i reckon they should scrap wbc,wbo, wba,and ibf and start one belt per division,BWC,standing for Boxing World Champion. there are currently 17 weight classes i think this could be brought down to six. 116lbs and under 116-130lbs 130-146lbs 146-160lbs 160-180lbs and 180lbs up for heavyweight. this would make boxing much more intresting, and would make the title more meaningful with only one per weight class. what do you reckon????????
i disagree strongly. we see time and time again the difference jumping a weight division has on a boxer's effectiveness. Reducing the number of divisions just means that boxers at the far end of the scale for the class would rule it. Margarito would make 146lbs. How would Castillo or Pacman compete with him? More divisions mean we see more competitive fights that are decided by skill and not size alone. I dont want to see that
I agree, someone like Hatton cannot effectively jump to 147, just one weight class, Then your putting Margo and Cotto in with Guzman and the like, no way it would work
fare enough,but i would definately like to see one belt. what you need to think about is that the average man weights about 180lbs and there for why do we need 15 weight classes under this weight.
Too much leigh-way between weight classes. The first would be like a super flyweight can fight a minimum, which today would be like Calderon fighting Mijares. Too much of a size difference. The second would be like a bantam fighting a super-feather. This would be someone like Gerry Penalosa fighting Edwin Valero. Too much of a size difference again. The third, is like a super-feather/small lightweight fighting a welter, or a big light-welter. Think someone like Humberto Soto fighting Miguel Cotto. Again, too much of a size difference. The fourth, a smallish welter fighting a middleweight. Think someone like Zab Judah fighting Pavlik/Abraham. Too much size difference again. The fifth, a middle fighting a small cruiser/fairly large light-heavy. Think Pavlik fighting Johnson or Alexeev. Johnson wouldn't be all that bad, Alexeev would be ridiculous. Again, a bit too much difference in size. The sixth, again, like a large light-heavy/small cruiser fighting a heavyweight, possibly a very large, tall heavy. Think Johnson again, fighting somebody like Wladimir Klitschko or Nikolai Valuev. Ridiculous size difference. I'm not at all bothered with the weight classes, they can stay as they are. I agree with the belt's though, just bring back the 'World Championship' tag. Get rid of all the other nonsense. I worked out the other day in Decebal's thread, that with all the different organizations and there stupid rules, like interim champions, super champions etc, a division can have something like 15-17 world champions.
I wouldn't suggest on breaking it down at all. There would be far too much distinction in weight and heights/stature. Like I said, you could have Ivan Calderon, weighing around 105 and standing 5'0", fighting a Cristian Mijares, just as skilled but standing 6 inches taller and weighing an extra 11 pounds. Or you could have someone like Glen Johnson, 5'11", 75" reach, fighting someone like Wlad Klitschko, 6'6" with 81" reach I believe, and weighing around 50lbs more. Or Nikolay Valuev, 7'0" with approximately an 84" reach, and weighing around 140lbs more.
I think we could comftorably skim down to 10 weight classes without affecting too much, espeacially in the lower weight classes. I do agree that one champion per weight class would be great, but that would require some sort of boxing league like baseball, football and hockey have.
you can't use an average of the general population for this, just due to the sheer number of obese men distorting the figures. i'm pretty sure the average weight of an athlete in asia or south america is not 180 lbs.
It's just like other sports in a way...used to be NFL...ALC only in football USED to be American league and National leauges only....now look
I think its OK, just there is too few fights at the higher level. There should be mandatory fights between beltholders. If there are two beltholders who already cleared out their ABC mandatories they should be forced to fight each other. For example if Wlad beat Povetkin and Peter Vitaly they should unify their belts or get stripped. Other nonsense is that there are so called "ring champions" who doesn't have ABC belt and are not fighting right competition. For example Calzaghe should be stripped from 168lb "ring title" or he should defend this title at least once per year against other top SMW with belt. Also Joe should fight one top LHW challenger per year ... sorry Jones doesn't count anymore.
I'd like to see the weight divisions as follows: 112 Fly 118 Bantam 126 Feather 135 Light 147 Welter 160 Middle 175 Light Heavy 200 Cruiser Unlimited Heavy But given a choice between fewer weight classes and a single governing body for the sport, I'd take the single governing body all day.
I agree with the 1 belt per division 100%, Id love that to happen but not so much the weight class thing because there would be far far too many mismatches - imagine Vitali vs a 180 lb fighter, complete circus act - I MIGHT be up for scrapping the newest formed classes & going back in time to have something like this...BWT, FWT, LWT, WWT, MWT, LHWT, HWT + 15 rds for championship fights but ONLY if both fighters agree, if 1 doesnt want 15 & only wants 12 then it should be 12 but of course we should all get to know which fighter declined to go 15, I think this could work fine & make boxing more exciting aswell as cut out LOADS of contraversial decisions. :thumbsup
The original 8 weight-classes plus the cruiserweight would be good imo, than only one champ per weightclass and 15 rounds for championship fights, 12 rounds for every other fight, smaller gloves and boxing would prosper like it did from the late 40s up to the 70s.