Rozanski Vs Okolie - WBC Bridgerweight title 24th May, Poland

[Fray Bentos]

The moment anyone becomes undisputed they should vacate everything and keep the Ring, why pay sanctioning fees anymore?, everyone knows Usyk for instance is the man up at heavy

Don't think that would work for most world champions. Rarely do the best fight each other, extremely rarely do they fight all other top boxers. Who really knows who the best in a weight class is? Who knows who the best welterweight is, you could make a case for Crawford but he only fought one top guy at welterweight. Who knows who the best cruiserweight is? Opetaia? Only fought one top guy. Bivol or Beterbiev? Your pick, we don't know, it's just based on opinions. So one top boxer not paying sanctioning fees might make sense for him in an outlier case where he got so much publicity and did so much in the sport that he's a clear number one but for the vast majority it actually makes sense to get to that "WBA super normal super world super universe champion" belt.

What I'm saying is: The boxers don't really have a choice. Okolie was a legit cruiserweight champion, we don't know how good he really was as he never fought the other top guys but him taking the bridgerweight title instead of fighting a bigger name for more money at heavyweight shows us how important the champion status is.

I don't like it but it what it is. Ignoring bridgerweight as "©BoxRec is the official record keeper for 410 sports authorities worldwide, it is not under direct control of any single authority", come on, that's just unprofessional.

Whenever someone becomes undisputed it's clear their no1 in the division, not sure why that's hard to understand, I'm no talking about ABC holders, I understand they need the title for clout etc, undisputed is different, you've solidified yourself as the man, don't need the ABC baubles anymore, save yourself fees, stick they belts in the trash can


As for boxrec being unprofessional for not recognizing a weight division that nobody else does bar Sulamain, I think you should direct your ire towards the WBC, they even made a balls up of the actual weight criteria for bridgerweight, if that doesn't tell you it's got nothing to do with weight safety and everything to do with them collecting those fees then you'll be in the minority im afraid

Good post, 'stone!

[Heldenjaeger]

As for boxrec being unprofessional for not recognizing a weight division that nobody else does bar Sulamain, I think you should direct your ire towards the WBC, they even made a balls up of the actual weight criteria for bridgerweight, if that doesn't tell you it's got nothing to do with weight safety and everything to do with them collecting those fees then you'll be in the minority im afraid

It's not only the WBC, the WBA also has bridgerweight rankings and a champion. And the weights are all made up, some are older with some silly "lore", some are younger and bridgerweight is the youngest but in the end it's all made up.

[SeanBrennan]

Thank you. I had not thought of Lerena, he really impressed me doing so well in his last fight especially after a parent had died just prior. Is there a pool of identified Bridgers? Do you think all 4 weights will eventually have it?

A few decent fighters got themselves ranked at bridgerweight with the WBC and WBA. Andrew Tabiti and Badou Jack are probably the best names in there outside of Okolie and Lerena. Tom Schwarz is also hanging around. It's the weakest division in boxing for obvious reasons but I actually think
you could make a few interesting fights and maybe tempt Usyk to go for another easy undisputed run.

thanks for this. Jack is definitely going through the weights! This will be his fourth.

[squiggy]

So, Okolie just isn't ranked at any weight class at all right now, is that how Boxrec is handling the situation?

[Heldenjaeger]

So, Okolie just isn't ranked at any weight class at all right now, is that how Boxrec is handling the situation?

Apparently, just like Andrew Tabiti who picked up a first round stoppage in April. Alen Babic also isn't ranked by boxrec despite fighting two months ago, there are a lot more that are not ranked.

And then some fighters are ranked at heavyweight or cruiserweight instead. Zhaoxin Zhang and Evgeny Romanov fought at bridgerweight in February. Zhang won by KO in the second round and is ranked number seven with the WBC and number one with the WBA, Romanov is number three with the WBA. Boxrec ranks both of them at heavyweight. Zhang never fought in a sanctioned heavyweight fight, only cruiser and bridgerweight.

This inconsistency is what I can't understand. We might not like the idea of another weight class but boxrec ghosting it and some of the fighters makes no sense.

Here's Romanov vs Zhang for anyone interested, a WBA bridgerweight eliminator:

[SeanBrennan]

Ghosting it does seem a bit odd. Watched that fight just now, really disorientating ring apron that as it's circular.

[wrighty]

So, Okolie just isn't ranked at any weight class at all right now, is that how Boxrec is handling the situation?

Apparently, just like Andrew Tabiti who picked up a first round stoppage in April. Alen Babic also isn't ranked by boxrec despite fighting two months ago, there are a lot more that are not ranked.

And then some fighters are ranked at heavyweight or cruiserweight instead. Zhaoxin Zhang and Evgeny Romanov fought at bridgerweight in February. Zhang won by KO in the second round and is ranked number seven with the WBC and number one with the WBA, Romanov is number three with the WBA. Boxrec ranks both of them at heavyweight. Zhang never fought in a sanctioned heavyweight fight, only cruiser and bridgerweight.

This inconsistency is what I can't understand. We might not like the idea of another weight class but boxrec ghosting it and some of the fighters makes no sense.

Here's Romanov vs Zhang for anyone interested, a WBA bridgerweight eliminator:

This was a proper shoot out .Zhang is exciting

[SeanBrennan]

deffo exciting. Is he really tall? He looks like a fleshy LHW, not 230ish