EVANDER: Why is he fighting for a title?

[cuchulain]

The WBC and IBF don't have him in their top 20.

The WBA has him at 15 .

The WBO (Whose belt he's fighting for) ranks him at 11.

(Boxingrec has him at 53)

He hasn't beaten a contender since Rahman more than five years ago.

Please tell me why Evander is getting a title-shot ahead of more deserving contenders?

[1-Ton]

Because he is a living freaking legend. You don't get it?

[Dr Gonzo]

Because he is a living freaking legend. You don't get it?

:yep

and he sells PPV/puts asses on seats

[box03]

He is the second biggest ppv draw next to tyson in the last 10 years plus hes a great american champ people want to see win the title again for the 5th time

[boxbox]

because it could be his last fight. Since he is one of the few thats keeping the heavyweights exciting, why not test him if he still has it? If he doesnt then he;'s done, if he wins..he either goes on or retire deserving the title.

[Illmatic]

why not? Please tell me you dont take those ranking seriously....any organizations that put Ray Austin at #2, and give owen beck title shots is beyond ridiculous

[cuchulain]

why not? Please tell me you dont take those ranking seriously....any organizations that put Ray Austin at #2, and give owen beck title shots is beyond ridiculous

I didn't just cite rankings. I cited his recent (Five year) record.

So far, no-one has come up with even a lame reason as to why he should be in there.

[sues2nd]

why not? Please tell me you dont take those ranking seriously....any organizations that put Ray Austin at #2, and give owen beck title shots is beyond ridiculous

:happy

[box03]

They needed a fill in for ruslan who could spark the interest of the people paying for these lame ass ppvs plus holyfield as champ brings in more to boxing than all other champs combined

[thewoo]

I didn't just cite rankings. I cited his recent (Five year) record.

So far, no-one has come up with even a lame reason as to why he should be in there.
You have 3 lame reasons just above this post

1. He's a living legend
2. He draws and people want to see him (not sure I agree with this one)
3. The rankings don't really count for jack shit anway

The reason is really plain and simple, name recognition. He's getting a shot based on his previous accomplishments and the heavyweight division sucks just bad enough that nobody gives a shit that a bunch of other shitty contendors are getting stepped over. Even if he wins it won't mean shit IMO everybody knows who is really the champ of that division and nobody gives a shit about the WBO anyway

[Illmatic]

ring top 10 heavies:

1. Wlad ---Iggy doesnt want to lose his title that quickly
2. Peter---fighting maskaev
3. Maskaev-fighting Peter
4. Chagaev-sick
5. Valuev-has another fight set up, coming off a loss
6. Iggy
7. Layahovich-has another fight set up
8. Byrd-fight set up, coming off a loss
9. Virchis- fight set up
10. Thompson-fight set up

plus,who on here can give him a bigger fight than Holy?

[Stinky gloves]

He have one of the best records in the last 2 years, just Wald and Peter might beat better opponents recently.

[T.S.]

Pro boxing is a business not a tournament or an olympic event.
This fight brings in more elements of interest to a larger paying audience who otherwise wouldn't care about who really deserves a title shot. Holyfield is a household name in America. Fighting one of the four Russian champs is the best possible sell for the USA the richest boxing market in the world.
I give Holy a damned good chance at winning.

[thesandman]

He have one of the best records in the last 2 years, just Wald and Peter might beat better opponents recently.

No, he doesn't. He has taken the Shannon Briggs route to a title shot.

Holy is getting a shot because of:

A) Money. People will buy the fight off his name
B) Money. People will buy the fight to see if he can do the unthinkable, and win
C)Money. People will buy the fight just to confirm that he's going to be smashed, and want to watch him one more time.
D) Perverse curiosity. People will buy the fight to see if he really has rolled back time, and improved since his awful fights v Toney and Donald

[T.S.]

Pro boxing is a business not a tournament or an olympic event.
This fight brings in more elements of interest to a larger paying audience who otherwise wouldn't care about who really deserves a title shot. Holyfield is a household name in America. Fighting one of the four Russian champs is the best possible sell for the USA the richest boxing market in the world.
I give Holy a damned good chance at winning.

Since the fight is in Russia I'll take Ibragimov by UD but see Holyfield giving Iggy a damned good fight!

[joeboxer]

The WBC and IBF don't have him in their top 20.

The WBA has him at 15 .

The WBO (Whose belt he's fighting for) ranks him at 11.

(Boxingrec has him at 53)

He hasn't beaten a contender since Rahman more than five years ago.

Please tell me why Evander is getting a title-shot ahead of more deserving contenders?more boxing corruption.

[Lance_Uppercut]

Deserving hasn't played a factor in a title shot in the HW division in years....

[Decker]

I think T.Stout and thesandman give as good answers as any above. Holy is a big name, and an American name will sell in the US.

Pro boxing is a business not a tournament or an olympic event. Some fans have a hard time accepting this. Also the reason we have awful decisions.

I give Holy a damned good chance at winning. Don't know about that.

[dave]

[quote=1-Ton]Because he is a living freaking legend. You don't get it?[/quote Because he is well known by the General public and boxing needs this because of it's waning popularity

[Dorfmeister]

The WBC and IBF don't have him in their top 20.

The WBA has him at 15 .

The WBO (Whose belt he's fighting for) ranks him at 11.

(Boxingrec has him at 53)

He hasn't beaten a contender since Rahman more than five years ago.

Please tell me why Evander is getting a title-shot ahead of more deserving contenders?

The WBC had him at number 10 right after the Savarese fight - for some reason other than his title shot at Ibragimov, said to be a medical reason along with Brewster, Ruiz and Austin, dropped out of their Top 40 ratings - Odd fact 1.

The IBF is into a tournament with four hwts including Chris Byrd ( with 1 comeback fight) and Calvin Brock ( who fought for their title recently, just before former mandatory challenger Ray Austin (???) and Lamon Brewster ( 0 comeback fights since losing the WBO Championship)) - odd fact 2.

The WBA HWT Champion is injured and therefore, can't defend his Championship against all Top 15 rated hwts... - (not so) odd fact 3.

The WBO Champion Sultan Ibragimov beat Shannon Briggs who for, some reason, had a title shot at Serguei Lyakhovich, and in the first defense of his title (Iggy) is perfectly entitled to make a voluntary defense against a WBO rated heavyweight - just like Floyd Mayweather can defend his WBC welterweight title against a top rated junior welter, Jermain Taylor defended his Middleweight title against once junior middles Kassim Ouma and Cory Spinks or Oscar De La Hoya could defend his WBC Super Welter Title against Floyd Mayweather himself before - well Sultan his defending his title in Moskow ( pretty Goddamn far from NYC medical commission and their diminuished skills bs reports) against a former 4 time HWT Champion who beat Qawi, Parkey, DeLeon, Thomas, Dokes, Steward, Douglas, Foreman, Holmes, Bowe, Mercer, Tyson, Ruiz and Rahman, lost narrow decision to and drew with Lewis... I guess that's acceptable and as long as Tony Thompson has his mandatory title shot secured afterwards, otherwise whoever doesn't want to see this ESPN PPV telecast, has Baby Bull fighting for a 135 pound unification on the same date or can watch any other fight for free.

[Sonny's jab]

He's won his last 4 fights.

Monte Barrett got a title shot coming off a shitty boring loss and a layoff.

Owen Beck was 1-1-1 in his last 3 when he got a shot.

Liakovich was coming off a long layoff.

Brewster just fought Wlad coming off a long layoff and a loss.

Why are people bitching about Holyfield getting a shot ? :huh

[red cobra]

Feel-good showbiz crap triumphs again. Holyfield will fight on and on and on until someone, probably Wlad Klitschko knocks him out so cold that he isnt able to fight again. As long as some sleazy promoter can make a buck off of him, he'll be used wrung out and then thrown away like a used tampon. He will never quit while on top, and he'll never quit after a defeat, unless it's so conclusive, and devastating, that he'll end up like Gerald McClellan. The two Russian twins, Chagaev, and Ibragimov wont be able to retire him, because they both have very similar, cautious, decision winning type of styles, but Wlad would be end for Evander. It's pretty unfortunate that it has to be this way.

[BoxingGuru]

Because...boxing is fucking corrupt. He shouldn't be anywhere near a title.

[Dorfmeister]

Feel-good showbiz crap triumphs again. Holyfield will fight on and on and on until someone, probably Wlad Klitschko knocks him out so cold that he isnt able to fight again. As long as some sleazy promoter can make a buck off of him, he'll be used wrung out and then thrown away like a used tampon. He will never quit while on top, and he'll never quit after a defeat, unless it's so conclusive, and devastating, that he'll end up like Gerald McClellan. The two Russian twins, Chagaev, and Ibragimov wont be able to retire him, because they both have very similar, cautious, decision winning type of styles, but Wlad would be end for Evander. It's pretty unfortunate that it has to be this way.

Yes, it is showbiz and that is as it always has worked, simple laws of offer and demand, money talks and bs walks or whatever other quote you wanna use for this matter - Holyfield has a name and supporters are willing to pay to see him fight for a world title, Iggy wants to cash in while he is an active fighter and a world champion, boxing follows the trends of globalization and action moves to Moskow wherein one hwt championship fight never was more than Rocky IV fiction - why shouldn't it happen? Cause there are "good samaritans" looking after Vander's health? Yeah Sure, like when Holy was about to be killed by Tyson but captured a 3rd world title instead ( and kayoing Tyson)... I've seen the Donald fight and Larry was pretty slick with one-twos that had no effect on his elder but to win a lopsided points decision, Holyfield still shook him late in the 10th and 11th so where does the NYC medical commision report stands? Exactly, on egg shells ( diminuished skills ah ah ah), they have nothing but Jack and S***, Jack left town! And that goes to Suleiman & Co since Evander was rated numba 9, dropped unfairly to 10 after winning over Savarese and being casted out for medical reasons - Toney's suspension is cutt to 6 months, two times caught and Holyfield is on medical :nut ? Vitaly Klitschko backs off twice for a 2nd title fight defense and is given emeritus status to fight the winner of Maskaev vs Peter ( Jose would even accept Vitaly's people to step Peter aside with money under the table), not to mention Oliver McCall, Juan Carlos Gomes and Samil Sam, the IBF tournament promoting new bloods Povetkin and Chambers and protecting used up Brock and Byrd and you guys talk about who Evander is affecting with this title shot? By the way, nobody wants another G man situation cobra but I sincerely doubt Wlad is the man to do it, actually I would use the Peter, Brewsta and Sanders fights altogether to claim for Wlad to get a medical suspension and doesn't get into a G man situation himself... No personal hatred for any fighter in particular, but we all know how this works, you can use corruption terms or others, bottomline is that Evander is out of the picture if he loses but then, if Holyfield wins, what else can you work out to dismiss him still? I give him a chance and would like to see him versus Wlad if the IBF doesn't disallow the latter to cash in as much as 20 million after the 1st Murad Muhammad offer.

[T.S.]

Feel-good showbiz crap triumphs again. Holyfield will fight on and on and on until someone, probably Wlad Klitschko knocks him out so cold that he isnt able to fight again. As long as some sleazy promoter can make a buck off of him, he'll be used wrung out and then thrown away like a used tampon. He will never quit while on top, and he'll never quit after a defeat, unless it's so conclusive, and devastating, that he'll end up like Gerald McClellan. The two Russian twins, Chagaev, and Ibragimov wont be able to retire him, because they both have very similar, cautious, decision winning type of styles, but Wlad would be end for Evander. It's pretty unfortunate that it has to be this way.

Oh yeah many examples of that in pro boxing
Don King knew that Ali had a hole in his membrane that seperates his brain from his skull. (Caused by a million blows to the head over the years of course) Yet, he promoted the fight against Trevor Brerbick anyway.

[mike464]

He's only fighting for the WBO title. Don't worry about it.

[TheGrimReaper]

7. Layahovich-has another fight set up

What is it?

[LONE WOLF]

It's quite sad really.

[curmudgeon]

If somebody offered Ibragimov (or anybody else for that matter) to fight a brown paper bag for that that kind of money that Holly brings - he will fight the brown paper bag.

Paper bag UD 12.

[rodney]

Evander is fighting for a title because he can
---- still fight (this is what he does for a living),
--- possibly beat this guy and win (just happens to be in great shape),
--- sell tickets and make money (more money if he wins)
--- be the best available replacement for Chavaev (Jackoff),
--- still beat most of the heavyweights out there.

If people do not want to pay and watch him fight --- then dont.
There are still alot of people that do indeed want to see Evander fight and win another title.
As a matter of fact, Evander will sell more pay-per-views than the guy he fighting (whatever his name is) or the guy that he is replacing (Jackoff).

[41fever]

You have 3 lame reasons just above this post

1. He's a living legend
2. He draws and people want to see him (not sure I agree with this one)
3. The rankings don't really count for jack shit anway

The reason is really plain and simple, name recognition. He's getting a shot based on his previous accomplishments and the heavyweight division sucks just bad enough that nobody gives a shit that a bunch of other shitty contendors are getting stepped over. Even if he wins it won't mean shit IMO everybody knows who is really the champ of that division and nobody gives a shit about the WBO anywayyup