I have been following boxing since the beginning of this year, only knowing -Ali, SRL, Lennox Lewis, Tyson, RJJ, PBF, and Joachim Alcine(local) when i started After half a year i can tell you that im eagerly expecting Juan Diaz vs Katsidis, the next victim of Edwin Valero,whatever James Toney says or Wlad's glass chin. I had some general thoughts on the overall boxing scene so here we go: - ABC belts are annoying, but they certainly allow some dangerous mandatory's to get a chance(tony thompson comes to mind), but they also allow some crap like Pavlik vs Lockett. The hardcore fans like us at ESB would certainly like to see at least 2 belts gone, but on the other hand, i can tell you that having multiple belts really helps the popularity of boxing around the world. Lucian Bute defended his IBF title against a washed-up William Joppy(mandatory) in front of 20 000 people here in Montreal. Remove the belt, and you don't even get a 1000. - Maybe someone who fought/trained can enlight me, but i just don't see how putting 4 pounds can change a fighter so much, even if your 5'4. Im not saying we should be as radical as the UFC(15-20 pound differences), but all these weight classes that have less then 5 pounds between them, i just find it ridiculous. How did that happen? Maybe someone can link me to the history of weight classes. Im aware that they allow bigger hypes(More champs = more big event = More money), but this just confuses the crap out of the casual fan. - About the whole drop of popularity of boxing, well obviously the no.1 reason is PPV. Here in Canada we get to see Lucian Bute and Joachim Alcine defend their titles on National television for free. And the result? A packed stadium to see Joachim Alcine defend his title next friday against Daniel Santos. You would not even get a 500 in Vegas for that. Solution: Dont buy PPV that are not worth it, like when Zab Judah was suppose to fight Shane Mosley on PPV. Some might think they will miss a good fight, but by not supporting crappy PPV's, HBO will make their fights free because the PPV numbers are too low. In the long run, we win. One last thing - Bring friends to see fights that will have good chances of being exciting(stay away from hopkins/Wlad). They will enjoy the experience and we might get new fans. I brought a friend (his idea of boxing was 2 guys hugging for 12 rounds) to Diaz vs Pacquiao, and now he wants to come for Cotto vs Margarito. He loved it. He's hooked!(no pun intended) my very long 2 cents.
Well, you said remove 2 belts. Do I understate as removing two of the boxing sanctioning associations? Which two would you want gone ideally? We have the WBA, WBC, IBF, and the WBO. Plus, there is the The Ring Magazine titles that is recognized. Which of the ABC's do you want to go and why?
Yea i mean the sanc. Organisations. I wouldn't really care which one, just so that its more clear cut when it comes to knowing whos the champ.
my views are 1. Corrupt Judging 2. Too many belts 3. The best don't fight the best that often 4. Some fights should be on network TV 5. Tyson earbiting 6. PPV THAT SHOULDN'T BE (BUT i WATCH THEM ALL)
I just watch it on HBO the following Saturday like I have been doing since I got into boxing. My first one was the whole Holyfield-Tyson debacle.
AS a fan I would care less and I will buy them, but the gernal public wont. I ENJOYED ALL FOUR FIGHTS LAST SAT for once. But I don't buy those Latin fury cards :-(
first of all we need all the other sanctioning bodies to go apart from the main 4, abolish the wbu, wbf, iba, ibc, ibu, ibo and all the other waste of space titles (i believe the word global is being used now! so next up is the gbc, gba etc etc) then get the wba, wbc, ibf and wbo to join together
