BoxRec

"Mike Tyson hits back at Floyd Mayweather over recent belt comments"

Mike Tyson has voiced his opinion following Floyd Mayweather’s comment that the sport of boxing has too many belts, and as a result, too many champions.

Mayweather, who won 15 world titles over the course of his illustrious 50-0 fighting career, spoke in October about how the current state of boxing has made ‘everyone a champion’.

Tyson ultimately opposed this view, and following his exhibition match against Roy Jones Jr, he said, as reported by Essentially Sports: “Boxing never has too many belts because every time it's a championship fight, that's more money for the fighter."

"So there's never enough belts, you know?

"Just say there's one champion and you got 10 guys [divisional rivals], how long will it take him to go through these 10 guys? Plus they gotta go through each other...

"It's good to have three champions because, every time there's a fight, then everybody can get paid... Everybody makes money. That's what this business is about. Money.”

In short, Tyson’s argument highlights the idea that boxing champions will have a stronger foundation to build their brand, as well as create more commercial opportunities for themselves.

Ironically, 'Money' Mayweather views this matter differently, as he believes in the degradation of what it means to be a champion in boxing due to the many titles that exist.

Both fighters make valid points, and in an era where the commercialisation of sport continues to increase, this debate will surely continue for years to come.

For the record, the WBC's "Frontline Battle Belt" was on the line during last weekend's body-spar novelty exhibition bout between Mike Tyson and Roy Jones Jr.

Thoughts?

Floyd was right. Tyson is wrong.

Fact of the matter is every Championship fight DOESN'T mean more money for the fighters. 2 guys in a Championship fight that nobody cares about are still 2 guys in a fight nobody cares about.

That's quite a brave thing for Tyson to say.

I'd never thought of it like that before.

I suppose it's easy for him to say because he was the best in the world, plus his rise coincided with an HW unification series.

I know Tyson knows far about this than I do and I respect his viewpoint, but ultimately, I am with Mayweather on this.

All these belts have stopped or slowed down too many potential superfights over the years for my liking.

Tyson smokes the really good stuff. This is proof

Tython thaid thome nonthenthe.

It's called perspective.

Mike Tyson is merely pointing out the financial iconsistencies now inherent in the sport.

Mike's is on the side of all the fighters.
Like most of us.
He knows just how crooked this game can be.


Mayweather and the Canelo cartel are indeed happy to keep making 100000xs more than 99.99% of professional boxers.

The paying fans might have a different perspective.

Some of them might want to see real fights.
Some of them might want entertainment.

Sometimes we might even get a bit of both.

Until we see some form of regulation in the sport, err I mean business, all bets are off.

Simple message - if you don't like pre-arranged fights, then don't pay for them.

That's the only common language they can all understand. Money.

Floyd shouldn't be bitching about too many belts considering the era he competed in

Duran1970 wrote: ↑03 Dec 2020, 12:54 Floyd shouldn't be bitching about too many belts considering the era he competed in

Yeah he should. It's never too late to fix a problem. Even if you participated while it was ongoing.

I think general consensus and common sense agrees with floyd. Problem is, people have accepted the fact that boxing hasnt and probably will never do stuff that seems logical. The irony and maybe hypocrisy of Floyd's comments is that his own fighter Gervonta Davis fought for both the 130 and 135 belts at the same time vs Leo Santa Cruz Floyd knows what it is but he's also always been very smart business-wise.

Puncher7 wrote: ↑03 Dec 2020, 20:45 I think general consensus and common sense agrees with floyd. Problem is, people have accepted the fact that boxing hasnt and probably will never do stuff that seems logical. The irony and maybe hypocrisy of Floyd's comments is that his own fighter Gervonta Davis fought for both the 130 and 135 belts at the same time vs Leo Santa Cruz Floyd knows what it is but he's also always been very smart business-wise.

People haven't accepted it. Boxing fans have accepted it. People in general don't give a f*ck about Boxing anymore. Because of all the bullsh*t associated with it.

Puncher7 wrote: ↑03 Dec 2020, 20:45 I think general consensus and common sense agrees with floyd. Problem is, people have accepted the fact that boxing hasnt and probably will never do stuff that seems logical. The irony and maybe hypocrisy of Floyd's comments is that his own fighter Gervonta Davis fought for both the 130 and 135 belts at the same time vs Leo Santa Cruz Floyd knows what it is but he's also always been very smart business-wise.

Maybe it's a step in the right direction. The 130 and 135 pound divisions should just be consolidated. It's Lightweight. No Jr. Lightweight.

Start trimming the Fat off of this sh*t sandwich.

I couldn't disagree more with Tyson.
If what boxers get paid is an issue, making more belts isn't going to solve that problem.
Tyson should get real

Tyson is clearly wrong on multiple levels. Boxing should have no belts. Belts are ridiculous when you think about it rationally for a few moments.

Jimmy2020 wrote: ↑04 Dec 2020, 04:17 Tyson is clearly wrong on multiple levels. Boxing should have no belts. Belts are ridiculous when you think about it rationally for a few moments.

I don't mind the Championship Belt for ONE World Champion or belts for Regional Champions, North American Champion, European Champion, Japanese Champion...etc.

But Multiple World Champions. It's stupid. It was always stupid, and it'll always be stupid.

4 teams don't win the World Series in Baseball every year.

4 teams don't win the World Cup in Soccer.

4 Golfers don't win the Masters.

No other sport has such nonsense.

I have to aggree with Floyd. I mean is it really that impressive to be a 5 weightclass champion when the two frathest weight class you are a champion of is a double cheeseburger away from eachother?

gilgamesh wrote: ↑04 Dec 2020, 11:00

Jimmy2020 wrote: ↑04 Dec 2020, 04:17 Tyson is clearly wrong on multiple levels. Boxing should have no belts. Belts are ridiculous when you think about it rationally for a few moments.

I don't mind the Championship Belt for ONE World Champion or belts for Regional Champions, North American Champion, European Champion, Japanese Champion...etc.

But Multiple World Champions. It's stupid. It was always stupid, and it'll always be stupid.

4 teams don't win the World Series in Baseball every year.

4 teams don't win the World Cup in Soccer.

4 Golfers don't win the Masters.

No other sport has such nonsense.

Darts, MMA, Strongman, Powerlifting etc.

I hate to be pedantic, because I generally agree with your sentiments.

But unfortunately, it’s not as uncommon as you think for individual sports to have multiple governing bodies/federations whereby each one has their own world champion.