Press conference on Kessler's career

doesn't raising the belt as leverage take us all back into the circus that has boxing on it's knees to begin with?
danes love Kessler, but nobody knows who he has fought...

he'll be touted as an even more celebrated 'world champion'...the same way as Australians tout danny green, and Canadians tout bute

please....

 

Huh? Wait, so you don't think it a good move for Kessler because he should be going after legacy bouts instead of titles? ...or you think he will lose to Bika? :huh I'm not sure exactly what you're saying here.

 

i'm saying nobody would even mention bika if he didn't have 'a belt'
what exactly do you think taking a 'title' from bika would be worth?

except for cosmetic purposes

federations are the bane of boxing, and everyone in the know (you included) knows that Kessler beating bika for a 'title' is bull****.
so why promote a fight that nobody would be talking about except for a paper strap owned by a fringe fighter...?

 

So you don't think championships ought to exist in sport? :huh

He is currently a four-time super middleweight world champion - that is hardly a bad thing for his legacy. Becoming a five-time super middleweight champion would not be a bad thing either, in the least.

Bika may not be perfect and is beatable, especially for Kessler (even now) - but he is respected. Not a 'paper titlist', and the accomplishment - coming off two years' off without a tuneup and seizing Bika's title - would not be scoffed at by anybody, I don't think. It would be a solid W at this stage with or without a belt, although the ability to become a 5-time champ is what really elevates it with the other top options. I don't see anything wrong about that, however.

 

I never said championships shouldn't exist in sport
but in boxing, a sport that boasts 80+ bogus 'world champions', I think the educated fan owes it to the casual to set the record straight

you can't sit there and call carl froch or mikkel Kessler 'world champions' with a straight face, even if they both deserve all the respect in the world for what they have done in boxing and how they have done it.

the reason for that, which you should already know, is because joe calzaghe was the true world champion at SMW (world champion means 'champion of the world' in most sports...), and andre ward was his successor....

if you disagree with that, i'd like to hear it, because it's pretty disappointing to hear someone as knowledgeable as you try to build up fighters based on bogus 'titles' - not to mention their future bouts

 

It has been the reality of boxing for a long time. Multiple champions per division is obviously not ideal but we have to accept it. We can discriminate as far as saying "Well, the IBO and WBF are bogus titles" but the Big Four are generally accepted in equivalent terms. You only get 1 champ per division when someone unifies all four, or at the very least 3 of 4. In some rare cases two belts will suffice, if the holder of those is understood to be sufficiently ahead of the other 'champs' and the consensus man to beat.

If you only hold one belt, you are not the champ in the division, but one among several. That is just how it works.

Kessler and Froch are champions. I don't see how you could say otherwise. Acting like the situation is anything other than what is has long been is just wishful thinking. That is like saying all championships in the last thirty years are invalid because you feel they should be contested over the old 15-round distance. You can't just ignore reality.

 

you're using history in a tainted sport to justify it
I've seen you in the 'round by round' scream 'robbery' and be disgusted with the judging in a big fight, but you just accept it because it's the way it's always been?

you have to **** history - and that isn't meant with disrespect for the fighters that came before, when $$$ didn't have the leverage it does now to twist people, results, matchups etc...

what part of you justifies froch and Kessler as SMW champions, when you know damn well neither have ever been good enough to be the best in their division?
it's misleading, it's false, and you become part of the problem in boxing by giving weight to federations which serve to fragment the sport

I don't care if calzaghe and ward gave up all belts and made their own out of jelly babies....it doesn't change the truth about their legitimacy, and the bogus claims of everyone else in the division

EDIT : **** the belts and use your common sense

 

As long as Kessler is fully healthy I'd like to see him fight on. 168 and 175 just got even better with Kessler not retiring.

 

For the record, HMB is absolutely correct about how things should be in a perfect world.

 

cheers :good
I know it's an ideal, but i'm on a crusade to at least expose how scandalous all these belts have become in a sport that is so easily manipulated if you have a belt

 

You do have double standards. You will be saying that the fighters have to be based only in America next or else they wont have fought anyone or something silly like that

 

Doesnt say much for the rest of the division if you think that

 

Didnt sturm travel and fight De La Hoya?

 

which players at MW did sturm fight - not beat, fight - to make you think that?
do it without your alphabet belts, which you only use to compensate fighters

 

yeah he did. he fought Oscar for $$$, so it's kind of ironic that a fighter who decided to fight for $$$ arguably got robbed in a fight that was a prelude for a much bigger fight
are you saying Oscar was a MW?