Why Are People So Hung Up On The British,european,commonwealth Route?

It used to mean a good deal more, but not so now.

Its just a way to advertise something as a title fight, and have some guy walk into the ring with a nice shiny belt held above his head; British Joe Public isn't too up on individual boxers (except the hyped prospects) and how skillful they are, so a sparkly bit of kit combined with a "name" title puts bums on seats.

 

Because is doesn't involve Mickey Mouse titles.

 

The Commonwealth title means nothing now. However all British fighters should aspire to win the Lonsdale belt. Unfortunately it has lost a lot of its prestige in recent years.

 

If we ignore British titles we get people like Khan going straight for WBO titles without even proving they are the best in Britain.

 

**** man, I thought that thread had disappeared into the abyss.

Sorted it now.

When you said Enzo thread I thought "but Flint hasn't even posted in this thread...oh wait...he means me!"

 

Its because in the old days it was a solid indication of HOW good a fighter you were. If you won the Lonsdale you were the best in Britain. If you won the EBU you were the best in Europe. If you won the commenwealth you were one of the best fighters in the world and certainly ready for Global honours. The problem is the commenwealth for all intents and purposes doesnt exist anymore and the title is too diluted to mean anything. The EBU still has value and gives you a high ranking with the WBC. Because of the plethora of meaningless belts that can be fought for the Lonsdale has only historical significance and has been devalued. But as a rule if you have a fighter that wins all 3 he`s defintly a fringe contender and ready for world honours. Plus as a rule you would also have faced all domestic contenders. WBU WBF champions can do as they please. There are no mandatories and if there are there meaningless.

 

Because if you fall short at World level you've still achieved something, due to history and prestige these titles(well maybe not the Commonwealth so much anymore) still mean something. Usually you have to beat a very good fighter to win the European title aswell.

After the 4 'World titles' thought of as the highest, the European is the next strongest belt.

Bar the very bottom weightclasses(where the honour goes to Japan) Britain probably has the strongest national title in the World. So winning that does bring great honour.

I'd bet Wayne Elcock's British title means more to him than his WBU title ever could.

 

As a former fighter, give me a British title any day over those WBU plastic belts.... As a fighter you fight to have a place in history as much as anything else. As a British champion your are forever part of the British titles history whereas I couldn't tell you part of the WBU, IBO or WBFs recent history.

 

As said before. every title was a progression and meant you were becoming a better fighter. As Scura said, it was a good way to gauge how good a fighter was, getting a WBU/WBO title doesn't do that.

 

Why are people hung up about these titles...I tell you why. Look at the farce of the British HW merry-go-round. All our current HWs are jack **** and they have degraded the British title with their b/s stinky performances. Now people ignore them and their titles like they ignored Johnny Nelson when he became the World Boxing Foundation HW title holder.

 

it works (or doesn't work) both ways. you can just as easily pick up a wbo as the british/commonwealth if you have the right promoter and luck.

i reckon that one of the reasons it doesn't happen in america is because they don't have a single top "domestic" body who's title means you are the "american champion" - instead they have domestic ABC titles with no tradition and are pretty meaningless