Gurkans World Title not worth challenging.

[Matt]

R.E: Making Fights For Gurkan.
Now dont get me wrong. Gurkan is an excellent fighter and should be the obvious goal for any fighter in his weight limit, but not because of his World Titles. This is the same for any Kickboxing World Title. I know that this is an old subject now in the Kickboxing fraternity, however the sancioning bodies should be more profesional in establishing their top ten fighters in each weight devision and forcing their champs to make manditory defences against ligitimate fighters who deserve a shot. Unfortuntly this is not the nature of our sport due to many reasons such as to many sanctioning bodies that dont appear to be operating professionaly and the fact that kickboxing is still a niech sport not capible of generating the type of interest/money that professional boxing does. While the K1 is a saving grace for our beloved sport, kickboxing does struggle to achieve the level of respect it deserves.

Im not surpised that it is not a huge goal for many fighters to lift Gurkans title from him as titles and the sanctioning bodies dont mean anything. A fighter would make a name for himself by defeating Gurkan but not for strapping on a kickboxing world title.

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[QUPNCY]

is that why gurkan is fighting full time as a pro is it???? how do u think he gets by if these titles dont mean a thing i cant understand where u r coming from? and he has won a title in milan as well not only here!has fought in japan as well so take a look at the wider picture and see whats going on how do u think gurkan made his name? he became a world champion his first being keith clewly by ko!becoming a world champ makes u ur name and as u stated beating gukan would make that fighter known yes! by beatin gurkan the world champ! but sorry cant see that happening for a while so all the best to those who try

[Matt]

I remember when Gurkan became Australia's first amature World Champ back then world titles ment something. Now days we have hundereds of World champs, just look at Sting gym! Half of the fighters out there who have world titles are not in the same league as Gurkan or other true champions of the sport. That is why I will pay to go see a good show and not because it is advertised that there are world titles on the line cos

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[harls]

I totally agree with what your saying Matt, there are alot of fighters out there who somehow have become "world champions" by fighting nobodies for there dodgy world titles. The prestige of being a world champion has diminished somewhat these days for that very reason.

You can tell just by watching the skill level of the fighter as to whether they are genuine or not. Just look at JWP/Zambidis, they are obviously genuine world champions, then you look at Joe Blo up the road who is just a pretender. Jenk Behic could become a world champion tomorrow if he wanted to by destroying a pretender, but instead he only wants to fight the real deal- JWP/Zambidis, because then it would mean much more.

[JANER]

If your not fighting for a title, you are fighting GURKAN OZKAN.

[JANER]

Last point, why do you think Ozkan is itching to have a super middleweight k1?

[QUPNCY]

to prove he is the best thats y he wants it soo bad he's hungry!

[Michael Schiavello]

In my opinion, titles mean very little these days... it seems every man and his dog has one (yes, my neighbour's dog is the current MCKF champion- Melbourne Canine Kickboxing Federation!).

I think the emergence and success of K-1 - which has NO emphasis on sanctioning bodies or world titles - has made people realise that hey, fans would much rather see good quality stoushes than over-hyped and meaningless 'world title' fights. Here in Oz it has become embarrassing indeed that many of our world champions have won their world titles from guys who live a few blocks away!

As for Gurkan, while he is no doubt very proud of his world title achievements, and rightly so, I know him well and would say that he fights for a) the LOVE of fighting, b) to keep CHALLENGING himself c) for his FAN base d) and just cos he gets a kick outta it.

Why does he keep having all the 'crazy' fights he does: Watt, Stan, K-1 Oceania adventure? Because he relishes the challenge and seeing how far he can push himself, not because he wants to win Stan's 50 billion world titles nor Adam Watt's 12 dozen world titles. In fact, I can't even remember the last time Tarik promoted Gurkan in a 'world title' fight. Unless you bring out the very cream of the crop from OS, I just dont think fans buy into the whole world title thing any more, do you? It's a pity but the sport has only itself to blame for this and promoters who have made a quick buck by promoting dodgy world titles between fighters from the same neighbourhood.

Look at other fights coming up... Dawson vs Parr - no mention of world titles here even though both men hold various titles. But its the fight EVERYONE wants to see - why? Cos it will be a friggin grouse fight! No title bull****, just a good old fashioned donny brook.

Beating the name seems to be more important than winning any one of the 100 titles on offer out there. If Parr beats Dawson, he beats DAWSON at his peak. That's kudos enough without a strap. If Gurkan beats STAN he beats a legend - no strap needed for that achievement. Look at Tyson at the moment - if any boxer beats Tyson, it's like 'WOW, he beat TYSON!' Tyson doesn't hold a boxing title, probably never will again, but his NAME is still there to be beaten.

So hey, full credit to guys like Gurkan, Parr, Dawson, Zambidis and the K-1ers who fight the best names one after the other not for stupid world titles but for pride and for challenging their own abilities.

[QUPNCY]

point taken michael but how do these guys make names for themselves?by becoming world champs as did tyson!

[JANER]

Michael Schiavello, you backed up my point. tanks mate!

[sethridge]

QUNPNCY jesus christ mate dont compare tyson to gurkan. kickboxing is nothing like boxing. u dont have to become a backyard world champ to make a name for your self. whre do u get your **** from. iam sorry mate but matt is right most of these world titles in kickboxing doesnt mean your the best in the world.

[QUPNCY]

and who do u support sethridge may i ask??

[Matt]

What are promoters getting for there money when they sanction an event with a group souch as the WKBA for example? They are not run properly and appear to be nothing more than a pathetic marketting tool for promoters. I believe that if sanctioning bodies established a ligitimate, functioning top ten for every weight limit and enforced regular manditory defences against those who deserve a shot we might see these belts strapped around a deserving waiste instead of those who are in reality a state champ at best!

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Edited by - Matt on 16 Jan 2003 11:19:19

[paul c]

I dunno guys, all of you make sense for sure. Great fights are great fights, but without a title what is the higher goal for these champion fighters. If they're just fighting each other for the sake of it, aren't they just one-of a bunch of guys.

To be known as a great fighter.
Sure, that sounds good.
But to be known by whom?
Just us who are fanatical about the sport and have a lot of knowledge, otherwise, will Joe Citizen know?
Surely it's important that the public know that a fighter is that good, or at a certain level of achievement. And how would they know without titles.

Please understand that I absolutely agree with 90% of what you say, but at the same time I believe that there should be world titles, and that getting one should mean that you're the best. We've all discussed the problems a million times (Costs of bringing out fighters) and this isn't going to change anytime soon I don't think.

No doubt JWP and Daniel Dawson are going to face each other soon. They both hold a world title. Wouldn't it be good if this could be some sort of unification fight. Though, perhaps not possible because the titles may be for different weights or even different rules.

I love reading about sports. I honestly believe some of the boxing journo's are the best sports journo's in the world. When reading about these fighters in the many weight divisions, I many times rely on the writer to give me an idea of how good a fighter is. As expected, this information is passed onto me by the titles these fighters hold, and I honestly love the excitement and jostle of ranked positions as fighters scale the heights. This would all be gone if boxers only fought for the sake of a good fight. We can see a good fight from a couple of evenly matched bums, but I'd prefer to know that I'm going out to watch a title fight, because this lets me know what I can expect these guys skills to be like. Well, sort of.


There are a lot of titles out there. But I think it will all work it self out eventually, with the non significant dying out.

[shacols]

matt

what is wrong with wkba.
do you think reinhard has recently won a nonsense title?he is a good fighter and fought the kiwi to take the title.am i suppose to disagree with other sanctions just because i may or may not fight under wkba. i dont think so.i could be wrong, i dont know,im not a fighter but just a fan.

nothing personal just trying to gain more knowledge.

[QUPNCY]

ok if they r not worth challenging why dont all these talk fighters come out and fight him just for being who he is "the supreme fighting machine" the main event fighter who draws bigger crowds in syd than adam watt hometown hero!