BoxRec

Hello fellas thought i would venture over to the Aussie scene to say hello. Just a couple of points, i noticed from reading Boxing News every week that the WBF seem to do well down under. What are your thoughts on a parasite organisation sliming in on fights promoting their baubles when they are not needed? We have a similar problem with promoters using the WBU here in Britain.

And secondly i know there are a lot of Thai and Asian imports brought in for up and comers to feed on and learn from (similar to Eastern Europeans over here). I see now and again matchups which are hard to believe are approved. It wouldn't be uncommon to see a 17-0 guy for example fight a 0-2 fighter. And Winsor Dobbin is always critical of "abysmal" televised undercards, i would imagine the above problems lead to this sad situation.

Any thoughts folks?

You've hit the nail on the head mate. We have been discussing this problem for a while. Promoters point to the fact that there is not enough money to bring in decent opponets so I guess this leeds to them trying to use trinkets like WBF (and more so regional) belts to try and push the fights.

If only they would realise that by making good fights they would increase interest in the sport thus increase profitabilty. Alas it seems the they can't overlook a possible short term finacial loss in light of a long term gain for the sport.

Obvously its probably not as simple as this but it can't hurt...

Where is the headquarters of the World Boxing Foundation, anyway? I know the IBF was set up because it was felt that American fighters were being shut out of WBA and WBC titles but it has really got ridiculous lately.

steve689 wrote:Hello fellas thought i would venture over to the Aussie scene to say hello. Just a couple of points, i noticed from reading Boxing News every week that the WBF seem to do well down under. What are your thoughts on a parasite organisation sliming in on fights promoting their baubles when they are not needed? We have a similar problem with promoters using the WBU here in Britain.

And secondly i know there are a lot of Thai and Asian imports brought in for up and comers to feed on and learn from (similar to Eastern Europeans over here). I see now and again matchups which are hard to believe are approved. It wouldn't be uncommon to see a 17-0 guy for example fight a 0-2 fighter. And Winsor Dobbin is always critical of "abysmal" televised undercards, i would imagine the above problems lead to this sad situation.

Any thoughts folks?

It is a joke, They promote fight cards and the main event is an Aussie fighting a Phillipino or Thai with a record of 5-5 and they are 2 weight divisions below. At the very least they should be fighting the same weight fighters, It wouldnt cost more to bring a bantam weight instead of a fly weight.

There are the odd exception like Ranee Ganoy who has beaten some of our better fighters and stayed in Sydney to live.

Great thread. I would rather see the Commonealth title regain its prestige from 20 years ago. That should be the stepping stone for Aussie fighters. And I also think that a national Title. Though not a prerequisite should be the basis for most Commonwealth title fights.
Fcuk the PABF and WBU and WBF.

Re WBF/WBU
If only it was that simple.
Getting a march up the ranks of the IBF & WBC is hard enough, even if you've got the class, because in this day & age, it's not a case of earning a crack, it's a case of manipulating yourself into an opportunity to corner someone higher ranked in those orgs.
Then you have the spitefulness of not recognising those that fight with other Orgs.
E.G. See Superfeatherweights WBA champ Edwin Valero not rated by WBC.

Managers/trainers are not so much into competition as they are into getting the "right" fights, & that's understandable when you're looking to get the big dollars.
They chase regional to get fictitious ratings. Regionals suck. Full stop.

These days it's more entertainment than sport & they have to create interest, unfortunately not many of them a prepared to take risks or back themselves.

The recent fight between Katsidas & Earl are the fights I want to see.
Both trainers stepped their boys up.
When they get to this level we want to see them matched accordingly.

I agree about the Comm titles. I loved those British Empire titles. Fabulous days.
There was great rivalry between the convicts & the poms & they packed stadiums.
There is some great match-ups between Oz & the UK, if only they could be made.
It would help both boys in their preps to attempt a crack at the real world champs.
Sadly, managers & trainers only have HBO in their eyes, & no stops in between.

Grant wrote:Great thread. I would rather see the Commonealth title regain its prestige from 20 years ago. That should be the stepping stone for Aussie fighters. And I also think that a national Title. Though not a prerequisite should be the basis for most Commonwealth title fights.
Fcuk the PABF and WBU and WBF.

I understand exactly what you're saying, but unfortunatley the national and commonwealth titles are not as prestigious as they once were. Getting bogus titles like OPBF and PABF and ABCD - WXYZ earn you automatic ranking within the more recognised organisations like the WBC, WBA and IBF which a good manager realises is more likely to lead to the big money fights for his fighter.

Although it is a sad state of affairs and ranking should be results driven it is not the case. The other bad thing about taking the path of least resistance is that when it is time for a bloke to take the step up to a big money fight he is generally inadequatley prepared, because he's been fighting the easiest fights to get the ranking and not honing his skills against quality opposition.

I don't know how this can all be solved other than allowing an independant organisation to decide the rankings ala ring magazine and following them en masse completly revolting against all the alphabet organisations and ultimately I don't see that ever happening so I think what we have is what we've got.

popeye wrote:Re WBF/WBU
If only it was that simple.
Getting a march up the ranks of the IBF & WBC is hard enough, even if you've got the class, because in this day & age, it's not a case of earning a crack, it's a case of manipulating yourself into an opportunity to corner someone higher ranked in those orgs.
Then you have the spitefulness of not recognising those that fight with other Orgs.
E.G. See Superfeatherweights WBA champ Edwin Valero not rated by WBC.

Managers/trainers are not so much into competition as they are into getting the "right" fights, & that's understandable when you're looking to get the big dollars.
They chase regional to get fictitious ratings. Regionals suck. Full stop.

These days it's more entertainment than sport & they have to create interest, unfortunately not many of them a prepared to take risks or back themselves.

The recent fight between Katsidas & Earl are the fights I want to see.
Both trainers stepped their boys up.
When they get to this level we want to see them matched accordingly.

I agree about the Comm titles. I loved those British Empire titles. Fabulous days.
There was great rivalry between the convicts & the poms & they packed stadiums.
There is some great match-ups between Oz & the UK, if only they could be made.
It would help both boys in their preps to attempt a crack at the real world champs.
Sadly, managers & trainers only have HBO in their eyes, & no stops in between.

Commonwealth (or Empire) titles were not always held by the best fighter in the Commonwealth. Back in the '60s Canadian heavyweight George Chuvalo (who fought men like Ali, Frazier and Foreman without ever being knocked down, although he was stopped on his feet a few times) was keen for a shot at Henry Cooper's Empire heavyweight title. When Cooper's promoter visited Canada George asked him when he was meeting Henry for a shot at the title. The reply was "George, he does not even wan to meet you socially."