FORGET THE BELTS
CURRENTLY in boxing, there are more belts available than at Burton (pre-lockdown, granted). The only way for the sport to truly legitimise itself again, and stop this selfdamaging madness, could be to do away with the sanctioning bodies. You only have to take a look at the current stellar lightweight division to see the lunacy. In the photographs taken of Teofimo Lopez after his victory over Vasiliy Lomachenko, he was pictured with two WBC belts, while Devin Haney also has a WBC belt, as does Ryan Garcia. Also, Lopez is the full WBA champion at 135lbs, while Gervonta Davis has the secondary belt. The lightweight division contains the depth and talent to make great fights right now. Lopez is defined as ‘the man’ after beating Lomachenko, so, as they say, if you want to be the man you’ve got to beat the man. I say forget these ever-multiplying belts before this great sport is damaged even more, and just concentrate on making some great fights between the best fighters. Paul Thorpe
NO ‘0’? NO PROBLEM
A LOT gets made of how in the modern age of boxing, having an undefeated record is paramount to being successful, and that losing is now an insurmountable disaster. However, I don’t think this is the case at all. Earlier this month, we saw Rene Alvarado and Roger Gutierrez face off for what should’ve been the full WBA super-featherweight championship (not the secondary version), even though both have suffered multiple losses and had become gatekeepers at certain points in their respective careers. They proved that you can lose multiple times and still make it to the top and be in entertaining fights, which their 12-round affair certainly was. The emotion that Gutierrez showed after winning reminded me of why I watch boxing and why, in my eyes, it’s the best sport on the planet.
Alex Illson
PACKED ISSUE
I JUST wanted to write in to commend Boxing News on the quality of the most recent edition ( January 21). The content throughout the pandemic has been strong in difficult times. In my opinion, the most recent edition, with Steve Bunce’s Nigel Benn article, the sad but well-written Nicky Booth obituary, the fantastic interview with Dave Coldwell and the wonderful Marvin Hagler-sugar Ray Leonard content, was the best so far. The issue was absolutely packed with great, fascinating articles. Congratulations on being able to produce such wonderful work. I personally am grateful for every edition. Kevin Clarke