by Cliff Rold

Chris Avalos could have challenged the best fighter at 122 lbs. for his title.

He could have challenged Guillermo Rigondeaux (15-0, 10 KO) for the WBA, WBO and lineal claim to the crown.  Rigondeaux-Avalos made it to a purse bid last September. It was window dressing. That was never really going to be a thing.

Avalos (25-2, 19 KO) will probably lose to IBF titlist Carl Frampton (19-0, 13 KO) this weekend. Clearly, even on the road in Northern Ireland, Team Avalos saw this as the more winnable fight.

It is.

He wasn’t going to beat Rigondeaux.

And if he wins this weekend, he’ll take pride in the belt he has and call himself a World Champion. 

No one else need follow suit.

No one else is champion at Jr. Featherweight without beating Rigondeaux.

For those who defend boxing’s preponderance of belts, this is a fight that argues against the position.  It is a fight where less would be more.  Belts provide economic incentive and security for their holders. They don’t go inherently towards merit.  Due to the cost of multiple sanctioning fee unification bouts, they often deter clashes as much as help them.

At Flyweight right now, a generationally significant rematch between Roman Gonzalez and Juan Francisco Estrada might die on the vine because Estrada doesn’t have to chase Gonzalez’s title or revenge.  He has two belts of his own.  Marco Huck is on pace to set the record for title defenses at Cruiserweight.  He’s never been in a unification match.  In the 2000s, Joe Calzaghe and Sven Ottke tied for the consecutive defense mark at 168 lbs. while reigning at the same time.

They never fought.  

The preponderance of belts allowed for that on its face.  It didn’t stop them from negotiating to compete anyways.  It did keep them from being rated to fight each other.  In almost all circumstances, sanctioning organizations don’t rate each other’s champions.

Once multiple belts are in play, it becomes far too easy to make economic arguments in place of fights.     

There are fighters like Gennady Golovkin (Middleweight) and Sergey Kovalev (Light Heavyweight) presumed to be the best at their weight class and unable to secure fights with the recognized historical champions of their divisions.  They are a case for having other belts to pick up. Ask them and Miguel Cotto and Adonis Stevenson, respectively, will say they’d fight Golovkin and Kovalev. 

Lots of fighters say lots of things.

For the last week, people have been busy spinning cartwheels that Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao have finally agreed to meet.  Hey, why not?  Everyone should be excited as hell.  At least we’re seeing it and it will be huge.

It still took some five years and both guys being closer to 40 than 30 to get it done.  It’s a celebration wrapped in a wet blanket of pathetic hubris. 

This weekend isn’t an example of what Golovkin or Kovalev is dealing with.  It’s an example of the easy way out multiple titles creates.  Want to be a ‘champion’ without facing the best guy? 

There’s a way to do that.

To his credit, Avalos is at least willing to go to hostile turf as the underdog.  It should be a good fight.  That’s a separate issue.  Boxing might be a business.  It’s also still a sport.  Sport is supposed to be about proving who the best is.

At Jr. Featherweight, because his style doesn’t please all (or many), ducking the Champion (capital C) doesn’t get much heat.  It being Jr. Featherweight is an issue too.  It’s a division with a warrior tradition.  The relative handful of men who have made significant money there in recent years didn’t play the game the way Rigondeaux does.

He is relentlessly himself, technical and economical.  If he’d never been given the chance to prove his true worth against Nonito Donaire, he’d still be what he is now. Rigondeuax would have his cult screaming that he deserved a chance with meat and potatoes fans just not that worked up about seeing him.

But Rigondeaux did get Donaire.  He clowned Donaire.

He did prove it.

Everyone else at 122 lbs. should be expected by the fans to have to prove it against him now.  If not, what’s the point of winning?  Of competing?

Of sport?

Sure, it’s hard to compare boxing to other sports.  It’s not like a team sport where there is a structure in place to insure we get a final resolution to a season.  There is no boxing season. 

Boxing still has winners, loser, and champions.

Frampton, who should win this weekend, is an exciting young talent.  He draws fans.  He’s saying he’d like to face Rigondeaux down the road.  The way he fights, it’s easy to believe him.  Time will tell if the people guiding his career believe in him enough to let him try. Even coming off a performance where Rigondeaux was down twice against a so-so Hisashi Amagasa, the hurry to test him might be lacking.

For now, we have another fight for a belt featuring a titlist who hasn’t yet tested the best and a challenger who saw doing so as more risk than it was worth.

Until one of them faces Rigondeaux, regardless of what it pays, its competitive worth is no better than second best.

Cliff Rold is the Managing Editor of BoxingScene, a founding member of the Transnational Boxing Rankings Board, and a member of the Boxing Writers Association of America.  He can be reached at roldboxing@hotmail.com