CONFUSION OF CHAMPIONS
If you have nine weight divisions, you have nine champions. When you have 20 plus rating systems, you will have 180 champions. Many of these will be duplicates. When nine weight divisions become 17, you can have 340 champions. Can a difference in weight of five pounds make a difference? The answer is “yes” if you want to have more “champions,” and more “championship” fights.
The Cinderella Man is upon us in 2005 and Russell Crowe has given us the focus. There was one heavyweight champion in 1935; his name was Max Baer. The man who came out of nowhere was James Braddock. This was a championship fight between one contender and one champion. Seventy years later, the Cinderella Man’s victory is the subject of a remembrance and a significant event.
Can you name a heavyweight fight in the last ten years that had as much an upscale remembrance without someone biting an opponent’s ear or achieving another bit of idiocy? We have not seen Cinderella nor can we ever hope to see one with the current 17 plus weight classes.
Boxing Digest’s Ratings are intended to reach a boxing reality. If you disagree, write or e-mail us at:
Boxing Digest
8 West 38th Street
Suite 200
New York, NY 10018
ibdmailbag@aol.com
Please give us your candidate for the champion of any of Boxing Digest’s nine weight classes and explain your reasoning. We want you to sound off to your fellow boxing fans.
John G. Ledes,
Publisher
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