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by Mike C Ryan

AMONG the New York daily papers, Dan Rafael in USA Today gets boxing its biggest space. Once a month the national daily carries a fullpage called "Today's top fighters."

Once upon a good-old-time, boxing had eight basic divisions. Nowdays the eight have been bloated to 17 with the insertion of sub divisions variously called mini-, junior-, light- or super- at short pauses between the standard limits.

In his November page Rafael absorbed the juniors back into the historic eight divisions.

Light-welter TSZYU . . the best welter . .

Light-heavyweight BRIGGS. No room, while Mundine in Paul's weight

Junior-welterweights go in welterweight and the top man is Kostya Tszyu. The top 140 man rides high, above the 147 topper, Corey Spinks, and six other juniors rated as welters - Mayweather, Gatti, Harris, Judah (didn't Zab flee the juniors to escape Kostya), cotto and Sharmba Mitchell.

In Rafael's middleweights (160 lb), junior middleweight (154 lb) Winky Wright rates next to Bernard Hopkins

Other juniors,Trinidad, De La Hoya, Ouma and Mosley (Winky's 154 lb challenger next weekend) follow.

The FIGHTER writers choose to style the 140s light-welter, 154s light-middleweight. Like it or not, junior sounds under-age and otherwise inferior.

Heavyweights in Rafael include 200lb cruiserweights. The heavies run to Hasim Rahman at #5 and Lamon Brewster #8.

Light-heavyweight came into existence in the 19th century, it is an Original Queensberry division at 175 lb. For Rafael light-heavy absorbs the super-middleweights (168).
His compound puts Danny Green at #8, tagged "exciting 168 titlist . . Australia's best active fighter not named Kostya Tszyu".On the tail of the light-heavyweight 10 are three "Others,". namely Siaca, Mundine, Beyer.

Presumably, up-dating the Copenhagen fight - Mads Larsen dethroned Siaca - Rafael would now replace Manny by Mads.

With junior feathers, junior bantams and junior flies all removed, Rafael's chart almost looks like the Great Eight Weights of the late 19th century. Fly, bantam, feather, light, welter, middle, light-heavy and heavyweight limits endured eighty years, till enterprise aka greed multiplied champions from eight weight classes to 17.

This observer feel a strong tug towards the Rafael Restoration. But hang on, junior-lightweight grows in fond legitimacy when we reel off the names of Ellis, Michael, Peden. "Only four pounds" above featherweight, none of the three could have gone down from "super-feather" to featherweight - nor cover the further five pounds upward to lightweight without endangerment.

We started out warmly approving the Rafael cut-back. Then serious gaps began to appear.

His middleweight list has Howard Eastman at #4, with a title fight against #1 Hopkins scheduled for 19 February; but the Sam Soliman who ran Eastman close four years ago and is twice as good now, is left right out. The same slippery Sam, both of the middles are giving the slip.

But the most serious omission is Paul Briggs. Tarver, Glencoffe, Calzaghe ("starting to slip') head Rafael's light-heavyweights, and even Roy Jones Jnr, a burnt out rocket, gets #5.
Hurricane Paul Briggs is entirely absent..
We presume only an oversight . . and yet, US boxing writers have a blind spot towards Australian fighters, it is a blot in their work.
The solitary exception is Kostya Tszyu - and before Phoenix for nearly two years they discounted him too. They tended to swallow the mouthings of Zab and Sharmba.

Writing after the Phoenix tszyunami struck, Rafael said Sydney's "classy future Hall of Famer blew away Sharmba is a shockingly dominant performance."

The NY reporter regretted the network conflicts that keep Mayweather, Gatti and Cotto (all perform on HBO) from mega fights with Tszyu (Showtime).

Two years ago at the Dome launch announcing Tszyu-Leija, your reporter asked KT why did he not, as undisputed 140 lb champion, fight Vernon Foirrest, the undisputed 147 pounder.

The same Forrest whom KT beat before our dazzled eyes at the amateur Worlds a decade previously. The purse would be worth half a dozen Leijas.

Tszyu gloomily enlightened me. Opposite networks.

When even those bitter antagonists, King and Arum, have occasionally co-promoted, why should not both networks train their cameras on the one superfight?

The world wide public would cast their vote, by their choice on the day.