BoxRec

Heres something weird. Henry Akinwande won this belt in 2003 and has made several defenses, against decent opponents, yet Henry is still only ranked #14?! He doesn't even qualify for a shot against Wlad K as hes outside the top 12 (would make good money over in Germany, HA seems to be well regarded over there)

If you win a bodys intercontinental title, aren't you entitled to a top 10 ranking? Otherwise whats the point? Why pay their sanctioning fees? Whats the benefit?

If you check their rankings, besides not even listing a #1 contender, look at some of the other guys they rank before their own inter-c'tal champ- Ray Austin, Sultan Ibragimov, Luan Krasniqui, and Jameel McCline all before HA. Who have these guys beaten recently to be any higher than Henry?

And from the 'What Have You Done For Me Lately' crew- Chris Byrd, Lamon Brewster, DaVarryl Williamson, Hasim Rachman (sic), John Ruiz!! All ranked ahead of HA, most winless in over a YEAR!

If I were Henry Akinwande I would be severely pissed that I was paying thousands of pounds from my purse for a belt that gets me no closer to a title fight than a donkey to a carrot on a stick. Maybe he should dump his IBF trinket & try get in the WBA mix, a fight with Valuev is sellable in Germany and possibly safe enough given Akinwandes age...

overhand_right wrote:Heres something weird. Henry Akinwande won this belt in 2003 and has made several defenses, against decent opponents, yet Henry is still only ranked #14?! He doesn't even qualify for a shot against Wlad K as hes outside the top 12 (would make good money over in Germany, HA seems to be well regarded over there)

If you win a bodys intercontinental title, aren't you entitled to a top 10 ranking? Otherwise whats the point? Why pay their sanctioning fees? Whats the benefit?

If you check their rankings, besides not even listing a #1 contender, look at some of the other guys they rank before their own inter-c'tal champ- Ray Austin, Sultan Ibragimov, Luan Krasniqui, and Jameel McCline all before HA. Who have these guys beaten recently to be any higher than Henry?

And from the 'What Have You Done For Me Lately' crew- Chris Byrd, Lamon Brewster, DaVarryl Williamson, Hasim Rachman (sic), John Ruiz!! All ranked ahead of HA, most winless in over a YEAR!

If I were Henry Akinwande I would be severely pissed that I was paying thousands of pounds from my purse for a belt that gets me no closer to a title fight than a donkey to a carrot on a stick. Maybe he should dump his IBF trinket & try get in the WBA mix, a fight with Valuev is sellable in Germany and possibly safe enough given Akinwandes age...

Although I don't think Henry deserves to be ranked higher than most of the guys you have mentioned yet (who has he beaten in a long time?)... I do agree about the intercontinental/international belts. Your second bit used to be spot on, now it just doesn't seem to be the case. These hunior belts would be respected (by me at least) if they did stick to their original meaning.

If Akinwande beats Platov, I think he should definately be knocking on the door of a top ten rankings (likewise if Platov beats Henry).

Do they order manditories for these silly titles because if not I don't see why such titles should give people any kind of a shot if you defend against fighters from the nobby nobs stable.

No, there arn't mandatories, and I'm not sure there's too much stipulation or regulation concerning who qualifies as a challenger for such a title.

Getting ranked for 'winning' these Intercontinental titles, regional titles and stuff are basically nothing more than fantastic business on the part of the alphabet boys. You get paid by the fighter/promoter for the reight to the belt, and you get you belt/business promoted for free at the fight.

The worst part (for the integrity of the sport) is that winning a belt has an affect on your ranking ie. up. So for example, I'd say Henry could have returned, fought Mahone and Salif without the IBFint belt, and 99% not have been ranked by the IBF. Do the same with a spot of IBF sanctioning, and as if by magic...

It's basically a legalized form of paying for rankings.

Also, re overhand's initial comment that Henry should have a higher ranking given he holds the int. belt - these belts are devised so cunningly - without an official rule to assertain exactly how much a belt will affect the ranking of the champion - I bet that if Henry was a bigger name, had a more entertaining style etc. he'd be placed higher.

It certainly used to be that fighters who could fight for an international title had to be in the sanctioning bodies top 20. That definately seems to have changed.

THis is why I like the european belt so much because when it comes down to it you have to opperate at a high level to be ranked by the EBU and have to defend it against real people.