BoxRec

jamesmcdonnell wrote:Yes, this is undoubtedly becoming more true.

The WBO might have spurious rankings, but no more spurious than the major sanctioning bodies, and what i have witnessed recently with all the three major sanctioning bodies, leads me to believe they are literally riddled with corruption.

The WBA is probably the least corrupt of the three in fairness to them, the IBF in my opinion is without a doubt the worst, and hopefully it is a matter of time before they are under investigation again....

I couldn't agree with you more!

Who is responsible for regulating these organisations anyway?

Nobody, and that is precisely the problem.

Whilst various commissions can lobby an individual sanctioning body, or file a protest (as the BBBofC did after the Reid v Ottke farrago) they can merely bark, not bite, and to all intents and purposes, the sanctioning bodies operate in a vacuum, where they are answerable to nothing save for their non-existent consciences.

The only thing that could prevent this is to have national and worldwide committee's who oversee the whole thing, rather like Fifa and it's confederations.

I fear this will NEVER happen however. So long as boxing is essentially run by promoters and TV companies, who really are the people who put the money up to stage the events, there are too many vested interests to clean boxing up.

As nihilistic as this sounds, that does not mean we shouldn't rail against the injustices of the sport, or cease trying to call for improvements, It's just that a huge sea-change is needed to ever effect a lasting change.

Bob Lee was indicted and the offices of the IBF raided 4 years ago, yet today they are still up to their old tricks, allowing promoters to consort with their own officials (Mr Montello, that means you) and appointing bent referees, judges, whatever is neccesary to keep the promoter who provides them with fat sanctioning fees

One of the reasons the smaller belts are less corrupt, in fact probably the ONLY reason, is that generally, their belts are worth less in sanctioning fees, and they are trying to present a clean image to compete with the big boys.

It's kind of similar to the way that the liberal democrats are always advocating changes to policy that the main parties would never dare, because they know they cannot win, they can say what they like.

The minute they thought they were close to winning an election, watch all those radical policies dissapear up their own fundament.

The same holds true for the minor belts, as they get bigger, and more money pumps in, they will become just like their bigger brethren, just as a coup merely produces a new dictator, so these smaller belts will one day replicate the problems they tried to replace, if they even had that intention in the first place.

I notice thatbobby brown rates the WBF higher than the WBU and also the NBA above the WBU. I think the WBU have a few very good champs Ricky Hatton and Enzo Mac to name just 2. Brodie and Reid spring to mind for the WBF (and Audley Harrison should he win) but NBA. Julius Long contested for their Heavyweight title didnt he. Audley KOd him in 2 rounds. (I dont think the NBA title fight is registered on Longs record but Im pretty sure he did figt for this title and lost in round 4 or something like that.) WBU or IBO id say IBO they have had better champs in my opinion Lennox Lewis (former champ) and Roy Jones spring to mind immediately.

That explains a lot of the problems then.

Obviously no overseeing organisation is going to pop up out of thin air and I doubt mass protest will have much affect either.

Unless it comes from within a belt orgainsation eg the WBO, IBF etc then it won't happen.

I do have one suggestion though...

Why doesn't a boxing representative on the Olympic committee or Amateur Boxing attempt to enforce a requlatory board.

A lot of boxers come from these ranks and view this as a legitimate path to the professional game. Surely there is possibility for a link to be established which could stipulate a rule against boxers signing for promoters if they want to compete in the Olympics or Amateur Boxing Championships etc.

Once they join the professional ranks they could be forced to sign a contract under the terms of the regulatory body. This would require their promoters and trainers to do the same and would have a continuing domino effect to the organisations themselves.

The promoters would be forced to do the same as the pool of boxers to select would evaporate.

What do you think?

Won't happen and won't work. The Olympic movement has no sway whatsoever, and is hardly beyond charges of corruption itself anyhow.

The promoters would simply up sticks and fornicate off if they felt they were being

There is nothing is legislature to prevent someone just starting another boxing organisation, hell, I could start one tommorow if I had the time and money.

The only way this matter is going to be resolved is if America begins by forming a national governing body, which regulates the sport according to the statute of the law.

As far as I am aware the BBBofC does not actually hold any sway legally, they are an overseer of boxing in this country, and there is nothing in legislation aside from the fact that you need to obtain your license there in order to box legally.

The other thing is that it is all too easy for promoters to stage illegal shows, or rather 'unsanctioned' shows, as the matter of legality is not that obvious. As UFC fights are not illegal, then neither are boxing shows not covered by the BBBofC, they are just not legit.

Many boxing promoters in the UK started off in unlicensed boxing, and if they were forced to I am sure many would return to it too.

If America gets its shit together, that will be a start, one national boxing commission overseen by a legal statute governing the sport.

However, I see that there are already cries of disillusionment with Senator McCain's proposed reforms, and talk of his and his associates having a vested interest, check out the totalaction.com website for information on it, it's entitled kill the bill, so we appear to be as far away as ever from a solution.

The problem is that there are vast sums of money in boxing, and where there is money there is corruption. The same thing happens in football, the difference is that Fifa is there to do people for it, and they are backed by the law.