The Transnational Boxing Rankings

For a start, Wilder surely deserves to be ranked above Fury.
Fury deserves to be ranked about 7th, 8th, 9th out of those names.
It's not even as if Fury's been more active than the others. It's almost 2 years since he beat Cunningham, which was the first actual decent fighter he beat.
He's beat Chisora again (improved version perhaps) and that's it. But Chisora hadn't done much himself, except beat "Malik Scott" controversially. (And Scott was just another tomato can dive artist on the Wilder record.)

I'd suggest that Stiverne's wins over Arreola still carry as much as Fury's activity in the meantime.

If Fury didn't shout his mouth off I wonder how high he'd be rated.

 

Fair enough. In light of that reasoning, and the obvious fact that this must have already been well scrutinized, and the poor credentials of the entire HW contender collective, I can accept it.

I was just surprised to see him so high up, partly as I don't follow all these ratings. Certainly surprised seeing as I reckoned his career had been stalled/sabotaged somewhat by the Haye debacles.

I don't think Fury gets points for being obnoxious per se, but he has personality and publicity on his side.

I think Boxing News have Fury ranked 8th or 9th still. If that means anything.

 

I didn't see where they had GGG's record listed...:think.

Also, Ward has yet to lose his championship in the ring, and recently announced that he would be returning this year. His number one contender, Froch, is closing in on a year of inactivity, with no fight scheduled...

Would you consider the DeGale-Dirrell fight to be for the vacant championship, then?

 

DeGale is ranked #7, Andre Dirrell #10. How are they as worthy as anyone else to fight for the crown? If a divisional throne is vacant, the only worthy contenders are #1 and #2 --no?

Also, even if DeGale and Dirrell were #1 and #2 and Ward was stripped after 18 months, it wouldn't count because Ward wouldn't be stripped until May and DeGale and Dirrell are fighting before that.

Part of boxing's problem is the chaos it perpetuates around the championships. Addressing that problem requires a system that is both objective and consistently applied.

That being said, the frustration around squatting champions is absolutely understandable.

 

I think stoney nails it there. We are frustrated at the champion. And as frustrated as we are, Ward is still the champion. even if he was to be stripped, what would that mean?

I think stripping is wrong, but I think an interim champion can be crowned and backdated if the actual champ leaves or retires.

So like let's say for instance Ward was inactive, Froch v Anthony could crown an interim champ with the understanding their status rests entirely on the Ward, if he returns they are mere contenders, if he doesn't they are the crowned champions.

 

Crowning them champions if Ward retires or whatever wouldn't make sense at all. They are not the top-two contenders in the division.

The last thing the Transnational Rankings Board is going to do is start watering down what a champion is. The reasons to engage in that practice is often corrupt and at best misguided.

 

Say Wlad pulls out of his next fight and goes inactive the rest of the year.

12 month from now fury and Povetkin fight each other. Wlad fails to arrange a fight and instead announces his retirement.

Fury and Povetkin would have been the top two active boxers at the time of their fight since Wlad never again competed. When his retirement is announced the interim champ is upgraded. If wlad did fight again he just has a very deserving contender awaiting his shot.

 

As it is now, the cut-off has to be Wlad's announced retirement. To pretend Wlad somehow wasn't the champion before he announced his retirement and "upgrade" the winner of a fight between #1 and #2 is inadvisable considering that it has been done before and contributes to the problem.

 

I don't see interim champions as being part of the problem at all as long as they are treated as such.

It works on the UFC and would work in boxing.

 

We do have a strict inactivity clause for contenders: one year means removal. And besides that, a few members do consider a dearth of recent fights when considering whether a more active fighter should move over them where appropriate.

 

You should follow the WBA's example and make the likes of Ward and Mayweather who don't defend their belts TBR super champions. :yep