The Transnational Boxing Rankings

How many fights above 168 does he need to run foul of the charter?

 

a couple of weeks ago.

so we'll see if he comes back at his decision after the expected November fight

...this is tricky, and can be interpreted in a couple of ways, but probably the clock started running from the moment he returned and fought Smith, removing his inactivity streak from the clock. Wich means it will take a lot of time (over a year from now) if he doesn't give any clearification about his intentions.

 

Well logically, it shouldn't matter a whit (see the kind of profanity we've been reduced to ) how many over-the-weight fights he takes.

My beef is the lack of fights he's had at 168 since becoming the champion.

In 27 days time, he will not have defended his 'title' at all in over two years.

(and even that defence, his only defence in more than three years, was against an unranked nobody (Sorry Edwin).

Can he hold the title indefinitely without ever defending it ?

 

Question for anyone connected with TNBR organization

Regarding Andre Ward:



Andre has not defended his 168 lb championship in almost two years. The last time he was in a fight that could have resulted in a change of 168 lb champion was Nov 16, 2013.

(He has defended his 168 lb title twice in the four years he's held the distinction.)

The foregoing and the following, together would seem to suffice to remove Andre from 168 lb consideration

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In addition, section 6 of the charter would also point to removal of Ward as 168 lb champion.

At a minimum, shouldn't the 168 lb championship be declared vacant ?

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Any clarification would be appreciated.

 

But if Rodriguez would've won, would he become Super Middleweight champ being that he failed to make the weight?

 

You're right.

I'd forgotten that Edwin did not make weight.


So we have to go back three years to dawson to find a semi-legit 168 lb defence.

In fairness to Ward, the Rodriguez bout was at least signed at 168, and it wasn't Andre's fault that his opponent failed to make weight.

However, what's the excuse for not scheduling another 168 lb defence during the past two years ?

 

I guess we need to go to the ultimate arbiter in these situations....Ring Magazine.

Just kidding. Never mind.

 

Okay.

So there was specific intent to avoid the 'strip' word. Fair enough.

One unfortunate consequence here is that if #1 and # 2 never meet (or, like the recent HW situation, take years to meet), Andre could remain champion more or less indefinitely without putting his 168 lb Championship on the line.

Not a huge issue, but it could 'debase the currency' of the championship in the eyes of some.

 

That's how I see a pure lineage tbh.

Champion remains champion until he retires his claim an a stronger claimant comes along.

Bit controversial but I think I regard Vitali as champ from beating Sanders up until Wlad beat Povetkin.

Doesn't bolster anyone's legacy one iota but it makes tracing lineage a bit easier.

After all, that is how Fitz kept his MW championship so long likewise with Armstrong at FW.

 

Andre Ward not defending or defending against very low grade opposition is a difficult situation. From his perspective he wants to be paid fairly. From the fans perspective they want to see the best fights. IMHO he is unfortunately too good and there is no one to challenge him. IMHO he is still the clear #1 but equally you cant have a situation where the #1 does not fight. Would you pay for him to fight DeGale or Badou Jack? Do you know the result of this fight already? Not an easy situation if your honest, sometimes you can be too good aka Mike Tyson c1989.