the bizarre unbridled rulings of the alphabet boys. The titles and rating systems and weights divisions are jokes, they dont even mean anything to the bodies that are governing them.
On the other hand, people will say Manny's achievements include an "unprecedented 15 world titles" or something.

Manny is a great fighter and a star, dont get me wrong.
I'd like to see him challenge for one of the heavyweight titles, maybe take on David Haye. Haye would have to weigh no more than 166 pounds though, and Manny should have to weigh no less than 151.

 

Yes, I think from about midway thru Levinsky's reign to the end of McTigue's the LHW title was definately held hostage. I think Levinsky held the title for so long because he abused the ND states, I think he then sold the title because wasnt worth a whole to him to keep it, I think Carpentier basically took it back to Europe and intended to abuse his popularity and friends in high places to cash in on the title with a string of worthless challengers, and fixed fights. I think it was pure dumb luck that Siki got a chance at the title which he clearly didnt deserve and then won it. I think Siki was ignorant enough, or crazy enough that he would have defended it against whoever they put in front of him. The entire buildup to and execution of the McTigue fight was a fiasco and the decision was simply ridiculous. How Siki ever expected to win that fight outside of knockout (in which case he probably would have been DQd) is beyond me. McTigue then went back to the states and carried on his previous tactic as a journeyman whereby he would fight ND matches and simply try to make it to the final bell. He was very clearly a poor champion and very clearly robbed Stribling (who I am no fan of and also think is somewhat overrated) of a deserved victory and the title. I think by the time McTigue lost the title he was in a situation much like Levinsky whereby most people simply didnt care about, and didnt regard him as anywhere near the best LHW so there was really nothing to lose by fighting someone like Berlenbach for the title to a decision. At that point the field more or less opened up. Berlenbach and Delaney were at least willing to fight decision matches and against fairly tough competition (although Delaney ducked Greb a couple of times as did Berlenbach and they probably avoided Tunney as well although by that point Tunney was probably more focused on the HW title than the LHW title which was pretty devalued.

 

Other than Willard getting a title shot over more deserved contenders, what advantages was he given? Did he have an air conditioner in his corner that Im not aware of?

 

A scheduled 45 round contest was an advantage for him though.

 

Paddy DeMarco

 

It wasnt the first scheduled 45 rounder he had. That distance was not unheard of in that era.