Khan makes WBO top 15

[dondada]

Apologies if this has been covered elsewhere but I've just noticed that Amir Khan is in the latest rankings at no.14.

Then again Willie Limond is no. 10.

Why do I keep bothering getting wound up by this shite? With their obvious favouring of Sports Network fighters, the WBO just seem to be like the WBU with a bit more history and respect.

Should we go back to just recognising three boards as 'world' champs or are they all as bad as each other?

FYI, I can't see Khan in the WBC top 40 or the IBO top 100.

Actually, I'm starting to like the IBO.

[leforge]

Khan would lose to Thaxton, Meager imo. The rating is a joke.

[steve689]

Actually, I'm starting to like the IBO.

Well get that out of your system now before it becomes a problem

[glittermonkey]

Why do I keep bothering getting wound up by this shite?

Because you're obviously some sort of weird optimist. Just resign yourself to the fact that this kind of rubbish will keep on happening, and there's little that we can do about it. Let go of all hope that the sanctioning bodies will ever be honourable, incorruptible, or even fair. Remember, low aspirations are the key to a life without disappointments.

[KO Artist]

I dont read any rankings of any body whatsoever. They are all crooked, all of em, IBO IBC WBC WBA IBF WBU, they all favour who pays the most money. They are crooks.

I just like to see good fights I'm not interested anymore in who is champion of some bullshit organisation and who is not.

If I think its a decent fight I'll watch it and I might even buy a ticket.

Warrens show on Saturday was a good card, but I couldnt name any of the titles on offer if there were any, that is.

[nickd]

Jesus - Khan has fought one or two 8 rounders and he's the WBO #14? That is one of the worst rankings in memory.

[coneye]

Make Khan nunber one and let him challenge Kasidas after all the Aussies best win too date is Earl.

[steve689]

No way would they let Khan near a puncher like Katsidis, He can clearly bang and is a natural Lightweight, two main reasons he will be kept well away

[dondada]

Why do I keep bothering getting wound up by this shite?

Because you're obviously some sort of weird optimist. Just resign yourself to the fact that this kind of rubbish will keep on happening, and there's little that we can do about it. Let go of all hope that the sanctioning bodies will ever be honourable, incorruptible, or even fair. Remember, low aspirations are the key to a life without disappointments.

Oh to be a misanthrope who yokes 'weird' and 'optimist'! 8)

I'm afraid I can't 'give up' as it were...when the general public are told that 'such and such is ranked tenth in the world' they will believe it. The likes of you, gm, don't need educating.

But Joe Public needs someone to say 'Actually, that's a load of rubbish. In reality, he's about 200. Stop trying to con the public.'

But, to paraphrase Homer Simpson 'If something is difficult to do, it's not worth doing'.

[oliverfennell]

All the talk was of Khan fighting Earl later this year if Graham picked up the WBO interim. Khan has stated since his December fight that he wanted to win a world belt in 2007 and beat or equal Naz's record for youngest Brit to do so. Warren went along with it. All of this explains Khan's sudden appearance in the WBO rankings.

BUT Katsidis turns up to ruin the plot and in doing so looks like one of the hardest punchers to ever compete on British shores and all of a sudden Warren is hastily backpedalling on the timeline to Amir's title shot.

[nickd]

Katsidis would KO Khan in 1 or 2 rounds right now IMO.

[glittermonkey]

Why do I keep bothering getting wound up by this shite?

Because you're obviously some sort of weird optimist. Just resign yourself to the fact that this kind of rubbish will keep on happening, and there's little that we can do about it. Let go of all hope that the sanctioning bodies will ever be honourable, incorruptible, or even fair. Remember, low aspirations are the key to a life without disappointments.

Oh to be a misanthrope who yokes 'weird' and 'optimist'! 8)

I'm afraid I can't 'give up' as it were...when the general public are told that 'such and such is ranked tenth in the world' they will believe it. The likes of you, gm, don't need educating.

But Joe Public needs someone to say 'Actually, that's a load of rubbish. In reality, he's about 200. Stop trying to con the public.'

But, to paraphrase Homer Simpson 'If something is difficult to do, it's not worth doing'.

The problem is of course getting the message to the general public. They don't read the boxing magazines, they don't read internet articles, the mainstream press seems determined to ignore boxing at all costs, and results rarely make the news on the station the fights were broadcast on. The only outlet for actually telling the truth to the more casual fan is the ITV and Sky pundits, and there is only so much they can say unless they want to be removed from our screens, never to return.

Yes, you and other industry writers can apply pressure, but without the backing of the TV companies, and more honourable men in place within the sanctioning bodies themselves, things will not change. While ever the proliferation of these baubles is profitable, then all the alphabet organisations will continue to cash in.

That isn't me being misanthropic, it's me being realistic. There's only so much that you can do as a writer. Ultimately it's down to the TV companies to change the current state of affairs, and they don't seem at all willing to listen to die-hard fans or boxing journalists.

[Sweet P]

Katsidis would KO Khan in 1 or 2 rounds right now IMO.

Earl would probably beat him as well right now.

[DavidPayne]

Three points here.

1) Stop being such an old romantic Ian.

2) None of the belts, not even the '3' you suggest Ian, are worth an ounce.

3) Just in case anyone missed Amir Khan's 75 references to it inside a minute, he's now a Lightweight. Got that. Off at tangent from the question posed here, but could he have stressed it ANY more?

4) Its not the media/papers fault they ignore boxing, to respond to GlitterMonkeys point - the ostracising of boxing is completely and utterly the fault of the sport itself and to believe anything different is to only prolong the stint on the outside of the mainstream sports fans field of vision. Imagine tuning into Wimbledon and finding only 25% of the best fighters were ranked, that Federer was now a Super-Wimbledon champion and wouldn't play, preferring to play the French Open Champion in Spain on PPV. We say, what a crock of shit, whats the point.

[dondada]

Three points here.

1) Stop being such an old romantic Ian.

2) None of the belts, not even the '3' you suggest Ian, are worth an ounce.

3) Just in case anyone missed Amir Khan's 75 references to it inside a minute, he's now a Lightweight. Got that. Off at tangent from the question posed here, but could he have stressed it ANY more?

4) Its not the media/papers fault they ignore boxing, to respond to GlitterMonkeys point - the ostracising of boxing is completely and utterly the fault of the sport itself and to believe anything different is to only prolong the stint on the outside of the mainstream sports fans field of vision. Imagine tuning into Wimbledon and finding only 25% of the best fighters were ranked, that Federer was now a Super-Wimbledon champion and wouldn't play, preferring to play the French Open Champion in Spain on PPV. We say, what a crock of shit, whats the point.

1) I'll try but it won't work.

2) You're right.

3) Not bothered.

4) Yep.

[DavidPayne]

I've sent my diagnosis as a boxingitis sufferer off to Tommy Morrison's doctors in the hope I get a green light to return to my normal life.

[glittermonkey]

Its not the media/papers fault they ignore boxing, to respond to GlitterMonkeys point - the ostracising of boxing is completely and utterly the fault of the sport itself and to believe anything different is to only prolong the stint on the outside of the mainstream sports fans field of vision. Imagine tuning into Wimbledon and finding only 25% of the best fighters were ranked, that Federer was now a Super-Wimbledon champion and wouldn't play, preferring to play the French Open Champion in Spain on PPV. We say, what a crock of shit, whats the point.

I was talking rather of why Ian's opinion isn't likely to be heard outside the sport, than delving into the reasons behind the current situation.

Of course you are right in saying that boxing's ongoing problems are self inflicted, but I'm of the belief that any change must now come from the outside, namely the likes of ITV and Sky. If they continue to pander to the money grabbing sanctioning bodies by demanding that every fight shown has to have some sort of title tag attached to it, and are willing to accept showing any fight that their promoting partners tell them is worthy, then things will not change despite any willingness to by people within the sport, and dissenting voices of reason such as Ian.

Yes, boxing got itself into this mess, and is dragging itself further into the mire everytime bollocks like this ranking happens, but us griping about it isn't going to have much affect on those that matter, no matter how much we'd all like it to.

[jamesmcdonnell]

I think we also have to accept, that boxing's heydey in this country (arguably between the 1930's and 1960's maybe 1970's) were in an era very different from our own.

The proliferation of various forms of entertainment, the advent of digital TV, and the globalisation of sport, make it far harder for the sport to prosper.

Of course, it doesn't help that boxing promotions by and large are relatively unchanged with what was on offer in the 1950's, same venues, dodgy beer, incinerated burgers and very little in the way of value for money often.

Back in the 1950's it was the cinema, the dogs, the bingo, a boxing match and once in a blue moon a restaurant or the gee-gees. There simply wasn't that much on offer, the choices are endless today, and boxing isn't offering the same value proposition as say, ooo, going to a nightclub, getting battered and copping off with some young dolly bird for instance.

Boxing has become marginalised over time, and now I think that promoters are desperately grabbing what they can from a pot of diminishing returns.

That doesn't mean it is all over for boxing, but it does mean that it is harder than ever, especially in a climate where often big name domestic fighters don't want to fight each other. The only big fights are big name fighters against imported bodies deemed suitable to lose in a showcase fight, or ocassionally a real test for a domestic fighter against a class foreign opponent, rarely do we get two world class talents from the UK facing one another.

[glittermonkey]

I've sent my diagnosis as a boxingitis sufferer off to Tommy Morrison's doctors in the hope I get a green light to return to my normal life.

On a related subject, perhaps Morrison has been to The Gambia. Their president can supposedly personally cure AIDS and has rid many of his country's sufferers of any traces of HIV. All you need to do is drink some herbal tea, have some dubious looking white liquid spread on your face, and do some praying, and you'll be fine.

[dondada]

have some dubious looking white liquid spread on your face

Hmm. Can't say I like either the thought or the potential irony of this 'cure', gm!

[overhand_right]

Imagine tuning into Wimbledon and finding only 25% of the best fighters were ranked, that Federer was now a Super-Wimbledon champion and wouldn't play, preferring to play the French Open Champion in Spain on PPV. We say, what a crock of shit, whats the point.

You just summed up boxings plight completely. The game itself has repeatedly shot itself in the foot. The sanctioning bodies are profiteers. No normal man can get his head around the basics of the sport, hence, no one gives a flying fook anymore.