Championship belts and their relevance

By Boxing News - 04/18/2014 - Comments

By Mark Havey: There are people that will remember a time when being the champion of the world was a claim that every boxer wanted. The WBC, WBA, WBO or IBF, they all carried their worth. It was a pinnacle that dominated the thought process of every ambitious boxer. And at night it was all they could dream. Along the way things changed.

Money, and not titles, dictated a boxers success. In recent decades we have seen many boxers vacate their belts or turn down a shot at the champion in favor of a big money fight. Manny Pacquiao is one such example. When he lost his championship crown to Timothy Bradley, he also lost his place as the P4P best boxer on the planet.

With ease, Bob Arum could have orchestrated another title shot for Pacquiao, but he didn’t. Instead Pacquiao faced Juan Manuel Marquez. No title was involved but high PPV figures were predicted. Money was a bigger lure than titles. Next Pacquiao faced Brandon Rios and once again, no major title was involved. Manny was in no rush to win a title because it was no longer necessary. It wouldn’t determine his relevance in the sport or dictate his earnings.

The sport is littered with champions that no one really considers to be the best in any sense of the word. I don’t like to write derogatory articles so I wont name them, but we all know who they are. Numerous losses and inadequate PPV success haunt them, but the belt is there, and so too is their tenuous claim at being the best in their weight class. Boxing fans are intelligent in regards to their sport and the wool can’t be pulled over their eyes.

So how did this happen? How did a championship belt become 3rd in line of importance after money and PPV numbers? Well… being a champion is no longer such an exclusive club. Earning over 20million a fight is. Gaining more than 1million pay per view buys a fight is. These are now the targets that all boxers hope to reach.



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