Quite a number Filipino boxing fans shared the links to the story that Floyd Mayweather Jr was stripped of his World Boxing Organization (WBO) welterweight title but failed to appreciate what goes beyond it.
But as Rappler?s Ryan Songalia succinctly put it, the news ?means absolutely nothing.?
Yes, with so many alphabet soup titles, winning or losing one hardly matters anymore. What counts is the money that comes in and prestige that goes along as a marquee fighter. One may hold all the titles in the world but if he fights in obscure championship cards, he is just it ? a paper champion.
Stripped of title, Floyd Mayweather Jr doesn?t really mind. What will hurt big time is is failure to attain universal acclaim as the greatest boxer of all time.Pic: AP.
Crass commercialism has taken over the sports of boxing. It is now shaped by how you can command and deliver the biggest revenue for the promoters and the cable networks.
Yes, it is no longer dictated by the once hallowed world ranking system when there were only 2 competing professional boxing bodies ? the World Boxing Council and the World Boxing Association.
It works for aspiring and rising stars ? only.
A new brand of politics and economics has taken over professional boxing. Whereas boxing used by to be ruled basically by 2 hemispheres ? WBA for Asia WBA and WBC for the Americas ? it is now governed by pay per view buys and cable TV.
In their place are the HBOs, Showtimes, Top Ranks, Dela Hoyas and Haymons.
World boxing bodies are now reduced to sanctioning and ceremonial rites.
When Manny Pacquiao demolished Mexican legend Marco Antonio Barrera over 11 rounds, he was regarded as the world best featherweight boxer and grabbed the latter?s Ring Magazine title.
No alphabet title but it signaled the beginning of Pacquiao?s ascent to boxing stardom.
Barrera was earlier stripped of his title for refusing to pay the sanctioning fee of the WBC ? the same situation that surrounds Mayweather?s case with WBO.
The WBO has ordered Mayweather to pay a US$200,000 sanctioning fee for winning the WBO title from Pacquiao. The latter refused even though he earned more than US$220 million for the biggest fight in boxing history.
Mayweather is today?s biggest draw in boxing and is followed by Pacquiao. They can fight anybody without any title on line but they are guaranteed multimillion dollar purses.
Mayweather wouldn?t mind losing one title and another for as long as he gets paid in astronomical dollars.
But what may hurt him long term is his failure to get the universal acclaim he always sought as the world?s best fighter ever even after schooling Pacquiao in their fight last May.
Now that really counts.
