Could someone please explain to me how boxing exists today?

[SOBO]

Y'know, I'm one for watching a good fight and enjoying the sport overall. But to be honest for a casual fan, the way the sport is set up know is pretty damn confusing.

Could anyone (FightDr?) please explain all the boxing associations; how they work with or against each other, and who are all the champions currently.

I know this might be asking alot, but I like to keep myself updated in all areas.

[Guest]

Honestly, I dont know and really dont care how all the divisions work and how they determine rankings.
HBO and Showtime both acknowledge Ring Magazine's rankings.
Here are those rankings


The Ring Magazine's Top Ten Rankings by Division:
Heavyweights
Weight Unlimited
Champion: Vitali Klitchko
1. Chris Byrd
2. John Ruiz
3. Hasim Rahman
4. James Toney
5. Monte Barrett
6. Lamon Brewster
7. Calvin Brock
8. Samuel Peter
9. Wladimir Klitschko
10. Jameel McCline
Cruiserweights
200 pounds
Champion: Jean-Marc Mormeck
1. Wayne Braithwaite
2. Johnny Nelson
3. Carl Thompson
4. Steve Cunningham
5. Guillermo Jones
6. O'Neil Bell
7. Dale Brown
8. Pietro Aurino
9. Alexander Gurov
10. Kryzysztof Wlodarczyk
Light Heavyweights
175 pounds
Champion: Antonio Tarver
1. Glen Johnson
2. Zsolt Erdei
3. Roy Jones, Jr.
4. Julio Gonzalez
5. Fabrice Tiozzo
6. Clinton Woods
7. Tomasz Adamek
8. Paul Briggs
9. Thomas Ulrich
10. Montell Griffin
Super Middleweights
168 pounds
Champion: Vacant
1. Joe Calazghe
2. Mikkel Kessler
3. Markus Beyer
4. Jeff Lacy
5. Anthony Mundine
6. Danny Green
7. Robin Reid
8. Manny Siaca
9. Otis Grant
10. Librado Andrade
Middleweights
160 pounds
Champion: Jermain Taylor
1. Bernard Hopkins
2. Winky Wright
3. Felix Sturm
4. Arthur Abraham
5. Howard Eastman
6. Oscar De La Hoya
7. Kingsley Ikeke
8. Sam Soliman
9. Fernando Vargas
10. Chad Dawson Jr. Middleweights
154 pounds
Champion: Winky Wright
1. Roman Karmazin
2. Kassim Ouma
3. Daniel Santos
4. Ike Quartey
5. Verno Phillips
6. Travis Simms
7. Javier Castillejo
8. Rodney Jones
9. Kofi Jantuah
10. Alejandro Garcia
Welterweights
147 pounds
Champion: Zab Judah
1. Antonio Margarito
2. Cory Spinks
3. Shane Mosley
4. Thomas Damgaard
5. Luis Collazo
6. Kermit Cintron
7. Jose Antonio Rivera
8. Oktay Urkal
9. David Estrada
10. Sebastian Lujan Jr. Welterweights
140 pounds
Champion: Ricky Hatton
1. Floyd Mayweather
2. Miguel Cotto
3. Carlos Maussa
4. Kostya Tszyu
5. Junior Witter
6. Arturo Gatti
7. Vivian Harris
8. DeMarcus Corley
9. Lovemore Ndou
10. Souleymane M'Baye
Lightweights
135 pounds
Champion: Diego Corrales
1. Jose Luis Castillo
2. Joel Casamayor
3. Juan Lazcano
4. Juan Diaz
5. Julio Diaz
6. Acelino Freitas
7. Almazbek Raiymkulov
8. Ricky Quiles
9. Julien Lorcy
10. Jose Santa Cruz Jr. Lightweights
130 pounds
Champion: Vacant
1. Marco Antonio Barrera
2. Erik Morales
3. Manny Pacquiao
4. Jesus Chavez
5. Vicente Mosquera
6. Yodsanan Nanthachai
7. Jorge Barrios
8. Carlos Hernandez
9. Cassius Baloyi
10. Robbie Peden
Featherweights
126 pounds
Champion: Vacant
1. Juan Manuel Marquez
2. Injin Chi
3. Rocky Juarez
4. Scott Harrison
5. Victor Polo
6. Manuel Medina
7. Chris John
8. Spend Abazi
9. Nicky Cook
10. Hiroyuki Enoki
Jr. Featherweights
122 pounds
Champion: Vacant
1. Oscar Larios
2. Mahyar Monshipuor
3. Israel Vazquez
4. Joan Guzman
5. Ricardo Cordoba
6. Celestino Caballero
7. Wayne McCullough
8. Yoddamrong Sithyodthong
9. Sergio Mauel Medina
10. Cabula Vabaza
Bantamweights
118 pounds
Champion: Vacant
1. Rafael Marquez
2. Hozumi Hasegawa
3. Veerapol Sahaprom
4. Ratanachai Vorapin
5. Silence Mabuza
6. Genaro Garcia
7. Cruz Carbajal
8. Ricardo Vargas
9. Jhonny Gonzalez
10. Wladimir Disorenko Jr. Bantamweights
115 pounds
Champion: Vacant
1. Martin Castillo
2. Katsushige Kawashima
3. Luis Perez
4. Fernando Montiel
5. Alexander Munoz
6. Jose Navarro
7. Masamori Tokuyama
8. Ivan Hernandez
9. Mark Johnson
10. Eric Morel
Flyweights
112 pounds
Champion: Vacant
1. Pongsaklek Wonjongkam
2. Lorenzo Parra
3. Vic Darchinyan
4. Irene Pacheco
5. Omar Narvaez
6. Jorge Arce
7. Rosendo Alvarez
8. Brahim Asloum
9. Takefumi Sakata
10. Hussein Hussein
Jr. Flyweights
108 pounds
Champion: Vacant
1. Roberto Vasquez
2. Will Grigsby
3. Victor Burgos
4. Hugo Cazares
5. Pichit Siriwat
6. Nelson Dieppa
7. Eric Ortiz
8. Ulises Solis
9. Jose Aguirre
10. Kermin Guardia
Strawweights
105 pounds
Champion: Vacant
1. Yutaka Niida
2. Muhammad Rachman
3. Ivan Calderon
4. Katsunari Takayama
5. Isaac Bustos
6. Eagle Kyowa
7. Juan Landaeta
8. Omar Soto
9. Daniel Reyes
10. Rodel Mayol

ports® and HBO World Championship

[Lebowski]

FightDr,

Here's some serious Y-town homerism (okay, you've been warned).

How does Sam Soliman get in the top 10, but Kelly Pavlick doesn't?

I know Soliman fought Winky like a maniac (he might have thrown a million punches), but the fight was never in question and Soliman has no skills.

[The Ko King]

Start right here: www.boxrec.com


It's an addicting site, almost as good as retrosheet.org for the baseball fan. Start at the top, you can find the current champs, ratings, and past fights listed by fighter name, be prepared to spend a couple hours there.




The four major organizations are the WBO, WBC, WBA, and the IBF. Most times, it's not in their best interests to work together, even with 17 seperate weight classes, there aren't many guys holding more than one organizations belt. Your two main promoter's are Bob Arum and Don King. They make the sport tick, I am sad to say. Matches are often made favoring their fighter's, not what is in the best interest of the sport or what the people want to see. Delahoya has his own promotion, they aren't big yet, but at least he has some integrity, and King and Arum ain't getting any younger, which is a good thing. When they are finally out of the picture, in the next ten years or so, you will see some major changes in the way boxing does business. Until then, it will still be a great sport, but a huge, confusing clusterfuck.

[Guest]

Are there things wrong with boxing?
Yes
Do some of the rankings make no sense?
Yes
Are some megafights not made due to money/politics?
Yes

Is the sport exciting?
Yes
Are the boxers great athletes?
Yes
Is is worth watching?
Hell Yes

All sports have pros and cons.
Boxing is no different but has been on a major incline due to a wealth of young talent that will fight anyone(See Lacy and Taylor)

[The Ko King]

Boxing needs, as dumb as this sounds, a Mike Tysonlike fighter to come along and get the casual fans more interested. They in turn, will turn other's on to the sport. Everyone loves a knockout puncher, especially if the dude is a heavyweight. Where is this guy hiding? Is he training for the olympics? In prison? Or is he some 14 year old kid in the middle of noplace that hits the heavy bag in the barn every night dreaming of fighting in the Garden? Tyson helped save interest in the sport when the older guys like Hagler and Leonard were coming to the end of the road. It can, and will happen again. The time is more than right, we just need to find the right fighter.



To answer the question about Pavlik. He has not had a high profile fight yet. He also had some legal issues that I understand have been resolved. While I personally believe he would whip Soliman's ass if they fought, he isn't well known yet. Give him another year. It doesn't hurt that Soliman is promoted by the Gossen brother's, who aren't as bad as Arum and King, but still, get their way most of the time with the ranking organizations.

[Lebowski]

thanks KO King