.jpg&w=244&h=193&zc=1 "From Beyond The Grave: The Hyperbole")
The Transnational Boxing Rankings Go Weekly
(announcement)
Last May, a small cabal of boxing writers discussed an idea that had all the staying power of a cigarette butt under a shoe. The idea was to create a global rankings organization uncompromised by competing interests and hell-bent on restoring sense to a confused sport. The writers found enough common ground to usher the Transnational Boxing Rankings Board into its formative stages.
The first order of business was that it would not be a business at all -- no accountant necessary, no belt commissioned, and no percentage of fighters’ purses pinched. The profit motive, that bête noir of all reform, was ditched to help keep it on the up-and-up. Before long, the founding members were dreaming about the golden era while visions of Sugar Ray danced in their heads.
Such highfalutin ideas could make recruitment difficult, and without an active membership the initiative would be a flicker in the wind. An incentive was needed. Minimizing the commitment of deadline writers and swamped record keepers, it was hoped, would be that incentive; so it was agreed that the rankings would be produced on a monthly basis. “Not weekly or ad hoc because this initiative may have to last, well, forever,” a founding member said at the time. "-- And who wants to invite burn-out?”
Invitation letters went out, and soon, 25 members representing a dozen countries joined the Board. Their enthusiasm for the initiative was clear. The day after the maiden rankings were published in October, they began lobbying for precisely the commitment the founding members were reluctant to impose. Matt McGrain of Scotland and Vittorio Parisi of Italy led the charge for weekly rankings, though they were not the first to bring it up. In May, Stewart Howe supposed that “a monthly update frequency might be insufficient. We are living in such a fast-moving information age now, that the idea of something being 30 days out of date is a little old fashioned.”
Old fashioned. Old school. The Transnational Boxing Rankings Board is nostalgic enough to recognize the true thrones and rightful contenders; only now, you won’t have to wait for updates.
As this year’s calendar makes its way into the recycling bin and next year’s is downloaded on iPhones, we’re bringing you rankings beginning Tuesday and every Tuesday after that —forever, we hope.
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The Transnational Boxing Rankings can be found at www.tbrb.org.
will Andre dirrell be removed soon? he hasn't done anything in over two years to warrant such a high ranking nor has he done anything to maintain it. his current form is also unknown.
@CedricLee He's in danger of being removed due to one full year of inactivity. He's talking about fighting again soon, but it's nothing concrete.
The issue with Dirrell is that, yes, he hasn't done an awful lot lately. But I don't think it's so clear cut that anyone beneath him has done so much lately to seize the spot from him.
For instance, he beat Arthur Abraham, who's ranked right below him. Since then, Abraham has gotten his ass kicked by Froch and Ward, and has a total of one quality win, over Robert Stieglitz. Is that enough for him to leapfrog the person who beat him?
@tstarks another thing to consider.....having earned the 4th spot he then remained inactive for 18 months which would have caused him to be removed from the rankings. he then fought cunningham. is that one random meaningless win enough to justify putting him back into his previous spot? seems unlikely to me.... especially since it was such a minor and meaningless win which was proceeded by another long period of inactivity which has not ended.
@tstarks understood. but Abrahams loss to dirrell was a dq. while he was down big, he was showing signs of life and there was a chance he still could have done something to win that fight. as most would argue, dirrell could have been exaggerating his reaction to that punch. but as you said since there isn't anything certain about who has the better resume, shouldn't the inactive fighter be ranked lower? I understand Abraham got blasted by ward but I doubt dirrell would beat him either so that result shouldn't really take anything away from this comparison. but if as you say, dirrell deserves to be ranked 4th then I would like to see consistency in this and I would expect that pascal be ranked in the top 2 or 3 at light heavyweight. if dirrell and his limited resume is ranked 4th then pascal should be in top 3 considering he was the Lineal champ a year ago before the ring changed the rules to their belt AND he has a victory over the current Lineal champ. you cant tell me dirrell is ranked 4th based on his previous accomplishments (cuz he sure didn't earn that ranking from his current resume) and Pascal is ranked lower than 2nd or 3rd. in addition, dirrells biggest accomplishment was a close loss but a loss nonetheless so Pascal has to regain his spot near the top of the rankings.
@CedricLee He would have been out of our rankings for those 18 months if we had existed then. The Cunningham win did get him back into the rankings. We're currently wrestling with what to do with Pascal -- how much does a return from inactivity drop you simply because you were inactive at the time? And what has anyone done while you were gone?
The issue with Abraham is not just one good win. It's also two losses where he got stomped. Do one good win + two ass-kickings eclipse Dirrell beating him? And there were divided opinions on the board about this. I don't think there's anything "certain" about which resume is better.
@tstarks in my opinion it most certainly is enough to rank him higher than dirrell. I believe that you should have to maintain your rankings and dirrell hasn't come close to doing that. abrahams total of 1 quality win since then is more than what dirrell has. rankings must be maintained once they're earned I don't think someone who has had 1 minor fight in over 2 years had any claim to a top ten ranking until they do something to regain it. I'm not saying he should lose his ranking because other guys have fought more. he should lose his ranking cuz he doesn't fight. 1 fight 30 months does not qualify unless of course he beat Andre ward or something incredible.
