One ‘Real Champion’ Per Division? Why Dispute That?


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One ‘Real Champion’ Per Division? Why Dispute That?

By Coyote Duran (Dec 19, 2007) Doghouse Boxing

To start, I’d like to make it abundantly clear that as a writer and a person, I think Maxboxing.com’s Steve Kim is a fine example of both. But as far as it goes in this business, we writers, not unlike fans, will disagree and I elect to agree to disagree with ‘The Korean Hammer.’

Last Friday, an article by Steve regarding what he felt was necessity in terms of having sanctioning body titles available for the winning was posted to much positive feedback, to me, was a bit surprising because, more

often than not, when anyone, be it writer or fan, has anything potentially good to say about an alphabet gang, he or she gets hit with the backlash of others who would question his or her sanity. I know because I’d be one of those doing the questioning.

However, what I had gathered was that ‘K9’ wasn’t so much supporting the alphabet groups so much as supporting the fighters who believe they need these belts to thrive in Our Sport. And this is what kept me from wondering if Steve was perhaps a touch liquored up when he put thought to keys when composing his article (Well, other than the fact that the article was well-thought out and written, as per usual). I knew I was going to respond somehow and I considered a few things en route. I could e-mail Steve and ask him to detail his thoughts and ask why a Ring Magazine ratings panel member would want to justify even the tiniest compliment to these groups but I thought better because, honestly, his article didn’t need a translation. What it needed was to be read (sometimes 12 or 13 times, as I had), absorbed and responded to. But, ultimately, my job, in this case, is to diplomatically

disagree.

Before I do, I would like to make it clear that my impression of Steve’s article was one of concern for fighters, not sanctioning bodies. In a sport where only the best of the best are known to skate away with six or seven figure purses. It stands to reason that any skilled fighter with good competition, belt or not, should enjoy excellent financial fruits but we all know that’s not the case. So, yeah, an alphabet strap is going to make the fighter who wears it more money than he might not have; had he not possessed it in the first place. But isn’t this a case of the belt making the fighter as opposed to the fighter making the belt; something we all want? Well, I refuse to believe the former.

Sure, the case could be made that a belt makes a fighter more money. Daniel Ponce De Leon is, indeed, a great example. But what the WBO 122-pound titlist has that, let’s say, former WBA super welterweight titlist José Antonio Rivera (who still worked as a court officer in Massachusetts while he was a ‘world champion’) is unique in itself. He’s fun to watch, has hardly any boxing skills at all and goes for the kill; making him a marketable character. Will it make him a Hall of Famer? Probably not but Ponce De Leon, at this time, is closer to Canastota than Rivera is.

Let’s say Ponce De Leon vacated to migrate to another weight class. Will he be less marketable as a result or will he be immediately thrust into another alphabet ratings system without even one contention fight at the new weight? And who will care more if he has a so-called ‘world title’: the boxing hardcore or his Latino following who might not care about a belt at all and just see a good old-fashioned ass-whooping?

How about Julio Cesar Chavez Jr.? OK, maybe is thriving on Dad’s good name but what else does he have? Granted, he’s got development and a savvy promoter and I don’t know what he’s pulling in, but he’s got the imagination of an entire country in his back pocket, minus the belt and the juicy HBO contract.

In a little over a year, Arturo Gatti fought Micky Ward three times without any belt on the line and both fighters made some decent bank. Gatti, of course, was an HBO-contract player but that was all he had and between him, Ward and 30 rounds of action, we observers and fans won a trilogy to remember. And if you didn’t catch it the first time, there was no belt up for grabs to be found.

Why dispute the need for one ‘real champion’? The analogical arguments are timeless and not mine to take credit for but there are only one Super Bowl, World Series, NBA Championship and World Cup. Why should boxing be pushed more toward professional wrestling when it needs to be a real world pastime for once?

One good reason in itself is the need to keep fans and gain new ones. Personally, I’m exhausted from rattling off every titleholder in 17 divisions to a non-boxing acquaintance, only to get stared at as if I just parachuted in from the Sun. The same question follows the moon-faced stare in, “Which one’s the real world champion? Wait, you just said that guy was but this other guy here is saying he is. Who the hell’s the other guy if the first guy has a belt?!”

You got me, Mac.

Back when Antonio Tarver first defended his World Light Heavyweight Championship against Glen Johnson, they both did us all a favor and vacated their alphabet straps, opting for a good fight and knowing there was still a genuine world championship on the line. No confusion there. Just two ‘non-profit organizations’ that were probably pissed to hell that they couldn’t make a profit. And Tarver and Johnson’s purses were not too shabby, if I recall right. That might have something to do with each man starching Roy Jones Jr. too. That helps.

It can be argued that with a ‘the more, the merrier’ mentality, many belts are great for the fighters and their wallets but how many are too many? We don’t just have the WBC, WBA, IBF and the WBO. We also have the WBF, IBC, IBO, IBA, WBU and NBA. Among those ten mentioned sanctioning bodies vs. 17 weight classes, that’s 170 belts up for grabs and all their holders claim to be ‘world champions’, lower-tier or not. So who’s special? Everyone, I guess, if all of a sudden, boxing was 8 year-old, ‘rookie league’ baseball.

Sanctioning body belts also have a laziness effect on fighters. Can’t get ranked by the WBC? Try the IBC. It’s OK; their belts are world titles too. And how low is low? Near the twilight of his career in 2001, the legendary Roberto Duran held and lost something called the NBA super middleweight title to Hector Camacho Sr. Were they world-class fighters at the time? Hell no. But if you left the option of choosing the ‘real super middleweight champion’ was to the fans, one out of ten might just have said Camacho’s win over Duran made him one. At worst, the fighters themselves are confused. Ask James Toney how many world championships he’s won. Go ahead. I’ll bet you prairie dogs to scorpions, Toney’ll say nine or ten of ‘em.

I will say, to an extent, that I did agree with Steve’s assessment of Joel Casamayor as World Lightweight Champion but only that common sense does dictate that ‘El Cepillo’ is the champ. Yes, he did beat Diego Corrales for the belt but it wasn’t Casamayor’s fault his opponent came in overweight. Casamayor came in prepared and let’s not forget, it wasn’t just a publication like The Ring that stated Casamayor was eligible to win the title. The WBC did too (like most sanctioning body would). Then they stripped him for not defending against David Diaz (like most sanctioning bodies would). Yes, Juan Diaz has a lot of belts. My thought? He’ll be the real world champion in 2008. He should be but that doesn’t change the fact that he should stick around lightweight (and he has no problems doing so) and beat the real guy, regardless of whether or not the recognized champ deserves his belt or not. Juan Diaz beats Joel Casamayor. Let’s make it happen so all will be right once again. Should the fans decide who the champion is? Only if they’re stepping into the ring. But they can certainly hound the living hell out of the Casamayor until he defends or vacates. If Casamayor chooses to vacate for any reason other than weight issues, injuries or retirement, then our suspicions will truly be validated.

And it’s great that the WBC mandated a rematch (the fair thing to do) between Casamayor and José Armando Santa Cruz. Everybody wins, including the alphabet’s coffers. But if Santa Cruz must be charged a sanctioning fee, why not just bounce Casamayor as the middleman and sanction David Diaz vs. Santa Cruz? Maybe this is the WBC’s way of secretly admitting that Joel Casamayor’ status in the lightweight division is, at the moment, more prestigious.

In a perfect world, a real world where common sense should prevail, we in the media could examine the ratings and jump the cases of the alphabet groups that didn’t get it right. Would they really heed the words of a bunch of non-boxing, sandwich slaughtering, keyboard jockeys? Hell No II: Electric Boogaloo. Not with plenty of promoters in bed with them (Think Gary Shaw and his bordering-on-moist love for the IBO). Hell, with the exception of a few of a few very respected scribes, most of us writers rank somewhere in importance between paparazzi and Tom Green films with many promoters, alphabets and even some fighters. We can’t infiltrate sanctioning bodies from the inside and send ‘em to bed without supper. Fighters can. But it takes a whole lot of them to get it done.

Look, we know that without sanctioning body belts, many fighters might not pull in the financial security they’re entitled to. Duly noted, but why can’t alternatives to sanctioning body titles that cause nothing but irritation and confusion be fleshed out? Wanna get back to the mainstream? Let’s look to alternate corporate sponsorship. This combined with other competitive opportunities to allow fighters who might have to wait to get that one shot at that one genuine world champion the chance to compete against fellow contenders for money or a respected distinction.

Think about this for a little bit. Professional baseball has the All-Star Game and the World Series. Professional football has the Super and Pro Bowls. Tennis has the Grand Slam, which includes Wimbledon and the U.S. Open. NASCAR has about 37,000 different corporate sponsored races in their seasons. Why can’t boxing enjoy the same thing? Distinction without extortion.

And if we must (and ONLY if we MUST) meet a sanctioning body halfway, then let’s (if they won’t themselves) STOP calling their representatives ‘world champions.’ Let’s save them from themselves because half the time, they’re living in perfect harmony and the other half, they don’t even know each other exists. These days, it’s a surprise that anything gets unified. If we waited in title unification alone, we’d never get a recognized champion. And if we enjoy the rare occasion of alphabet title unification, then we’re back to the problem (if it even is a problem) of a whole mess of contenders waiting in line for a shot at one true world champion.

Sounds novel, huh?

If I haven’t said it yet, I’d like to make this clear. By no means is this a dialogue of ill criticism aimed at Steve Kim’s opinions. No one ever said we writers are obligated to agree. Nor is this an attack on the sensibilities of fans. Without them, there would be no sport to have. But fans have to pick their battles and their voices, if shouted at the right targets, cannot be blocked out. This goes for fighters as well. The alphabet epidemic can be vaccinated and eliminated. It just takes a damn large shot in the arm to do it.

But if you ask me (and I know you didn’t!), as I see it, these are the men who I recognize as world champions in their respective weight classes. You’ll notice there are some divisions where I don’t have any world champions and that’s because, I do look to The Ring’s Championship Policy for my answers and my answers are as follows:

Heavyweight: No world champion. IBF titlist Wladimir Klitschko is the closest thing we’ve got.
Cruiserweight: David Haye
Light heavyweight: Bernard Hopkins. Others respectfully consider Zsolt Erdei the champ.
Super middleweight: Joe Calzaghe
Middleweight: Kelly Pavlik
Junior middleweight: No world champion.
Welterweight: Whether you like it or not, it’s Floyd Mayweather Jr.
Junior welterweight: Ricky Hatton
Lightweight: Joel Casamayor. Yeah, I know. It’s depressing but be patient. It’ll be worth it.
Junior lightweight: No world champion. The upcoming rematch between #1 Manny Pacquiao and #2 Juan Manuel Marquez will solve this.
Featherweight: No world champion
Junior featherweight: Israel Vazquez
Bantamweight: No world champion
Junior bantamweight: No world champion
Flyweight: No world champion. WBC titlist Daisuke Naito comes close.
Junior flyweight: Ivan Calderon
Strawweight: No world champion.

But as the great Dennis Miller, a man who I consider far more intelligent than Christopher Columbus ever was (Look up his own career slide in 1500), once said, that’s my opinion. I could be wrong.

Questions or comments,
e-mail Coyote at: artofthepaw@yahoo.com
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