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WHAT NOW?
Where does boxing go from here? I made the point that boxing needs a central authority but the chances of that happening is slim to none with slim on the train out of town. With the proliferation of sanctioning bodies, the only hope for boxing to have a central authority would be for all but one of the sanctioning bodies go out of business. I would not count on that happening and the suggestion by some that there should be a federal authority misses two points. The first is that boxing is an international sport and not every national body outside of the United States would recognize the United States boxing commission as the central voice. The second is that the many of the same folks who populate the various state commissions would also run the federal commission. Does anyone believe that a federal commission would not be run by political hacks?
The number one goal for boxing is to set a single champ and that would
go a long way to revitalize the sport. ESPN has attempted to use Ring
magazine as their authority for who is the best but this is starting to
dissipate. Kevin Iole, writing in a recent piece on the 25 most
influential individuals in boxing, found that the vast majority of those
listed were either associated with HBO, Showtime or ESPN or they were
promoters. Right now television executives and promoters don’t have
real incentives to set up a system with a single champ. It is easier to
promote championship bouts and the more championships available, the
more championships fights available to promote and televised.
Sanctioning bodies collect fees so more championships bout means more
money for everyone.
The first goal is to give everyone incentives to have one champion in
each division. The WBA may have given us a solution to at least move to
a system of one champion. The WBA has a champion, Alexander Povetkin and
then they have super champion Wladimir Klitschko. Why not declare a
Super Champion in each division while allowing each sanctioning bodies
their own champions? And allow each sanctioning bodies a piece of the
action of all Super Champions?
How would this work? Let us take the Middleweight division. While
Sergio Martinez is the recognized Middleweight champion but he does not
have an official sanctioning title. Can anyone explain to boxing fans
why the best Middleweight in the world is without a title? Let say in
my world, Martinez would be Super Champion and his upcoming fight with
Julio Cesar Chavez, Jr. would produce a Super Champion.. Right now, it
is only for the WBC title. If we had a Super Championship at risk, the
first thing is that all of the sanctioning body would be given a stake
in the fight; the goal being to encourage the various champions to fight
each other.
In the meantime, each sanctioning body would still have their own
champions and fighters would be able to claim a portion of particular
weight division. Television executives can continue to market
championship bouts and promoters can continue to cash in while each
sanctioning bodies can continue to sanction bouts but with Super
Champions; each division would have central figure that boxing fans can
relate to.
The negative would be each of the sanctioning bodies may see their title
diminished but they are diminished now with so many titles available.
The difference is that boxing fans would be awarded with great fights.
This could lead to series of fights as part of tournament similar to the
Super Six. The Super Six was a brilliant bit of promotion by Showtime
as six of the best Super Middleweights fought each other with their
respective titles on the line plus the goal of being the Super Six
champ. The result was Andre Ward winning and essentially being the Super
Champ and now he has a big bout with the best light heavyweight in the
world, Chad Dawson, for his version of the Super Middleweight
championship.
The results was that Showtime had great fights over a nearly three year
period while giving the fans what they wanted; great fights with the end
game that the best of the best would be crowned the Super Middleweight
champ. If boxing at least get recognized champions in each division
that would be a start. We may not get the super boxing council but
simply have sanctioning bodies willing to crown Super Champions that
come from their ranks; that may be just possible.
Could a Super champion in each division be declared in each division
possible? As long each sanctioning bodies, television executives and
promoters have a financial incentives in changing the system, then the
system can be changed.
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