The efficiency of competition in boxing refers to the ease with which a contender who is genuinely better than his division's champion can navigate his way to a title shot and prove he is better than the champion. The efficiency of competition in games like baseball is nearly perfect. In boxing, not so much. But how bad is it? Which divisions do you think suffer the most from inefficient competition? And what exactly contributes to it? Which divisions show better than average efficiency of competition? What do you suppose accounts for this?
The comparison to baseball is nonsense because of how many games they have. And playoffs often keep the best team out of the world series. Boxing's "efficiency of competition" is very strong. 4 belts keeps it that way. $$$ keeps it that way. Sure, some 'less worthy' opponents cut in line, but it doesn't matter in the end and it makes things more interesting, at least at the frequency it currently occurs.
As I see it, there's at least four major impediments to perfect competition in boxing: Sanctioning Bodies Promoters Cable Networks Uneducated viewers
1. No. Impediment at times, but helps more than they hurt. There are 4 damn champions and sanctioning bodies are better off having the best fighter reign for them. Therefore, the cream does rise to the top one way or the other. But blame sanctioning bodies because it is fun, I guess. 2. Yes. 3. Very much in the past; less today, but agree. 4. Why? If there are impediments, there will be two likely reasons. Money and ignorance. I don't think too many talents slip through so pretty much leaves money. Give some examples of inefficiency, Double L.
1. Sometimes champions from competing sanctioning bodies don't fight eachother because they have little to gain - they're already champions. Why not fight a contender? Caballero/Vazquez, for example. 2. Darchinyan proceeds without rematching Donaire because of Shaw 3. The super-six tournament does not include Bute. Or said another way, Bute is allowed to remain relevant without being in the super-six. 4. Fans are led to believe that Micheal Grant is the next worthy challenger for Lennox Lewis and so the fight is made (this is partially HBO's fault, partially the fault of uneducated viewers).
I see what you are talking about. Part of the problem with boxing is that, a little bit like Horse Racing, it is one of the few sports where you can, for all intents and purposes, legally fix the result in advance. Furthermore, thanks to the nature of the sport, you can use several methods to get to the top taking as little risk as possible...using, for instance, step-aside money, allowing champions and other contenders to fight each other to a standstill before moving in to clean up. It is paradoxical...in the ring, inefficiency is ruthlessly punished. Out of the ring, inefficiency is something you can actually take advantage of, even encourage, to get your way. You can take advantage of very circumspect ratings, which allow you not only to make outrageous claims about what your fighter deserves, but allows you to document why he deserves it. Slick manipulation of things like the combined record of your opponents, how your next opponent is "unbeaten"...all of this can be used to obfuscate and bluff ones way into a position of merit which is barely deserved. In Soccer, you can pay as many pundits as you like, but your team has got to play every week and play against the best, sooner or later. In boxing, a guy like David Haye can become the Heavyweight Champion Of The World, and stay there, with little or no risk, because it happens to suit other people to see him there, for whatever reason. Good thread.....
