Conflicts Of Interest In Boxing.

Hero Of College

Ring Magazine.

• Claims to be the source of the only objective rankings in the World. Is owned by a major promoter {Golden Boy} and was embroiled in ranking scandal in 1977.

TV Companies/Publicists

• Like the newspaper men of old, Cable TV has come to maneovure its own fighters into positions of prominence and exposure in order to sell their product and maintain profits- Setanta/Haye/Bunce

Big Ears

Hero Of College wrote: »

Ring Magazine.

• Claims to be the source of the only objective rankings in the World. Is owned by a major promoter {Golden Boy} and was embroiled in ranking scandal in 1977.

TV Companies/Publicists

• Like the newspaper men of old, Cable TV has come to maneovure its own fighters into positions of prominence and exposure in order to sell their product and maintain profits- Setanta/Haye/Bunce

Your first criticism against the Ring is correct , even if the people making the rankings don't change people will always be suspicious of them due to the GoldenBoy connection . The second one while terrible of the time has nothing to do with the present , I don't think anyone from back then still works with the ring .


Now the other issue you raised , and I'm glad you did as it is something that really needs a lot more discussion is something which is controlling boxing at the moment . Terrible example though , you just used that because you hate Bunce and Haye and you would have been much better pointing to this http://www.secondsout.com/columns/index.cfm?ccs=208&cs=24779
it's a must read imo and has real scandel in it unlike Haye and Setanta .

Haye's contract with Setanta is sink or swim as he has to take on top opponents .

Hero Of College

Big Ears wrote: »

Your first criticism against the Ring is correct , even if the people making the rankings don't change people will always be suspicious of them due to the GoldenBoy connection . The second one while terrible of the time has nothing to do with the present , I don't think anyone from back then still works with the ring .


Now the other issue you raised , and I'm glad you did as it is something that really needs a lot more discussion is something which is controlling boxing at the moment . Terrible example though , you just used that because you hate Bunce and Haye and you would have been much better pointing to this http://www.secondsout.com/columns/index.cfm?ccs=208&cs=24779
it's a must read imo and has real scandel in it unlike Haye and Setanta .

Haye's contract with Setanta is sink or swim as he has to take on top opponents .

Yes...Hayes desire to take on opponents will see him face TBA at the O2 in the Winter, to go with the big win he had over that other stellar Heavyweight, Enzo Mac, also, believe it or not, at the O2, a full year ago by the time he fights TBA.

I don't care how spanking brand new the O2 arena is....its not MSG and its not MGM Grand...in fact, I would say the horribly named colour-line arena where Klitschko will fight Thompson is as good a joint...anyways I digress.

I've read the link you had, and, for the most part I think its a decent article. However as soon as I came to the following paragraph:- "
"Malignaggi’s two Boxing After Dark appearances in 2007, at a fraction of the cost, drew higher ratings than Joe Calzaghe vs. Mikkel Kessler and the live telecast of both Wladimir Klitschko fights.".......I just knew I was reading an article by a guy who has a problem with European fighters.

He claims to be undercovering what is rotten at the heart of boxing, whilst himself taking cheap shots at European fighters. Malignaggi draws higher telecasts cos he has every Italian in the tri-state area watching him throw powder-puffs for 12 rounds and on free-tv to boot.

Big Ears

Hero Of College wrote: »

Yes...Hayes desire to take on opponents will see him face TBA at the O2 in the Winter, to go with the big win he had over that other stellar Heavyweight, Enzo Mac, also, believe it or not, at the O2, a full year ago by the time he fights TBA.

I don't care how spanking brand new the O2 arena is....its not MSG and its not MGM Grand...in fact, I would say the horribly named colour-line arena where Klitschko will fight Thompson is as good a joint...anyways I digress.

I've read the link you had, and, for the most part I think its a decent article. However as soon as I came to the following paragraph:- "
"Malignaggi’s two Boxing After Dark appearances in 2007, at a fraction of the cost, drew higher ratings than Joe Calzaghe vs. Mikkel Kessler and the live telecast of both Wladimir Klitschko fights.".......I just knew I was reading an article by a guy who has a problem with European fighters.

He claims to be undercovering what is rotten at the heart of boxing, whilst himself taking cheap shots at European fighters. Malignaggi draws higher telecasts cos he has every Italian in the tri-state area watching him throw powder-puffs for 12 rounds and on free-tv to boot.

Or he was possibly pointing out how Americans don't care about European fighters unless they're fighting Americans , which would be very much true .

Calzaghe v Kessler was indeed the lowest ever rating for WCB on HBO .
hat really tells you what's wrong with the sport . The American public don't care how good the product is if it's not American .

Hero Of College

Big Ears wrote: »

Or he was possibly pointing out how Americans don't care about European fighters unless they're fighting Americans , which would be very much true .

Calzaghe v Kessler was indeed the lowest ever rating for WCB on HBO .
hat really tells you what's wrong with the sport . The American public don't care how good the product is if it's not American .

Precisely. Which explains the repeated mantra that the "Heavyweight Division Is In The Doldrums"...in other words there are no Americans in it. If Thompson destroys Klitschko in 3 weeks you can bet your bottom dollar that we'll have Lampley saying {as he did post Rahman-Lewis I} that "we've got a brand new champion, and he's from the USA".:eek:

If Kelly Pavlik was from Poland, middlweight division would be lacking in just the same way. The truth of the matter is that 160 is as "confusing" as 200+. Pavlik has had some good wins, but the recent Taylor fight was at catchweight, to mention nothing of the fact that Taylors own tenure as champ was decidedly dodgey- ironically having been engineered by a former HBO head-honcho, Lou Di Bella. Abraham and Sturm are both legitimate champions and indeed have "wins" over De La Hoya and Miranda, for all intents and purposes. But they are passed over, and Pavlik, an American, is introduced to the world as THE MW Champion, which, clearly, is not true.

Passing Calzaghe-Kessler off as being out-performed by a Malignaggi fight smacks of desperation. 55,000 people attended that fight. That DWARFS any fight that has been held in America since De La Hoya fought Charpentier in El Paso.....which might even have been in the last Century.