It is a great read and goes through the history of each body which does not put any in a good light. Anyone heard of J Onslow Fane? He was from the BBBOC in 1962 who declared himself too busy to become President of the WBC which would be run from Britain. As a result the organisation went to Mexico and the rest is history.
Bob Mee is the best, most underrated and underused journalist/author in boxing today. His latest article is just the latest in a long line of brilliant pieces of work. I don't understand why he doesn't get more work in BN or Sky. As for the BN article on the sanctioning bodies, I think every TV-exec in boxing should be made to read it and be asked to consider an alternative way to advertise the fights on their network. It seems everybody but the TV-execs themselves know that the main reason the belts exist is so that promotors can charge the networks more money for the TV-rights. Promoters even admit this, that's why everything is a titlefight these days. The sanctioning bodies would cease to exist without the fees that are essentially paid for by the networks. Nothing would help boxing more than if the networks woke up and put their foot down against sanctioning body BS. Until then the situation is so out of control it's as hilarious as it is worrying.
Bob Mee is one of the very, very few boxing writers that I actually like reading, Hausser is another. Real shame that Mee gets so misused on TV.
Some people are just too knowledgeable for TV. It's an art to pitch the level just right so that the hardcore fans don't feel patronised and the casuals know what you're talking about.
Mee does seem to be popping up on Ringside more and more these days. Really knows his stuff, and I thought showed Johnny Nelson up a bit on thursday when trying to compare Lewis with Joshua, Nelson is so ****ing clueless.
I like Mee, he is a welcome addition to Ringside and it is good to have a very knowledgeable pundit on the show. However, I think sometimes people can get a bit too carried away with someone who is well read, it is a bit like a bloke who can quote a few lines of Shakespeare and everyone thinks he is the best thing since sliced bread. A few days ago I was reading an obituary of Ray Arcel that Bob Mee had written in the Independent - an excellent piece but really it was largely an amalgamation of two sources, Dave Anderson's chapter on Arcel in his book Ringmasters and Ronald Fried's chapter on Arcel in his book Cornermen.
I'd rather have someone too knowledgeable than someone who isn't knowledgeable enough...a 'la Lillis.
Imagine if more boxers sued when they got screwed over by a sanctioning body it would really clean up the sport
