9 Comments
May 29, 2022Liked by Dan Rafael

Great, now it’s time for Gervonta “WBA regular” Davis to step it up.

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Davis is a legit great fighter whilst the WBA is the worst of the sanctioning bodies.

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Where’s the media pressure on the WBA, particularly in this division?

Tank is probably the second or third biggest draw in boxing (gulp) and defends his lightweight championship at a time all of boxing media (and especially you, Dan) has been/will be talking about THEE UNDISPUTED lightweight championship fight happening in Australia. Your BFW pod doesn’t even bring up this 5 belt division issue as you freely discuss both 135 fights.

The alleged WBA consolidation apparently doesn’t count here? Nobody seems to expect it so Gilberto Mendoza gets not only a pass but praise for making Lara choose between his “regular” titles at 154 and 160 as proof of reduction.

Beyond frustrating

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I predict that after Haney defeats Kambosos the WBA will order Haney - Davis knowing Haney is contractually obligated to a rematch. They will then strip Haney and elevate Davis to full champion without him lifting a finger.

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I bet you're right about that (regardless of who wins 6/5 it seems the WBA belt will flitter away without any mandates to fight Tank), and at least that would be a position. Making a big deal about UNDISPUTED and promoting Tank's title fights in the same division is absurd.

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This is why I think we should dispense with the term “undisputed”, not least because it’s subjective. Once a clear number one has been established and recognised by The Ring and/or TBRB then we should refer to them as champion and everyone else a contender/challenger.

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that makes too much sense for boxing. I mean, I agree, obviously, but I'd settle for at least 4 belts acting like 4 belts and getting rid of the "regular", "interim", "emeritus" (and so on) bullshit

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Hopefully tank finds his way to a fight with a notable talent at 135. Lots to choose from.

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Romero's management team are idiots. For all his stupid thrash talk Romero does have raw talent. He was probably about 2 years (4 or 5 fights) away from being ready for this. Now his mind might not recover from this failure because he is simply not mature enough as a fighter to see the different levels of skill you acquire with experience. As for Tank ,he has amazing one punch ko power. But I think Romero's reach and height gave him more issues than I expected. This might spell problems against some of the taller and bigger 135lb and 140lb fighters. But as long he has that power he will be tough to beat.

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