Salido-Garcia will be for the Ring Belt

So what does everyone think about this? Obviously, the elephant in the room is that Chris John is the longest reigning titleholder in the sport that's basically just being passed over. I know John is a lightning rod for criticism for some on here, but realistically, it's going to be hard to get the top quality fights for John...he did come to American twice on short money and was robbed with the draw decision against Juarez in their first fight...so there's not exactly a big incentive for him to visit the states again. Anyways, here are some quotes from the Ring panel about it:

Ryan Songalia: "I believe (Salido-Garcia) should be for THE RING belt because of Chris John's open statements that he has no interest in facing the best of the division. I think he's most interested in fighting in Singapore, getting money from the new casino there, and retiring unbeaten.”"

Ryan Maquinana: "Ever since that brief foray into America when he fought Juarez, John has willfully chosen to stay in Southeast Asia (where hardly enough challenges remain to elevate his standing at 126). Ideally, you'd like to have John fight No. 1 for a vacant title, but since there's virtually no shot of that happening, I'm OK with THE RING belt on the line for Salido-Garcia"

Anson Wainwright: John doesn't seem likely to look to fight any of the top guys. His last few fights have been against guys who aren't close to being top ten ranked by THE RING, such as (Stanyslav) Merdov (32-7), (Shoji) Kimura (24-4-2), and (Chonlatarn) Piriyapinyo (44-0 - though he had beat nobody noteworthy himself).”

Martin Mulcahey: "Should all boxers be judged on the region they box in instead of their worthiness? Just because John boxes in Asia (where he makes more money – the sport is still prizefighting so you go where money is) does not diminish his achievements"

"“I question how Salido ever got rated above John in the first place to merit this RING belt shot? Salido has Juan Manuel Lopez's (who had all of two title defenses at featherweight) number but otherwise John has a superior resume, and it was Gamboa who did not want to fight John, not the other way around. Then you have Mikey Garcia, who has not really beaten anyone to compare with John's resume getting an opportunity to jump John without facing him. I doubt this would be happening if we were talking about an American boxer who used his economic clout – like say Roy Jones or Hall of Famer Orlando Canizales – to box in the USA in front of American audiences. I think John's skills and resume are just too good to be ignored, and honestly Saldio is not exactly a world beater to represent THE RING belt. Garcia can be but he is still young."

"“Why can't Salido or Garcia fight John in Singapore where there is plenty of money to stage such a fight? Why is it up to John to lose money to fight in American again! When is the last time we demanded this of an American boxer, like say Andre Ward for the Mikkel Kessler or Arthur Abraham bouts, when those fights would have made more money in Europe?"

"And I don’t buy the argument that John’s career is winding down. So what? Floyd Mayweather, Bernard Hopkins, Vitali Klitschko, Carl Froch, and Juan Manuel Marquez are winding their careers down as well but I doubt we would overlook them if a RING belt where to be fought in their divisions"

So what do you think about this? Do you think the RING belt should be up for grabs in Salido-Garcia or remain vacant?

 

Also Broner being bumped up to #5 p4p after beating Demarco....

Did ODLH fire a bunch of staffers and replace them?