By Allen Hmiel: A Champions responsibility is to hold on to that Title Belt for as long as possible without taking unnecessary risks. George Foreman years ago in a discussion with other great heavyweights said that a Champions main responsibility is to hold on to that Title for as long as possible. Meaning that fighting some easy fights in between tough fights is a must for any Champion. Champions are entitled to easy fights and big paydays with the occasional tough challenging fight against a top Contender. Champions are not going to fight the top 5 fighters in order to please fans and keep the boxing world happy.
Championship belts especially when there were fewer available were valuable commodities and respected worldwide as unique. Belts mean dollars and lots of them. Losing the belt can be a financial disaster costing millions of lost dollars. The strategy in boxing is High rewards and little risk today. Popularity is great but money is better.
Fans often wonder why the top fighters especially the champs are not matched more frequently against each other. It’s because some Champions do not want to risk losing that Belt needlessly against a tough deserving opponent. Fighters Management Teams and Promoters want to parlay that Championship into lucrative but less risky opportunities to maintain their place at the top with little risk.
No champion wants to face one tough opponent after another to please the boxing fan base. Boxing has become more of a chess game with Managers and Promoters moving potential opponents around the Boxing Chess board like Pawns. Keeping that Title Belt is more important than risking that Title belt. So as we watch great fighters not fighting top opponents and defending their belts against dubious foes we can understand that low risk is still benefiting and comes with high rewards.
Watch how Bernard Hopkins carefully is matched with his next foe and it won’t be Chad Dawson or Sergey Kovalev, or how Ricky Burns stays at home fighting hand picked opponents. Watch how avoided Gennady Golovkin is now and how others shy away from a GGG confrontation. Do you think others are asking to fight Kovalev. Keeping the Title Belt is far away more important than risking the Title belt. Why did Nonito Donaire dodge Abner Mares for 3 years or so? Why was Nathan Cleverly protected? Keeping that Belt is more important today than the respect from boxing fans in facing the best competition and earning the respect. Think about it?
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