Mike Tyson completely disagreed with Floyd Mayweather’s view on what the biggest issue in boxing is.
Mayweather won multiple belts during his 50-0 perfect career where he reigned as the pound-for-pound king in boxing but believes having too many championships is causing an issue in the sport.
Compared to combat sports organisations like the UFC where one champion rules supreme over the entire weight class, boxing has multiple champions for the multiple sanctioning bodies and Mayweather believes a lack of a ‘super’ champion is an issue.
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“There’s too many champions in the sport of boxing right now,” he said in 2020. “Too many champions. There's no such thing as a 'super' champion, not at all. And I’m not taking anything away from no fighter. It’s too many belts.
“And the reason why it’s too [many], let me tell people what’s going on in the sport of boxing, why there are so many different titles and so many different belts.
“If a fighter has just the 'regular' belt, he has to pay a sanctioning fee. If a fighter is a 'super' champion, he has to pay a sanctioning fee. This is not good for the sport of boxing.
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“Every fighter is a champion now. Belts now is like a fighter winning an amateur trophy. We gotta clean this sport of boxing up. This s***, this doesn’t look good.”
Tyson - who is set to face Jake Paul in July - disagrees with Mayweather’s assertion.
He believes having multiple champions leads to more money for fighters as more title fights lead to bigger events.
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Tyson said: ““Boxing can never have too many belts because every time there's a championship fight, that's more money for the fighter. There’s never enough belts.
"Say there’s one champion and there’s ten guys [contenders], how long's it gonna take to go through these ten guys? Plus they gotta go through each other.
"It’s good to have three champions because every time there's a fight, everybody can get paid. Everybody makes money.
"That’s what this business is about. Money.”
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It’s unclear whether a ceremonial title will be on the line for Tyson’s fight against Paul.
Mayweather was awarded the ‘The Money Belt’ for defeating Conor McGregor in 2017 made by the WBC.
Topics: Boxing, Floyd Mayweather, Mike Tyson, Jake Paul, UFC
Marcus Banks