The fight game today:Do belts matter anymore?

Never did

Can you name me the belts any GOAT held?

I can't.

I know Bowe threw his WBC in the trash once

That's about it.

 

Morales Pacquiao 1 wasn’t for a world title.

 

Well Tommy Fury became a millionaire fighting Jake Paul, so draw your own conclusions whether belts matter.

 

Boxing is all about the bling. The bigger & shinier the belt, the better. The ability of a fighter to hoist a belt high above his head with one arm after a grueling 12-rounder is the ultimate test of a champion.

Some of those belts are damn heavy. Then try doing it with several at once.

Once you've acquired a certain amount of bling against a certain caliber of fighter, yes, you can throw it all away & do your own thing but even then, be careful. Those who do that don't always come out of it smelling roses.

Is Riddick Bowe remembered as the guy who courageously told one of the bling bosses where to shove it or as the guy who shamelessly ducked an opponent he should have faced?

 

You answered your own question. Tank vs Ryan and JP vs Tommy Fury will be 2 of the most highest-grossing, most-talked about boxing events this year, and neither had a world title on the line.

 

They matter to boxers fighting for them no matter what posters say. Especially lower level guys who aren't as known.

 

I think you will find Tommy won the coveted WBC Diriya belt from that fight.

 

Fans can't decide.

They love to say belts don't matter.

Then the same people go ballistic if a unification falls through.

Or they will insist one boxer deserves more money than another based on how many belts one of them has.

Or they will bash an organization's ratings and their mandatory challengers, then complain when a champion hasn't fought enough of his contenders or mandatory challengers.

Or they will complain when an org strips a fighter for not facing a certain challenger, then insist a fighter should be stripped if he doesn't fight a boxer they want him to face.

Boxing fans run sanctioning bodies, boxing fans run website ratings and magazine ratings, at some point they all end up making the same dumb mistakes.

Boxing has always been a bunch of freelancers running around trying to make deals and make sense of everything.

There never really has been much structure to it. There were always contradictory ratings. For the most part, there were always various world champs or those with various claims.

When the smoke clears, fans in general tend to come to a consensus on who was good and who wasn't. Who was the real champ and who wasn't.

And then they are the ones who are recognized.

But it usually happens after the fact ... not at the time it's happening.

 

The Diriyah belt, oh so coveted........yep such belts matter, i bet Canelo, Usyk, Beterbiev, Charlo and co are envious beyond belief, their ATG and champion status superseded by the great Tommy Fury.

 

They matter to fighters known and unknown as well. It’s a marketing chip.

 

When you have a YouTuber like Jake Paul making more for a fight than a Loma or a Usyk (till very recently) it is, at a minimum, disheartening.

 

It depends on the type of champion if it's someone like Josh Taylor who fought the very best to become undisputed or usyk then yes they do matter but if it's someone like Crawford just fighting cans then no it doesn't matter

 

They matter to the fighters who work their whole lives towards winning them. That should mean something to fans and I think it does in most cases