Theres no regional title system. You have various NABF and NABO titles but there are meaningless. Always won and instantly vacated, no mandatory defences. The Domestic to European title route is proven to breed better fighters. They have national titles in most countrys why not the US?? And every other continent had a continental champion. If there was a State, US and North American titles it would create a deeper talent pool of US fighters. This for me is the major problem with US boxing. If the Peterson brothers, Ortiz, Jacobs had gone through 2-3 North American title fights agaisnt tough opponents before there world title shots would they have done better? Almost deffinatley. Theres plenty of great fights that could be made by US, Mexican fighters but also some of the smaller nationans that have produced world class fighters over the years like Puerto Rico, Canada, Panama, Nicuragua, Cuba, Honduras etc. If the TV networks like HBO, Showtime got behind the fights and used them as openers on PPVs and Boxing After Dark shows, also shows like Friday Night Fights and ShoBox. Examples of fights that could be made. North American title HW - Chris Arreola vs Juan Carlos Gomez CW - Troy Ross vs BJ Flores LHW - Chris Henry vs Adrian Diaconou SMW - Librado Andrade vs Renan St.Juste MW - David Lemieux vs Fernando Guererro LMW - Vanes Martoroysion vs Erislandy Lara WW - Mike Jones vs Jesus Soto Karass 2 LWW - Kendall Holt vs Julio Diaz LW - Antonio DeMarco vs Vincente Escobedo SFW - Jason Litzau vs Daniel Ponce De Leon FW - Eduardo Escobedo vs Antonio Escalente SBW - Giovanni Caro vs Jorge Arce BW - Eric Morel vs Christian Esquivel SFlW - Cesar Seda vs Jhonny Garcia FlW - Edgar Sosa vs Brian Viloria LFlW - Adrian Hernandez vs Jose Rodrigurez SW - Sammy Guttierez vs Gangian Lopez US title HW - Derek Rossy vs Seth Mitchell CW - Matt Godfrey vs Brian Minto LHW - Allan Green vs Yussuf Mack SMW - Jesse Brinkley vs Edwin Rodrigurez MW - Daniel Jacobs vs Lajuan Simon LMW - Secheww Powell vs Deandre Latimore WW - Mike Alvarado vs Demitrius Hopkins LWW - Tim Coleman vs Josesito Lopez LW - David Diaz vs John Molina SFW - Elroy Perez vs Tyrone Harris FW - Cornelius Lock vs Miguel Angel Garcia SBW - Rico Ramos vs Teon Kennady BW - Chris Avalos vs Jose Navarro SFlW - Raul Martinez vs David Gaspar FlW - Rayonta Whitfield vs Austreberto Juarez
The US titles were once very prestigious, but that was when there was one World title (for instance when Carpentier held the World Light Hevyweight title Tunney and Greb battled it out for the US counterpart) but nowadays it's just more tat to add to the numerous ABC titles IMO.
I agree with both your posts. I think problem is it's way to easy now for them to skip the more traditional routes and win some bogus titles. I mean that undercard bout the other night with the heavyweights. Them belts he had were ****ing embarrassing. Looked like some cardboard cutout belts but yeah i think the promoters can boost there man's rankings and paper a record by fighting lesser quality for ABC Bogus titles such as WBC Latin Title and crap like that. I remember a NABA title fight between Brewer and Echols. Brilliant 3 Round war. Top quality fighters fighting. There's always a worry to many hard fights early but the Yanks always talk of gutchecks. Well most of there prospects are having gutchecks in there first world title fights. It's not fair on the fighters to be put in with top class guys and be asked to deal with a situation that there not experienced to dealing with. Poor Matchmaking really. I think 1 or 2 harder fights earlier for these young bucks and they would overcome the harder fights at top level.
There currently are stare, US and north American titles. I think the problem relates to the sanctioning bodies. There doesn't seem to be any single continental body like the EBU that governs continental boxing in north america.
I think it's more of a GBP problem - their exposure rate is far higher than Arum's. I just don't think titles are particularly relevant, in America they generally get them the right fights, but because there will be a local broadcaster in each state TV isn't a problem. Over here we are title mad.... which doesn't make sound sense. Half the time the British title isn't held by the #1 fighter in the division, regardless of whether we've a ''world champion'' in that weight class. Until boxing goes back to one world title, regional titles are ticket selling tools only. The Commonwealth and European have little credibility left anyway. Is Ricky Burns really a world champion? One good win to get the belt, then two disgraceful defences. Is Gary Sykes really British champion? Knocked out inside a minute in Prizefighter. The fact that people say they'd like to be ''a world champion'' rather than ''THE world champion'' speaks volumes, rather than just wanting to knock over the best opponents in their particular division.
Good post. State titles and national titles would establish a more sensible route to world championships, building up the fighters and creating a more realistic hierarchy. America has to realise boxing is a global sport that they no longer dominate or they will continue to see their prospects knocked out by underrated fighters from abroad their promoters mistakenly hand-picked for paper "world" titles.
I agree that it would be great if America had a long time established title system like the lonsdale belt something that was steeped in tradition and held a large amount of gravitas but sadly that is not the case. Any introduction of a new title would be treated with disdain just another bauble in the title soup sadly
