A prospect is a promising fighter, often young, who is rising through the ranks with the intention of one day being a contender for a title. When they reach the higher levels and have an impressive win to loss ratio, they are often referred to as a top prospect. At this time they may haveContinue reading “What Is A Top Prospect?”
Category Archives: Organisation
What Is A Gatekeeper?
The informal name applied to the status of a boxer who is well skilled, high ranking and who would provide a test for another fighter who aims to become a contender. They are higher status than a journeyman, so the prestige of beating one is greater, but they are not currently themselves a likely titleContinue reading “What Is A Gatekeeper?”
What Is A Contender?
A high level boxer who is considered to be worthy of a title shot, or likely to get one soon. Due to the politics of boxing and the alphabet soup of titles, there is a lot of negotiation and involvement when setting up fights, but the contenders are the top ranking fighters with realistic hopesContinue reading “What Is A Contender?”
What Is An Undisputed Champion?
As there are four major sanctioning bodies, and each has its own rankings of contenders and champions, it’s possible to have four different world champions at each weight division. The four belt era has been around since 2004. A boxer can hold championship belts in one or more. A unified champion is one that holdsContinue reading “What Is An Undisputed Champion?”
What Is A Lineal Champion?
Traditionally there was only one champion per weight division, and it was easy to decide the next champion by beating the current one. With the introduction of numerous sanctioning bodies – each having their own ‘world champion’, it became more complicated. The term lineal champion is used to denote a ‘true’ champion in a weightContinue reading “What Is A Lineal Champion?”
What Is Alphabet Soup?
Due to the fact there are many sanctioning bodies in boxing, keeping up with titles and champions can be difficult. Fights can be organised between these bodies and a boxer can hold titles and championships in one or more. The main four sanctioning bodies are known by their initialisms WBC, WBA, IBF and WBO. TheContinue reading “What Is Alphabet Soup?”
About Weight Divisions
There are currently 17 weight categories in professional boxing. Originally there were 8 ‘Traditional Divisions’ but additional categories have since been introduced. To complicate matters, the names are not consistent for each of the 4 major sanctioning bodies, however 3 out of 4 (not WBO) have aligned. Are There Too Many Weight Divisions? Whether havingContinue reading “About Weight Divisions”
How Much Do Boxers Get Paid?
When you hear about the big money paid to boxers, it is worth noting how the money is divided. Boxers can and do become very wealthy, but that is not always the case. The amounts paid increase with the amount of appeal a fight has for ticket sales, broadcast deals and pay-per-view, but the boxerContinue reading “How Much Do Boxers Get Paid?”
Can Boxers Have Beards?
The people who set the rules for Boxing are the Governing Bodies. As there is more than one, rules differ. The rules on beards and facial hair are therefore different. You could say it’s a hairy subject. In professional boxing, beards are generally allowed so long as neither camp objects. If they do, the fighterContinue reading “Can Boxers Have Beards?”
Boxing Unboxed 