The WBU,who was behind it?

A business opportunity for himself. He cheapened our domestic scene no end with that trash. Warren wasn't stupid and naturally saw an opportunity for his fighters and himself to make good money. Same as he did in the early 90's when the WBO was introduced. The problem was hardly any of them could be taken seriously on the World scene. I mean Ricky Hatton had 15 DEFENCES of that nonsense. Vs a shot to **** Tony Pep whom he won the belt from. Thats nothing short of a dead liberty and an insult to ALL boxing fans.

Now dont get it twisted. Im not decrying fighters from making money in this sport as its brutal and short. But DONT sell this crap as "World Tidal" boxing which is exactly what Sports Network did and SKY bought this nonsense hook line and sinker. Far as im concerned its incredibly short sighted and one of the reasons why the boxing scene currently is the way it is.

 

Spot on. Thats exactly what it did. You had Warren fighters who rather than chase the traditional belts went down the WBU route instead?!?!? All that did was cheapen the quality of the fights domestically and allowed the best fighters not to face each other.

 

WBO route too.

Warren had a special relationship with them.

He upgraded the likes of Enzo from WBU Champs to WBO Champs.

 

Yeah it stopped the light middles of early part of last decade fighting or a reason why at least.

2001-03 Light Middle Scene Domestically.

Steve Roberts-WBF Title
Anthony Farnell-WBU Title
Takaloo-WBU Title
Richard Williams-Commonwealth and IBO Title's.
Gary Lockett-WBO Inter-Continental title
Wayne Alexander-British title.

Takaloo win over Arnie at the Velodrome. Alexander fought Takaloo in 04 for WBU as well..but by then we knew we wasn't gonna get the lot of em fighting each other.

 

It's much the same now.

The English, Commonwealth, British and European titles are all being used to keep the coffers topped up and keep fighters apart.

Frank Maloney is a disgrace, the sooner he loses his TV deal the better for British boxing.

 

WBO force mandatorys. Enzo had to beat a very good fighter for the interim title before he got upgraded.

 

not sure how you work that out. the champions fight eachother quite allot and become mandos for eachothers belts.

 

Dont forget Adrian Stone who held the IBO. And Lockett if i remember rightly held the WBU as well for a few years. Apart from Tak and Alexander which lost its significance by the time they fought - but was a cracking crap - along with Tak vs Farnell ( When he was on his one round win streak ). The rest never came off. Was a dam shame watching great British talent like that protected by promoters and joke titles. Is it ironic though that every one of them that made the step up into world class were completely destroyed.
Williams vs a prime Martinez who beat up Stone as well handily. Wayne against Harry Simon. Lockett cashed out vs Pavlik in what turned out to be a joke. Tak got his ears boxed off by Santos. And Farnell never made it to World Class..... Sad.

 

Enzo only got upgraded because Nelson retired. Had they fought he would have boxed his ears off. As for Dominguez he had a nice record statistically that showed his experience. Other than that he was typical WBO stiff. Remember Enzo's with his struggles with the likes of Bruce Scott and Swaby? Enzo was found out a loooong time ago. The WBU just allowed him to ride that gravy train a little while longer. Harsh maybe but thems the facts. The WBU hampers fighters development significantly.

 

Totally agree.

Shouldn't of forgot Stone. Always enjoyed watching him.

 

You mean like when they enforced Freeman Barr vs Calzaghe? Barr was Joe's mandatory. He was such a pitiful opponent that the fight never happened and most couldnt even fathom "how" he ended up at number one. Then again the WBO are the only organisation to have had a dead man in their rankings. Pretty much tells you alot about their "mandatory s" and the quality of their fights which back in the 2000's and 90's were always meaningless.

 

Adrian was a dam good fighter. But look what happened when he faced Martinez and Mosley. He got his jaw broke vs Forrest but put up a good fight. Vs Mosley he was simply wiped out in a VERY bad KO. Martinez put the final nail in the coffin and not long after that he was retired.

 

theres plenty of bad mandos but theres also some great fights that were only ever made because of the ABC's ordering thing. I can put up with them for that reason. Its why i am not fussed for the WBU or IBO because your get all the crap without the odd good thing once a year.

 

Yeah spot on. His level was 2 below them guys and it showed.

I've always was and will be a fan of Richard Williams but i have to laugh looking back....bring over Martinez as a opponent for Williams....atsch.