To those who say that The Ring magazine's rankings are affected by Oscar De La Hoya purchasing interest in the magazine, I have a few examples of why that isn't true. 1. When #1 ranked welterweight Antonio Margarito fought #3 ranked welterweight Shane Mosley, The Ring didn't make it for the vacant world title. Why? Well, my guess is because the #2 welterweight was Miguel Cotto, who had already beaten Shane. Fair decision right? I think so. I actually disagree with it based on the fact that Margarito had just stopped the #2 ranked Cotto, before his fight against Mosley. Now whether or not Margarito had loaded hand wraps for that fight, I don't know. Though, I am of the opinion that he should be banned for being caught with them before the Mosley fight. Shane Mosley is a Golden Boy partner, so this would have been an easy time for Oscar to use his so-called "influence" to sanction the Margarito-Mosley fight for the vacant title. It wouldn't have been out of the question, as The Ring does sanction vacant title fights between the #1 and #3 guys in certain situations. It didn't happen though. Do you know why? Because the rankings are decided by a large number of boxing writers, aficionados, etc., not Oscar De La Hoya. 2. My next example is Bernard Hopkins, another Golden Boy partner, who was just dropped from the #2 light heavyweight spot to #3. Why? Well, of course I don't know for sure, but I think the reason is pretty obvious. Glen Johnson, who is now ranked #2 at light heavyweight is always looking to fight the best fighters out there, like Chad Dawson, Antonio Tarver, Roy Jones, Jr., Clinton Woods, etc. In his most recent fight, Johnson stopped the #7 light heavyweight, Yusaf Mack, in impressive fashion. That fight took place on Feb. 5, and Johnson is already scheduled to face undefeated, #6 light heavyweight, Tavoris Cloud, on April 10. A fighting contender to say the least. Hopkins, on the other hand, is looking for the biggest money with the lowest risk and at this point in his great career, who can blame him? For a long time, Bernard Hopkins was ranked as the #1 light heavyweight contender, but due to his inactivity and the rise of Chad Dawson, he was moved down to #2. Again, where is Oscar's "influence"? It is clear to me that The Ring has the most fair, unbiased rankings that exist today. Now, I am not trying to spark the debate of The Ring vs. the alphabet soup organizations. The point that I am trying to make is that The Ring rankings have not been affected in the least by Oscar De La Hoya purchasing interest in the magazine. What I don't understand is how any boxing fan can support crooked sanctioning bodies that charge the fighter for everything but the air that he breathes, are clearly influenced by promoters and mandate that their "champions" fight tomato cans. A prime example of that is when Bernard Hopkins had to defend his World Middleweight title against #1 WBC middleweight contender, Morrade Hakkar. Remember that? The WBA may even be the silliest of the alphabet soup with their "Super World Champions", "Regular World Champions" and of course, their "Champions in Recess". The WBO also has a "Super Champion" policy. What a bunch of garbage. The Ring on the other hand has no sanctioning fees, no mandatories, no promoter influence and no "Super/Regular/Interim Champions". It instead has just one true Champion of the World for each weight class. Now, isn't that a much better policy? 3. One last point that I would like to make is not so much about the rankings as it is about Oscar De La Hoya himself. Since he "took office" their have been several articles written that aren't exactly praising The Golden Boy. Now, if he were the Adolf Hitler of The Ring magazine, wouldn't he have these people fired who dare to say anything negative about him or his career? That's just it. He has no more influence in the hiring and firing process as he does in the rankings process. Oscar De La Hoya bought interest in The Ring because it is the most successful magazine in boxing. It was a financial move, not a move to control rankings. He has stated that he has a goal to become a billionaire. I don't think becoming The Ring's "Commander-in-Chief", is part of that goal. Anyway, that is my take on the situation.
Fairly decent take on the ring magazine if you ask me however there were certain examples that could have been used to counter your arguement for baffling rankings. Namely in the lower weight categories.
The Ring tries very hard to be an honest broker within the madness that is the boxing rankings system. Nigel Collins and Joe Santoloquito are excellent writers and work hard to move away from the corrupt sanctioning bodies. Sure, some of the decisions in rankings are controversial, but they are never done w/o reason.
William Dettloff is a great writer loved this piece about Froch: “I’ll be more interesting to see whether Froch’s girlfriend, who is way out of his league as it is…will stay with him after the fight, when Froch’s nose resembles the slalom run in Vancouver.”
Yeah, the thing with making the rankings is, you just can't please everyone. Though, I do consider The Ring title the legit title, there are times when I disagree with their decision, in terms of rankings. But, usually they are right on the money, in my opinion.
Whoever says that is a newbie or an idiot, there's no need for explanation nor an essay of a post. Anytime someone close to Oscar is praised for accomplishing something they say Oscar forced them and when they do the opposite they don't say anything. This is a boxing magazine and like all other magazines you will see different articles with different opinions, if all was positive and praise no one will buy.
Scar: "Whoever says that is a newbie or an idiot" Abdullah: A newbie or an idiot. That's cute. No, I was actually just stating my opinion, along with some facts and examples to support it. Scar: "there's no need for explanation nor an essay of a post" Abdullah: I'm sorry that you don't know how to express yourself in an artistic way, rather using weak insults in an attempt to get your point across. Or lack thereof. Scar: "Anytime someone close to Oscar is praised for accomplishing something they say Oscar forced them and when they do the opposite they don't say anything" Abdullah: I don't even know what that means. I guess this was supposed to be your "stong" example here. Actually you didn't even give an example, rather a vague sentence that didn't really mean anything. Scar: "This is a boxing magazine and like all other magazines you will see different articles with different opinions, if all was positive and praise no one will buy" Abdullah: Yeah, just like how the rankings are decided by many different people and Oscar isn't one of them. You know, Mark Twain once said, "it is better to keep your mouth closed and let people think you are a fool than to open it and remove all doubt."
You are aware that he was in agreement with you. just simply stating that there was no need for an essay. the critisim was more about you taking the time out of your day to accomadate the "Newbie or Idiot" pretty much people will belive what they want and your post will more then likely have no impact on there opinion :good
Actually, no I wasn't. I didn't understand what he meant, as he was kind of vague. As far as the length of my post, I was just adding a few details and it turned out that long. It happens sometimes. Of course, people will believe what they want and I am not trying to change the world here. I was just attempting to shed some light for the minority of people who actually recognize the ABC titles vs. a much more dignified title in The Ring. I guess it is pretty easy to misunderstand someone over the internet, seeing as how we can't hear each other tones and things of that nature. It's funny, last night I thought Scar was attacking me just for the sake of being an *sshole. I was wrong. It isn't the first time and probably won't be the last. Thank you for proofreading my counter-attacking post. :good Scar if you read this, my apologies.atsch
