Now what heck is a diamond belt?:dunno: Sulaiman states this will be the first ever Diamond belt fight and the WBC will not charge the boxers any sanctioning fees.
I like both Cotto and Pac, so frankly there is not much to criticize in either fighter as far as I am concerned. This, however, annoys me. This was really a perfect chance to again spit in the face of the alphabet-soup sanctioning-scam organizations, and show their irrelevance. It's at a catchweight, and it is a significant fight. Instead though, we have Pac or his camp campaiging, and campaigning damned HARD to make SURE this thing was for some belt, even if they literally made the belt up. And so they did. It sullies the fight IMO to have some cheap trinket attached to it, like it means anything, and adds anything significant to the fight. But there's the catch. It IS significant to Pac, because he has apparently bought in 100% to the notion that as long as he gets some belt, he can say he was "champ". And so he becomes "champ" in what, like 6 divisions? Or 7? This is what he is seeking, and I think it STINKS. How can you even say you are "champ" in any "division" when you figh at a catch weight for a made-up belt?? If Pac wanted what most boxing fans would consider a legitimate belt at a legitimate weight, then this fight just had to be moved north to 147 and nobody would ever question it's meaning if Pac won. Think about this. Does this mean that if Joe Shmendrick (or a better example would be Floyd) beats a bunch of champions at above their championship weight, or below it, for some made up belt that he can just start adding to the number of divisions he was champ in? If that's the case, I might fight at 154, but then I would set up fights at 156, 158 with 160 pounders and 152 and 150 for 147 pounders. Why not? If you have the negotiating muscle, why not just manipulate the system and become a 20-division champ? It was a mistake to put this fight anywhere but 147.
Okay..that good neither has to pay any sanctioning feeds... the winner should throw the "diamond belt" in the trash during the post fight press conference........
Does anyone knows what is this so called "diamond belt' Jose Sulaiman and the WBC seen to be so proud of?
You guys have short memories. This is from the Pacquiao Wants To Fight Cotto For The WBC Diamond Belt! thread a bit back. Now if what you were asking is... what significance does this belt hold... well I have no idea other than it's shiny and sparkly.
Well apparently welterweight is any weight above 140 so technically this will be a welterweight fight catch weight or not. I think Cotto is going to dump his belt rather than pay his sanctioning fees for a fight he didn't consider a championship bout due to the catch weight. That is the reason they had to make a new belt because once they strip Cotto for not defending, Manny won't be fighting a champion.
That may be the case. Clearly it was important to Pac to fight for a belt, as I said before. So all he had to do was go to the WBC and tell them he's ready to pay fees for... something. So they came up with.. something. Also, I don't understand what you mean by "welterweight is any weight above 140". I thought the ruling was that the welterweight limit was 147, so there was technically no issue with either fighter being lighter than the established limit of 147, which is a completely different thing than what you said. The reason this should not be considered a welterweight fight is because one or both of the participants was not allowed to weigh in at the welterweight limit. IMO, any fight which contractually forces the fighters to weigh in at less than the divisional limit, should not be considered a championship bout in that or any other division UNLESS BOTH AGREE THAT IT IS. Which in this case, they DON'T. I don't see how that sentiment can be argued against without essentially doing away with what the weight classes mean. Then you might as well negotiate weight in every fight and just round up or down to where you think it should be for a "championship". Or make a belt for every single weight from 106-infinity with steps of one pound. Then the 145 champion and 146 champion might someday face the 147 pound champion, and so on. In which case I may never watch boxing again. BTW... if what you said is true, and Cotto was going to dump his belt to avoid sanctioning fees and sort of make a statement that "Hey - this ain't a welterweight championship bout".. don't you think it is insulting and really a kick in the face to him that the WBC whipped up another belt just to make Pac happy? I mean - talk about a big FUCK YOU. And finally, I know I am rambling on, but if Cotto is the WBO champ at welter, and Pac is not the champ anywhere, and NEITHER are even RANKED by the WBC at welter.. what the fuck are they doing fighting for anything that has anything to do with the WBC? This whole thing with the belt is complete and utter SHIT.
Boxing's full of worthless belts. Always will be too. This has about as much meaning as you'd like to give it. I don't care if Manny fights for Ted Dibiases Million Dollar Belt. Rank the fighters on performances, not belts. It's what I've always done. If it pleases Manny to fight for a made up belt then fine. It pleases me to watch good boxing and I believe this fight will be an example of it. I'd rather every single fight was for a worthless title than have top names avoid each other.
Hey, I agree with you about everything. In fact on the boxingfanatics board I made a thread saying how I didn't think Pac should deserve to be fighting for a welterweight title since the fight was at a catch weight. Next thing I know I got everyone on that board telling me that welterweight is any weight above 140. I even read where Freddie Roach said the same thing in an interview. So basically I'm just going off of what everyone told me, because I haven't actually looked at the rules and really don't know for sure. But I agree, the whoe thing is bullshit and after this and the Paulie M. robbery tonight I'm almost rooting for boxing to meet it's demise on the grounds of it's own greed.
