This is a disgrace, Stevenson is the lineal champion and he is doing his best to avoid the best at 175. Absolutely zero reason for him to rematch Fonfara, as the first fight was decisive despite the knock down in the 9th. What a joke. :huh
Stevenson and Cotto are examples of how lineal/RING titles have lost their meaning in recent years. Most everyone agrees that Stevenson was at fault for avoiding Kovalev and Pascal, and Cotto is not even defending the title at the full 160 LB weight. Until their is some mechanism in place to force the lineal champion to face their mandatory challenger, the distinction of THE MAN doesn't hold much weight. I actually spent more time reading Twitter than watching the Stevenson fight on Friday. It was amusing that there was hardly any pro-Stevenson sentiment, and boxing writers were openly mocking the so-called Superman.
Ive been saying this for years. Linage was created when there was just one belt and one champ. It means nothing in todays game. And I thoughy the WBC were going to make him fight Kovalev.. Anyway the guy deserves to be stripped. A pretend champ. No guts or courage whatsoever.
The Lineal title means ****, public perception of who the best in the divison means much more these days. 95% of people see Kovalev as the man at 175.
No belt or title has any meaning nowadays. All you can do is just say who the best is in every division based on how good they show themselves to be in the ring. The sanctioning bodies all serve us nonsense every day. The WBC tells us the best heavyweight is Stiverne. The IBF tells us the best welterweight is Kell Brook. The WBO tells us the best super-middleweight is Arthur Abraham. The WBA tells us the best lightweight is Richard Abril. Belts are money-making objects, and say nothing about talent.
