to many mandatories for a unified champ?

[referendum]

I'm strongly supportive of unification attempts in the heavyweight division, but I'm wondering whats going to happen with multiple mandatory defenses with a unified champ. Assuming Klitschko unifies the IBF and WBO, then wouldn't he be facing mandatory defenses against the IBF mandatory (either Povetkin or Chambers), and Thompson the WBO mandatory. If he wins a third belt, then he'd be facing a third mandatory. What if he doesn't want to fight all these guys and is stripped of one of his belts?
Wouldn't it be better to have a box-off of the eliminator winners, so Thompson would fight Povetkin/Chambers for instance. How were things done when there was a unified champ?

 

[mrjohnnynofear]

It's just a muddled situation. The belts all want the sanctioning fees along with the promoters wanting money. And to top it all off there are 2 different TV channels with different stables of fighters in each that usually won't work together even if the alphabet soup belts and the promoters are in agreement. This is Vlad biggest problem. He wants to fight the best but none of the other promoters were in agreement until recently. Even if Vald gets all 4 belts I doublt he will keep them long. Hopkins and Taylor are the only ones to hold all four belts at one time. Hopkins lost all 4 of them after losing to Taylor but he was going to be stripped sooner or later. Taylor lost his IBF belt after taking the rematch with Hopkins and not fighting the IBF's #1 at the time King Arthur Abraham.

A box off would be the best but again all of the factors above would make it extremely tough.

It was done with rankings in the past and they only had 1 belt (WBA) from 1921-1963 and there was no HBO/Showtime then. It made it alot easier to get fights going instead of some entity pulling in all different directions, the WBC comes in in 63, IBF in 83, and WBO in 88. Too many people grabbing at the same pot.

Edited by: mrjohnnynofear

 

[white is right]

The only time the various sanction mobs agree on something is when a cash cow is the mandatory. Ie Mike Tyson when he challenged Lewis. Otherwise it's the Gypsie Rose routine on the various champions that have multi-belts.

 

[Guest]

The key for Wlad is unify the titles and then be truely recognized as the undisputed champ. Once he does this he can go tell the sanction bodies to jump in a lake. Once the titles are unified, Wlad has the responsibility to fight the best for the most reward for himself and the sport. Every fighter at the elite level should strive for this. Some might agree but the Ring Magazine usaully gets it right when it names the true champion of each division. Just some thoughts.