is in today. A long time ago in a world far far away fighters fought for one prize per weight division. When they were champions they would fight number one contenders, ducking no one. When other governing bodies sprung up and gained a semblence of legitamacy, they fought to unify the belts. My question is in three parts.What has to be done to return boxing to the prominence it enjoyed in years gone by? Who was boxing's last undisputed champion? When was he undisputed champion?
I'm only taking a guess was it B Hop? a couple of years ago? Please enlighten me. Your input is welcome and appreciated.
2006-11-13 07:49:26 · 4 answers · asked by Brent 5 in Sports ➔ Boxing
Keeper - Yeah it's about the money. It's a double edged sword in a way. I can't blame the fighters for fighting for the most money they can get, and in a way I can see not risking your title (less income potential). The casual fans of the sport don't take into account the grueling training regimen top flight fighters go through to prepare for battle, and that's before the fight even takes place! I think one step boxing could take to help the "revival" along would be to put top flight fighters on TV during Sat. and Sun. afternoons. Like the good old days, ABC Wide World of Sports, CBS Sports Spectacular, NBC Sportsworld. You could see all the top fighters there, and I'm talking about fighters that are now in the Hall of Fame. In order to see those type of fights now you gotta shell out 50 - 60 dollars on PPV, most working class families can't and won't spend that type of money.
2006-11-13 09:32:41 · update #1
Brent,
I think one thing that may help would be to put a salary cap on the purses, somehow. I don't have all of the kinks worked out, but if the fighters, were doing it for the championship, and not the money, we might see less fight "dodging" and some better matchups. Naturally, a great fighter deserves a generous purse, though. Also, perhaps shrinking the boxing associations from four to two, maybe a world boxing association including all countries, and a United states association. This would really force the BORING heavyweight division to come up with a true champion, and provide less belt holders and more contenders. Also, it would make less of a grey area as to who the true champion is. To follow up on the undisputed champion portion of your question, it seems like when there is a champion, there is ALWAYS a dispute! It never fails that there is an arguement to bash the legitimacy of the champ. In my opinion, the Roy Jones Jr. of the 90's was an undisputed champ. But there was always the question of the quality of his opponents that hung over him like a looming grey cloud. I think I would go with Bernard Hopkins if he was able to beat Roy Jones Jr. Actually, that would be a good matchup now!
And yes, boxing today is sad. It is about the money, why else would PPV be in existance???
Smitty, thanks for the lesson in economics. What was your answer?
2006-11-13 09:11:42 · answer #1 · answered by The Keeper of the Green 4 · 1⤊ 4⤋
To the first part of the question the only way to do this is for ppv events to be scrapped, everybody loves boxing but as has been mentioned above some people are just not willing to shell out their hard earned cash to watch what could turn out to be a **** fight (aka Mayweather Vs Baldomir). The only problem with this is that the majority of the revenue nowadays comes from ppv so the top fighters aren't going to take a drop in their purse just to please people who don't want to pay. Another way might be to get rid of all these other sanctioning bodies, maybe try to get it so they are only fighting for one belt that would generate a lot more interest from the fight fans, but yet again we know this isnt going to happen because of the extra revenue that is generated from having all these title fights on every weekend.
The second part i would say Jermain Taylor.
The third part, when he beat Hopkins the first time for all 4 belts.
I will just add that the next undisputed champ will be Joe Calzaghe when he beats Kessler for all 4 belts at Super-Middle, i know the fight hasn't been signed yet but I'm still hoping.
2006-11-14 04:42:14 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 1⤋
All these world titles out there is just a way for people to get money that don't deserve it. It would be nice if there was one belt per weight class, but toomuch money in sanctioning fees would be lost for any of the alphabets to just go away.
Undisputed champs.....O'Neil Bell was the undisputed Cruiserweight champ for about a week after he beat Mormeck. Then he got hurt, and was stripped by 2 or 3 of the organizations because he couldn't make his mandatory. It's like Jermain Taylor, who won all of B-Hop's belts. He has since lost 2 or 3 of them. The "alphabets" are as much at fault as the boxers are for there being no undisputed champs left. All us boxing fans get is to follow the "lineal" champ and not worry about the rest of the so called champs in a weight class. Maybe if the fans would stop plunking down $50 to watch a worthless, one sided, so called championship fight, things would start to change.
2006-11-13 18:18:08 · answer #3 · answered by Scott T 3 · 2⤊ 2⤋
The keeper of the green is so far off that he could play left. In capitalism. A person can get paid what the market will bear.
2006-11-13 19:26:50 · answer #4 · answered by smitty 7 · 2⤊ 3⤋