WBO vaults heavyweight Ibragimov to number one
Recently held to a draw with Ray Austin, Sultan Ibragimov moves to the WBO's top spot while Austin falls in the ratings
By JE Grant
In the inexplicable world of the world sanctioning bodies, the World Boxing Organization, already seen by many as a fringe organization, has won the very unofficial monthly award for ridiculous rankings.
Sultan Ibragimov, a recent and extremely fortunate recipient of a draw with American Ray Austin, somehow moved past the previously ranked number one Luan Krasniqi.
On the organization’s website, the “explanations” link for August 2006 still has Krasniqi as number one because he “won a 10-round decision over David Bostic on April 29, 2006. TKO’ed by Lamon Brewster in the ninth round on Sept. 28, 2005. TKO’ed Lance Whitaker in the sixth round on May 28, 2005. Got a draw against Timo Hoffman on Dec. 4, 2004.”
Ibragimov is listed as number two in the "explanations" link following a “draw against Ray Austin on Jul. 28, 2006. TKO’ed Lance Whitaker in the seventh round on Dec. 15, 2005. Won by technical decision over Friday Ayanunya on Sept. 16, 2005.”
Yes it is true that none of the data above “explains” anything. While the rankings now have Ibragimov as number one and Krasniqi as number two there is no explanation for the change --- and there needs to be in light of the fact that nothing occurred for either fighter since the previous rankings.
In a bizarre twist, Ray Austin – you’ll remember him as the man who held Ibragimov to the draw – drops from number 14 to number 15 because the recently defeated Hasim Rahman was inserted into the rankings at number 10 after losing his WBC belt to Oleg Maskaev.
How does Ibragimov move up to number one and Austin move down to number 15 based on their draw in July? Send in your cards and letters to the WBO and ask.
Also changing places was number four Sam Peter and number five Ruslan Chagaev. Again there is no explanation listed.
The former numbers 10-14 were thus dropped one notch each.
Who was the number 15 last month? None other than James “Lights Out” Toney who falls completely out of the ratings following his controversial loss to Sam Peter.
It seems that each of the sanctioning bodies are in a race to come up with one obvious blunder after another. Besides the embarrassing lack of management of their website, is the embarrassment of the organization's rankings.
Why would Ibragimov, though obviously talented, move to number one based on a draw? If the draw was so impressive for Ibragimov in the eyes of the WBO, why did the organization allow Ray Austin -- the other half of that draw -- to fall in the rankings?
These are of course rhetorical questions that will never be answered.
By JE Grant
In the inexplicable world of the world sanctioning bodies, the World Boxing Organization, already seen by many as a fringe organization, has won the very unofficial monthly award for ridiculous rankings.
Sultan Ibragimov, a recent and extremely fortunate recipient of a draw with American Ray Austin, somehow moved past the previously ranked number one Luan Krasniqi.
On the organization’s website, the “explanations” link for August 2006 still has Krasniqi as number one because he “won a 10-round decision over David Bostic on April 29, 2006. TKO’ed by Lamon Brewster in the ninth round on Sept. 28, 2005. TKO’ed Lance Whitaker in the sixth round on May 28, 2005. Got a draw against Timo Hoffman on Dec. 4, 2004.”
Ibragimov is listed as number two in the "explanations" link following a “draw against Ray Austin on Jul. 28, 2006. TKO’ed Lance Whitaker in the seventh round on Dec. 15, 2005. Won by technical decision over Friday Ayanunya on Sept. 16, 2005.”
Yes it is true that none of the data above “explains” anything. While the rankings now have Ibragimov as number one and Krasniqi as number two there is no explanation for the change --- and there needs to be in light of the fact that nothing occurred for either fighter since the previous rankings.
In a bizarre twist, Ray Austin – you’ll remember him as the man who held Ibragimov to the draw – drops from number 14 to number 15 because the recently defeated Hasim Rahman was inserted into the rankings at number 10 after losing his WBC belt to Oleg Maskaev.
How does Ibragimov move up to number one and Austin move down to number 15 based on their draw in July? Send in your cards and letters to the WBO and ask.
Also changing places was number four Sam Peter and number five Ruslan Chagaev. Again there is no explanation listed.
The former numbers 10-14 were thus dropped one notch each.
Who was the number 15 last month? None other than James “Lights Out” Toney who falls completely out of the ratings following his controversial loss to Sam Peter.
It seems that each of the sanctioning bodies are in a race to come up with one obvious blunder after another. Besides the embarrassing lack of management of their website, is the embarrassment of the organization's rankings.
Why would Ibragimov, though obviously talented, move to number one based on a draw? If the draw was so impressive for Ibragimov in the eyes of the WBO, why did the organization allow Ray Austin -- the other half of that draw -- to fall in the rankings?
These are of course rhetorical questions that will never be answered.
posted by JE Boxing at Tuesday, September 12, 2006
14 Comments:
Boy J.E, you must have been reading my mind. I just read this a few scant minutes ago, and was like...Huh??? Anyways, you put it perfectly. It's not that Sultan is an absolute joke of a top contender (I have him at #12 or #13, and one could make a case that he is legit top-10) as it is - how did they arrive at this decision??? What did they base it off of? It's a bit similar to the (I believe) IBF's decision a few months back to mysteriously drop an (admittedly undeserving at the time) #1 ranking of Oleg Maskaev (comp-Luan Krasniqi?) and then put a slightly more deserving James Toney (comp-Sultan Ibragimov?) in his place.
A couple of cliches' that come to mind? "Two wrongs don't make a right, and the more I know - the less I understand..."
*BB*
Geez...LOL...*Shaking my head at the absurdity of those "explamations"* Austin gets dropped down after a draw he arguably won, and Toney gets dropped after a fight he VERY arguably won. (Okay, I suppose I can understand the latter, as their position should not be to play "judge". However - how about we play "jury and executioner", and send these "organizations" into non-existence?)
"ATTACK! ATTACK! ATTACK!"- "The Alphabet-Soup Assassins"
;-(
BTW- Check out FNN (fightnightnews) for some interesting behind the scenes info on this matter. I don't know if it is completely factual, but it seems very plausible, and dare I say likely.
*BB*
Do you have a link?
JE- Huh? And risk looking like a jackass after I gave Ondrizek a bad time? I think not! (Actually, I try and fire you off the article. It's a few stories down on FNN. And yes, agreed Troy. He does get the inside scoop/skinny at times.) I also agree on Chagaev-Ruiz, although I have a feeling it may be close, due to the styles, and Ruiz having a pretty good chin. Agreed on Austin as well, poor bastard...
BTW- Okhello probably the "perfect opponent" for Maskaev. He's a fringe-contender, and not very good. However - that being said - I wouldn't be absolutely shocked if he won.
Oh...I was going to fire some questions to the sanctioning bodies JE, but I decided to put them on a spam list instead.
(Hey, why not? They 'spam' us all the time! LOL)
;-)
The sanctioning bodies are never called upon to explain anything.
Okhello is not even close to deserving of a world title shot.
Well, like I said...He may just be the "perfect opponent". But I wouldn't be absolutely shocked to see a fringe-contender/journeymen beat Maskaev. I give Oleg loads of credit for coming back from the career adversity that he did, and fighting Rahman even-up and pouring-it-on in the final stanza, but I'm still not a full believer in the guy. He probably beats Okhello, but I don't think he he wears the belt by the end of 2007.
Yeah, I just watched a full fight of Okhellos. Simply put; he's not horrible, but he's not very good. His technique is pretty poor. But he's a big guy with a decent chin that can punch a little. I could possibly see it being competitive, but Okello is really a journeymen disguised as a contender.
* BTW- Okello loses to Sanin Sam last year, then beats the ancient Aussie club fighter Bob Mirovic, and 'abracadabra'...He gets a title shot. (WTF?) Go figure...
I think we know why he was selected.
Well, if these guys fought a little more often, and this was the exception rather than the rule - I probably wouldn't be as upset. But it's not. Okhello is on about the same level as a Kevin Mcbride, really. Not top-15 - but top-50.
I have to revisit this one here briefly...Okay, (let's forget about the question of why they had Krasniqi rated #1 for a moment. A legitimate question in it's own right.) Why did Ibragimov move up, and Austin down??? Did they flip a coin??? (I'm not joking folks. That would perhaps be the most 'innocuos' and sensible explamation...???)
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