Boxing

Time Tunnel: P4P And Why It Means Nothing Today

by B. R. Bearden

14.03 - Once upon a time when something was called "One of a Kind" it actually was the only one like it, such as the Great Wall of China, not a "one of a kind" offer that's the same as 500 other "one of a kind" offers. When something was touted as a great scientific breakthrough, they were talking about curing polio or eliminating small pox, not a new way to keep men from losing their hair. When a recording star sold 5 million records it meant 5 million fans plunked down their money and walked out of the store with the album, not that the record company burnt 5 million dirt-cheap CDs, shipped them out, and claimed "five million sales" based on what they shipped and not what sold.

And when a fighter was called "Pound for Pound the best in the world", he really was the P4P best; not just until the next shuffling of the P4P rankings but for decades to come. Sports writers, and fans, were more reluctant to hang "greatest of all time" around the neck of a current star. When Ali proclaimed himself "the greatest" there were many who disagreed, even in the face of his amazing achievements.

But those were more honest times, at least in sports, when the name of the game wasn't "put the spin on it" but instead, "tell the truth, because the fans can tell when you lie". Boxing had yet to be turned into a garishly painted prostitute depending on the poor lighting on the street corner to pick up a John. It had real "All Time Greats" and wasn't asking a modern day P.T. Barnum to spread the malarkey. It didn't need a P4P list, revisable every two weeks; the fans came to see the fighters, not the Changing of the P4P Guard.

The term "Pound for pound, the best in the world" was first applied by a sports writer to the great Benny Leonard, who went 154 bouts without a loss over a 9 year stretch. Benny was accorded that title until the coming of Sugar Ray Robinson, who so amazed fight fans and sports writers that they needed something to distinguish him from "all the rest". And so, the phrase coined for Leonard was passed on to Robinson. They were the only two men in 70 or more years of the sport singled out as pound-for-pound the best and rightly so.

Robinson won his first 40 fights, lost to Jake LaMotta, then emulated Leonard by not losing again for 9 years. He didn't have to give up P4P designation when he lost to Jake LaMotta because it was a title fairly placed upon him. How rightly it had been bestowed was evidenced by those nine years following the LaMotta fight. It wasn't shunted over to John Henry Lewis, handed off to Joe Loius, recovered on the fumble by Willie Pep. It was Robinson's because it was honestly placed upon him, not tossed around to sell the next Golden Boy or bolster a Pay-Per-View ticket.

Boxing isn't the top sport it once was, of course. The guys at the top make obscene amounts of money, but as often as not they show their gratitude by not training, avoiding serious contenders, and insulting the fans with their chest thumping bravado. They don't have to fight as often as their forerunners, so they don't. They don't have to fight hard every round of the fight, so they don't. And they don't have to fight the real number one contender. so they don't.

Yet they graciously accept praise from starry-eyed sports personalities who fall all over them, proclaiming them the best P4P fighter since David killed that giant with a well placed sling stone. They then take the hype and spread it around themselves like Grade-A fertilizer, bedecking themselves in unearned glory as if there never was a Sugar Ray Robinson. And should some short-sighted fan, who only got into the sport when he grew bored with the Power Rangers and Barney, shout that this marvel of the ring would have wiped up the floor with Robinson, they lack the integrity to say, "Now, that 's going too far."

Instead they look at their impressive career of 20-something fights, ignore the hundreds of bouts the greats fought, and nod their head in agreement. Or shout it out like a high-land gorilla proclaiming his territory amid much chest beating while being damn careful never to stray to the plains where the lions roam.

Let's look at the recent P4P best in the world as declared by those who can' t understand how the magician found a rabbit in his hat but are suitably impressed none-the-less. Who have we had? Oscar De La Hoya, Sugar Shane Mosley, Vernon Forrest, Roy Jones Jr., Prince Hamed. I know I've missed some; all you have to do is miss boxing for a week and another P4P best has come and gone like a dollop of butter dropped on a hot stove. For this era, there is an argument for De La Hoya. He has fought the best fighters around. And even Jones can at least claim to have fought all his mandatories and beat a heavyweight punching bag named Ruiz. Barrera deserves notice, too.

But Mosley's claim to the P4P title can be linked to a close win over De La Hoya, and Forrest's can be traced directly to his twice defeating Mosley. Hamed's can be summed up as "he looked good until he stepped in with a really good boxer", namely Barrera. In other words, the P4P title has in the past decade had the life-span of a May Fly with health problems and suicidal tendencies.

When you look at these current fighter's records, you see strings of wins, perhaps a loss, then more wins, usually very close against other top fighters. In total, around 30 fights, not all wins, but a few against top fighters, are the prerequisites for P4P consideration, especially if he's a flashy fighter. Really all that's required is a P4P consideree beat another current P4P claimant.

Compare that with the men who weren't decorated with a bogus P4P rating during their careers, yet who were more impressive than those jockeying for the position in today's Malarkey Derby. Look at Willie Pep. He lost only one time in his first 111 fights, then was injured in an airplane crash so badly that doctors said he'd never walk again, much less fight. Five months later he was back in the ring. After his "career ending" accident he had 131 more fights, losing only 10 of them. In total he lost 11 times in 242 bouts.

Willie Pep won his first 63 fights before a decision loss, then won 73 more without a loss. Did the sports writers of his day replace Robinson with Pep? Nope. Pep was great, but Robinson was Robinson. Fans didn't need to have Pep hyped up to encourage them to see his fights. The motto of the day was "Give 'em Hell Harry!" not "obey your thirst". The fans thought for themselves; they didn't need someone to hang a big sign saying "RED" on the side of a barn to figure out what color it was. Today, the spin doctors, aka sports announcers/personalities and TV networks have usurped the fan's right to decide who are the top fighters by constantly proclaiming this guy/that guy over and over without seeking, or wanting, input from the fans. They've supplanted the odorous sanctioning bodies lists with their own P4P lists.

It's one thing to make up bogus P4P lists for today to lure people to shell out for the Pay-per-View-Screw. Boxing needs help, even dishonest help, to survive as the fringe sport it's become. But when you have a P4P list with position changes more frequent than a group of excited school kids lining up for recess when does it lose any credibility? When you have so many sanctioning bodies and belts out there that there's a title fight every third day somewhere in the world, what's the point?

Look, there was a reason Benny Leonard and Sugar Ray Robinson were called P4P the best in the world. It was because they weren't heavyweights, and to expect them to compete with the heavyweight champion, who held the premier title in boxing, was ludicrous. But they were great fighters, and something was needed to point them out amidst other great fighters. Hence, "pound for pound, the best fighter in the world". Nobody of the time claimed Robinson would whip Louis IF they were the same size. They understood that if Robinson was bigger, he might also be slower, he might not match Louis in punching power. If Louis were smaller, he might be quicker yet retain his punch. Nobody could be sure so they didn't speculate. But, Robinson was more impressive against solid competition over a long career.

And therein lies the difference. Leonard and Robinson were accorded their P4P laurels based on long careers against the widest possible variety of opponents. They left no legitimate contenders unfought, they took no long lay-offs nor fought only a couple times a year. People didn't have to speculate what Robinson would do IF he were to fight LaMotta. They knew six times over. Nobody wondered if Leonard could go 154 bouts without a loss. He did.

The P4P designation was a means to evaluate a fighter based on his meeting all the possible challenges within his size range. It wasn't meant to be handed out to guys who had beaten "most" of the men their size who were legit opposition. It wasn't coined to be ladled out based on a single win over another guy who got the "title" after his win over another guy who got the "title" after his win. and on and on.

In our era, P4P gained widespread use probably because of the awful rankings of the sanctioning bodies. When you have a fighter ranked #1 by the WBA, #9 by the WBO, not ranked at all by the IBF fighting a guy who's considered the champion by Wal-Mart and it's played up by a major TV network as a championship fight against the number one contender in the world, credibility it just wishful thinking.

Enter the shoplifting of P4P from the head of Sugar Ray Robinson in order to point out, despite whatever the corrupt sanctioning bodies say, a top fighter. In principle it seems, well, kind of principled. In theory it gives the fans a sense of who really is the best current fighter. But it's like the flat-earth theory; there are always some who take it too seriously and really expect to sail off the edge of the world with a boatload of other hysterical believers.

Here's the reality check; Sugar Ray Robinson is the best pound-for-pound fighter in the history of the sport. Period. He was called that during the era of Joe Louis, Rocky Marciano, Willie Pep, Sandy Saddler, Marcel Cedan and Jake LaMotta. He was considered that after the writers and fans had seen Jimmy Wilde, Jack Dempsey, Jack Johnson, Joe Gans, Harry Greb, Stanley Ketchel, John Henry Lewis, and even Benny Leonard. The P4P title was never in danger while Muhammed Ali, Joe Frazier, Bob Foster, Arron Pryor, Sugar Ray Leonard, and Roberto Duran campaigned. It shouldn't be in danger now because this week's P4P shining star beat last week's, yet some "fans" seriously proclaim Robinson as dethroned. Some boxing fans today decry as unfair the era of the "Great White Hope" yet fervently embrace the time of the "Easily Hyped Dope".

Pound-for-Pound wasn't bestowed on Robinson to sell tickets to his fights or excite wide-eyed fans who base their concept of the best fighter on the picture quality of the films of the fighter rather than the accomplishments of the man. It had meaning as solid as stating that Mount Everest was the tallest mountain and just because some sports jockey begins calling Pike's Peak the tallest, it shouldn't effect the way we measure mountains.

Bottom line; P4P as it's used today has all the validity of the WBO championship belt. Or any of the others, for that matter. We have to return to a time when there was one champion per weight class and we knew who it was. And we have to remember that P4P Best Fighter in the World means absolutely nothing if it can be conferred on a different fighter each week. If it's only as permanent as writing on water then it's pound-for-pound the biggest waste of time imaginable.

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