Sanctioning questions...

[Robinson]

I have a few questions regarding sanctioning bodies...

Who sanctioned the 'linear' title ?

When did the NBA start to become a sanctioning authority ?

Why is the NY title often considered to be the worlds title ?

When did the WBA title become so prominent and how did
it gain such authority ?
Was it during the early-mid 1960s ?


Thanks again

[BroughtonRulesRefuge]

I have a few questions regarding sanctioning bodies...

Who sanctioned the 'linear' title ?

When did the NBA start to become a sanctioning authority ?

Why is the NY title often considered to be the worlds title ?

When did the WBA title become so prominent and how did
it gain such authority ?
Was it during the early-mid 1960s ?


Thanks again

--- Boxing is not a centrally organized professional sport. Anyone can "sanction" anything, thus the creation of various boxing orgs and national/state commishes.

Never heard of anyone "sanctioning" the lineal title since their is no agreed up definition of what lineal is other than the ephemeral "Da Man who beat Da MAN" ignoring all the retirements of "Da Man" over the centuries. Sorta ranks in there with all the "coloured" and "white" titles.

WBA came around the Liston/Ali rematch when it was felt the first fight was not a legit result and the automatic rematch a travesty of sporting competition by "unsavory" operators. Disputes over title go back to bare knuck days though.

The NY title is not considered a world title today. Back when, since it was a large demographic with lots of political pull and had some state organization of boxing, they had the pull to make or break fights. Remember, they killed the promotion for the signed Wills/Dempsey fight, yet when Dempsey is touring and doing exhibitions between Carpentier and Gibbons, the NYSAC ruled his exhibition with sparring partner Jimmy Darcy couldn't go on unless it was a sanctioned title fight.

NBA goes back near as I can tell to 1927 with flyweight Albert Belanger and LH Jimmy Slattery, the hows and whys I really can't be bothered with as whatever the claims or disputes, they surely couldn't be any more infantile and specious than what goes on today.

[Goodnight, Irene]

That first sentence is the most telling. Boxing is not ethno-centric, as are so many other professional sports. It's a wide-open field, which paves the way for the confusion which pervades today. Retiring fighters don't break lineage, though. You simply schedule a bout between two appropriately-qualified contenders, & it picks up from there.

[Robinson]

Thanks Broughton.

Appreciated.

[Robinson]

GI

But the trouble is...who has the authority to sit in judgement
as to who fights for the said title.

The man with the money ?

[Ambling Alp]

The NBA started in 1921. It changed it's name in 1962 to the WBA. As the NBA, it was a relatively weak organization. It missed opportunites to have more influence. For example when Gene Tunney retired with the heavyweight title, the NBA would have been smart to have sanctioned their own tournament or elimination fight.
Instead the title was vacant for almost two years with some of the top contenders fighting each other until Schmeling and Sharkey emerged as the best.
Usually until the 1960's, there was one fighter in each weight class who was considered the "champion". People didn't usually call him the "NBA champion". He was just the champion.

The WBC started in 1963. for several years, one fighter had both title bests in many of the weight classes. However, both organizations came to realize that it was in their own interest to have different champions.

The IBF started in the early 1980's and got some credibility when the WBC stripped Holmes of the title and the IBF considered Holmes the champ. At first, it looked like they were an improvement as the WBA and the WBC, but after awhile it became obvious that the IBF were just as corrupt as the WBA and WBC.

The WBO started in the early 1990's, but for many years was considered a "fringe title" like the IBO or WBU is now. (For example early WBO champions such as Francisco Damiani and Ray Mercer weren't consider the heavyweight champion by the HBO network and conversly the public.
In fact the HBO network even had a policy in whcih they wouldn't even mention WBO on the air. A WBO champion was belt holder. HBO seemed proud of this honorable stand.
However, HBO changed their tune when some of their fighters under contract only had WBO titles. HBO then started to those fighters as WBO champions with equal status with the WBC, WBA, and IBF.

Like sheep, most boxing fans followed HBO's lead and many fans consider WBO champs to be as legit as the WBA, WBC, and IBF champs.

If HBO (and a few other networks) really had an interest in doing what is right, they would simply declare one champion in each weight class (they could just go by Ring Magazine, or some other non-Alphabet soup way), and never mention any of the governing bodies again. Unfortunately, it's not in their financial interest to do so.

[delisa]

# French Federation of Boxing Clubs (1903)
# National Sporting Club establishes weight classes & awards Lonsdale Belts (1909)
# International Boxing Union (IBU, formed 1913)
# American Boxing Association (1914-1915). Natl
# NY State Athletic Commission (The Walker Law (NY 1920))
# National Boxing Association (1921)
# Pennsylvania (1923) -- creates Commission modeled after Walker Law -- sanctions World Title bouts
# British Board of Boxing Control (1929)
# Federation Pugilistic Italiana (Rome April 1938)
# NBA changes name to World Boxing Association (1962)
# World Boxing Council formed (1963)
# International Boxing Federation formed (1983)

[Robinson]

Thanks alot guys.

Appreciated

[BroughtonRulesRefuge]

# French Federation of Boxing Clubs (1903)

--- These are the founding fathers that stripped JJohnson of the title and awarded it to the winner of Jeannette/Langford which was Langford according to boxrec. They then stripped Langford. At any rate, Johnson is credited for his world title defenses in France afterwards against BJJohnson and Moran.

May be the same org that investigated the farce that was Carp/Siki.

The dates I listed are from my Guinness book of champions, the earliest NBA/WBA champions where the title was disputed. Apparently they organized and sat on their hands for years before acting like any aspiring bureaucracy.

Anyone want to join my new political org, Nuevo Republicrats?

Obama is presently in the queue to be our officially sanctioned president of the US of A, but our top contenders are Chavez, Putin, Pops Reagan, and Give em Hell Harry. We may be forced to strip young Obama if he doesn't do as we please and have a runoff, but that's years in the jelling.