Why he can't be my boyfriend. Now? Make sense?

Well, I have a question. He said he wants to wait to be my boyfriend until after we meet in person. But intuitively, I believe the right thing is for the guy to be your boyfriend first, and of course, then confirm that the relationship can continue. Am I being inflexible and traumatic? I've already gone through this three times, with different guys, and it sounds like "I don't want to commit."