The BIGGEST price in Sports?

[elmersalsa]

The Heavyweight championship of the world
The world cup soccer trophy
The olympic gold medal


For me, there is nothing greater than winning a soccer world cup title. How can the heavyweight championship is the biggest crown jewel of sports? I do not get it

[Collins2000]

The Heavyweight championship of the world
The world cup football trophy
The olympic gold medal


For me, there is nothing greater than winning a football world cup title. How can the heavyweight championship is the biggest crown jewel of sports? I do not get it

You mean prize?

[Ezzard]

Something more primeval about fighting than kicking a ball around. Boxing is sport stripped down to the essentials.

There is no bigger drama in the sporting world.

[Goodnight, Irene]

I can understand both arguments. Ezzard is right about that primeval factor that so dramatically eclipses soccer (football, if you must) & other non-combat sports, even the collision ones such as the various forms of football. The Heavyweight championship is symbolic in that it is the richest financially & --- some would argue --- the riskiest mantle in boxing & perhaps sports to pursue because of the emphasis on power-punching in that weightclass.

On the other hand, there is no question that soccer is the one true world game, & therefore the World Cup trophy is in it's own right perhaps justifiably referred to amongst the legions as the biggest prize in sports.

To me, the Heavyweight title is a far bigger accomplishment. Not only is the road to glory infinitely tougher, but it's entirely on your shoulders. If you're having a bad night, there are no team-mates to take the ugly limelight off you. You have no one to share what is an immense burden. On the other hand, you cannot possibly be forgotten if you succeed --- as is a danger when you are a member of any team, & your place in history is yours alone.

It's funny --- I loved playing soccer, just loved it, but I cannot fathom why it is the most popular spectator's sport --- it's hideously boring to watch. On the flip side, like the rest of us I love fight night, but after a few (mostly) less-than-grand forays into the ring as a teenager (no doubt blinded by the romance of boxing's legends), I found it ain't so much fun to, "play."

[Goodnight, Irene]

From the above post the, "other" term for football (S****r) is not permitted.

Actually, since there is no longer a Heavyweight championship in meaningful (i.e. Linear) terms, I guess this discussion is moot. It brings up the question --- how significant is it that there is no longer a Heavyweight crown of serious worth? What is to become of posterity?

Boxing is in desperate need of a serious clean-up that appears at this time will never occur.

[Ezzard]

Football, like many team sports, is about the clubs, the dynasties of the game, watching them rise and fall is very interesting. International games are essentially wars by proxy.

Young men often associate themselves with a club/community. It's a tribal thing, but I agree that as a spectacle football is generally not great. The game is a corporate venture in which penalty shoot outs are the name of the game.

If boxing was run differently, i.e. 1 champion at each weight (I can live with the junior divisions) and the top fights were always made (in football you know Liverpool will definitely play Utd twice every season) and rivalries allowed to develop (rematches etc) then boxing could become a premier sport again.

[Goodnight, Irene]

But you don't even have to go that far, Ezzard - the top fighters in any given weightclass have always both fought & avoided each other, that's boxing. & I'm happy enough with the whole, "IBF/WBA/WBC" arrangement, it's OK by me, but the endless proliferation of titles, the veritable anagram of letters representing organisations, it has irrevocably sullied boxing. & the fighters today must share some blame too, because they now avoid one another at a volume unprecedented in boxing history (Especially these so-called, "Heavyweight champions"). It's outrageous, & boxing is all the poorer for it.

Multiple titles (to a degree) if we must. But let's have one recognised world champion. After all, there's only one world. Hearing someone like Sultan Ibragimov announced in an arena as a world champion is sad stuff. It's BS. I'd honestly feel embarressed if I were in his situation, though I doubt he does. The linear title should mean something, in every division. Today, it simply doesn't, & in truth, the linear title is what boxing is supposed to be about. You are supposed to be driven to be the man who beat the man. Except that fighters now cling to their splintered, increasingly diluted, "world titles" by avoiding anyone who poses a serious threat, unless suitable compensation is on the table. The whole thing stinks.

A bit of a rant there. I'll have to keep that in check I guess.

[Ezzard]

But you don't even have to go that far, Ezzard - the top fighters in any given weightclass have always both fought & avoided each other, that's boxing. & I'm happy enough with the whole, "IBF/WBA/WBC" arrangement, it's OK by me, but the endless proliferation of titles, the veritable anagram of letters representing organisations, it has irrevocably sullied boxing. & the fighters today must share some blame too, because they now avoid one another at a volume unprecedented in boxing history (Especially these so-called, "Heavyweight champions"). It's outrageous, & boxing is all the poorer for it.

Multiple titles (to a degree) if we must. But let's have one recognised world champion. After all, there's only one world. Hearing someone like Sultan Ibragimov announced in an arena as a world champion is sad stuff. It's BS. I'd honestly feel embarressed if I were in his situation, though I doubt he does. The linear title should mean something, in every division. Today, it simply doesn't, & in truth, the linear title is what boxing is supposed to be about. You are supposed to be driven to be the man who beat the man. Except that fighters now cling to their splintered, increasingly diluted, "world titles" by avoiding anyone who poses a serious threat, unless suitable compensation is on the table. The whole thing stinks.

A bit of a rant there. I'll have to keep that in check I guess.

I don't blame the boxers as such. They want to make as much as they can for as little risk as possible.

What boxing really needs is a single strong governing body. It's just so easy for a fighter to opt out of any situation and just continue fighting under some new alphabet label. It's impossible to put anything in place.

I almost think a 12 month tournamnet might be the best way forwards. I know puritsts won't like this idea, and its fraught with problems, but something needs to change.

[The Great John L]

The Heavyweight championship of the world

It used to be, back when there was actually a HW champ that more than 0.5% of the public could recognize.