Earlier this year, BoxingConfidential announced that it?d be shopping around for corporate sponsors in order to initiate the process of creating an ethically and morally-based sanctioning organization. As of this very moment, it?s still in the works and we will be continuing to update the boxing fans as to the ideas we have in store moving forward.
In yesterday?s news, there was much hoopla surrounding the announcement of the Ring Magazine?s decision to grant Manny Pacquiao their 130 pound Ring magazine title regardless of the fact that they had seemingly scored the bout for Juan Manuel Marquez. Why is this even news and why didn?t they release their official scorecards for the Casamayor-Santa Cruz bout in November of 2007?
The Ring magazine belt has recently been dismissed as nothing more than possibly the most illegitimate of the ?championship? belts floating around the boxing scene today especially by those unaffiliated with Golden Boy Promotions. That sentiment does have some credibility being that Joel Casamayor is somehow still considered Ring lightweight champion after the horrible gift decision he received on the undercard of Miguel Cotto vs. Shane Mosley.
On the other hand? nowhere do I see Vitali Klitschko rated in the heavyweight division based on the Ring?s ratings system.
The one aspect of this magazine that spectators and insiders alike can appreciate is the fact that they do not, unlike virtually every other sanctioning body today, charge a fee in order to defend the title. It?s something that offers intrigue to a fighter who wishes to gain as much as possible financially speaking. Unfortunately for Golden Boy?s recently acquired media outlet, the prestige has apparently been dampened as fighters are opting to defend the more historically significant WBA, WBC, and IBF titles.
There?s one and only one solution for the Ring to inject itself full-throttle as the one and only legitimate form of championship.
Pay the fighters to defend their belt while vacating their current ?championships? in the process.
Example:
Nate Campbell loves his three IBF, WBA, and WBO trinkets but should Golden Boy Promotions shell out a nice $50,000 or even $100,000 in order for the ?Galaxxy Warrior? to defend the Ring magazine title while vacating those belts in the process, it could easily push them to the forefront as being the championship title to fight for.
While it might seem like an excessive amount of money to grant for a process that?s normally extracted money from these champions, it?s necessary in the sense that money talks and? money most definitely talks.
What fighter in his right mind would not choose to defend and fight for the Ring title when he can pick up a substantial some of money in the process all the while alleviating themselves of having to shell out the extra $25,000 for defending each of these other belts?
The main selling point in this whole scenario would be based on the fact that these champions would receive the paycheck regardless of who their promoters might be.
Kelly Pavlik is a Top Rank champion.
Izrael Vazquez is split between a couple promotional firms.
Basically all unified champions should be given the option to fight and defend the Ring title in place of their current trinkets. It should be made very public when this occurs? possibly at the pre-fight as well as post-fight press conferences so the public understands the significance of this action.
Yes, boxing needs some reform and yes, the Ring magazine has taken some deserved as well as undeserved criticism in recent times.
What people must understand is as of right now, most promoters rivaling Golden Boy Promotions will be attempting to downgrade the Ring magazine title stating that it has no value or merit. Well? if GBP wants to give some value to their newly acquired outlet, there?s nothing like a leather bag full of cash.
When a fighter like Nate Campbell starts to do the math in regards to fighting for an extra hundred grand or shelling out seventy-five grand, I don?t think there?s a promoter or manager out there that could coerce him not to vacate his current straps.
It?s all about the dollars and cents.
In the famous words of boxing manager magnifique, Leonard Ellerbe, ?If if doesn?t make dollars, it doesn?t make business sense and if it doesn?t make money there?s no sense in doing it.?
Yeah… something like that.
