The actions of boxing’s sanctioning bodies often cause plenty of controversy and now-retired former world champion Shawn Porter has labelled them as ‘the worst part of boxing.’
The way boxing is run across four major world governing bodies – the IBF, WBO, WBA and WBC, with other minor ones such as the IBO also in play – often means that making big fights can be long and drawn out if not impossible.
The way that rankings work, too, can be an enigma to onlooking fans and boxers alike. As such nothing is ever guaranteed and where a boxer sits in the Top 10 with each division can often come down to who is better at fighting their corner at the sanctioning meetings.
An infamous recent example of this was the inclusion of Francis Ngannou in the WBC’s Top 10 despite having had only one professional fight, and a loss at that, while another heavyweight recently hit out at the WBA for dropping him from the top 10 altogether.
Speaking to ProBox TV, Porter touched on the subject with regards to George Kambosos Jr who is ranked higher in the IBF than Vasyl Lomachenko ahead of them fighting in May in Australia for the vacant belt.
“What they do at those conventions is they host a day where people are going to go and solicit their fighter’s names to be bumped up the rankings.
“Apparently, Kambosos and his team haven’t gone to the WBA and WBO conventions hence not being ranked in those sanctioning bodies. The worst part about boxing is you don’t have the same ranking all across the board.
“It’s an ongoing conversation but when you look at this how is Kambosos ranked above Lomachencko? Well, apparently somebody called the IBF and busted a move.”
Either way, this fight is happening and a new IBF champion will be crowned in May.