littlepug wrote:Syntax Error wrote:littlepug wrote:5 major belts? Jumping the gun a bit there mate
Why?
Who decides if a belt is major or not?
Its a shared responsibility between boxers, fans, trade magazines, tv and whoever else is involved in the sport, so if the IBO becomes mainstream you can shoulder some of the blame for putting it out there

If you've followed boxing closely for years, you would know that there are a multiple of situations in which the WBC, WBO, WBA, and IBF have pulled some epic horsesh*t to completely strip away any credibility that they could have. For instance, the WBC stripped Chad Dawson in 2008 because he was trying to unify with Tarver, who had the IBF and IBO. Then, in 2009, the IBF stripped Chad Dawson because he was trying to unify with Johnson, who had the interim WBC. In all of the time that I've been on boxrec, which is plenty of time, I have seen dozens of threads for each of the WBC, WBO, WBA, and IBF exposing just this type of sh*t that they routinely pull. There have been pretty close to 0 threads about the IBO doing this throughout the years. They may be perceived as small potatoes in comparison to the other 4 organizations, but they have demonstrated the greatest integrity among the top 5, and they also have by far the most credible rankings among the big 5. The IBO can't necessarily convince their #1-rated fighter to fight their #2-rated fighter, but their rankings aren't the joke that is the WBO ranking Charles Martin the #2 heavyweight in the world, or the WBA whose top 5 heavyweights include VACANT, Lucas Browne, Fres Oquendo, and Shannon Briggs. I mean, imagine that. The top 5 heavyweights aren't Wlad, Povetkin, Pulev, Wilder, and Fury; they're VACANT, Fury, Browne, Oquendo, and Briggs. Who would've thunk it, right? The WBA says the #1 Cruiserweight in the world is Beibut Shumenov. The IBF's top 2 Cruiserweights are "NOT RATED" and also "NOT RATED". In fact, in 11 different weight divisions, the IBF's top 2 fighters are "NOT RATED" and "NOT RATED".