IBF vs WBO

The WBO has actually had some good champions recently.

 

The WBO and IBF are grubs just like the rest of them, they have absolute zero scruples and don't even follow their own rules. I just wish a television networks would destroy these clowns. If Showtime and HBO just banned all these titles from the network they would disappear in a matter of weeks. Hopefully one day the television executives realise how powerful they really are and help us the fan is clean up this mess.

 

Simple look at all the wbo champions..all are hugely talented. And the fact that in all unificatio . Between the belts the wbo champions won..doesnt that explain..if i was a contender im looking for that wbo belt

 

That makes no sense. If you have 3 of the 4 belts, what other champions can you fight? There is only 4 champs per class and you have 3 of the belts.

 

I totally agree. I use to LOL at the WBO back when I started watching fights, around 2001, but they have definitely gotten more serious and you can make the case they are the BEST title organization.

 

If you have 3 of the 4 belts, you'd no longer be recognized as IBF or WBC champ, you'd be 'The Champ'. Title holders would still continue as it allows fighters to market themselves. The benefit to being the Undistputed Champion would be less politics in holding the position. Less silly mandatories.

 

Oh.....I think I get it now. So if you have 3 of the 4, you're elevated to an undisputed like status. I like it. Wonder if they will do such a thing.

 

They all have their drawbacks but surely the WBA are the worst organisation now with their super champion, regular champion rubbish.

 

Unifying nonsense means more nonsense. Go trace back the lineage of a few "belts" and you'll how ridiculous it is. If a fighter has talent, they find a way to hand him a belt. That is not what a champion is! If a fighter merely has a big following --they find a way to hand him a belt.

Why would you pretend it's all legit? It isn't. They are in the sport for the same reason a pickpocket is in the train.

 

A belt doth not a champion make.

 

Yes I agree. WBO champions are running the show put any WBO champion with any Organization champion then see the results

 

I didn't know about the IBF rehydration clause after the weigh in?can someone school me on this...

 

There is one primary reason.

Unlike most sanctioning bodies, when the IBF was formed, it named champs in each division ... and some of them were already existing titleholders. The IBF recognized Marvin Hagler as Middleweight champion ... even though he was already a WBC and WBA champ ... because Hagler was the champ.

For some ridiculous reason, when most sanctioning bodies are formed, they decide to name someone totally different as champ and they don't recognize the champs of other orgs.

The IBF didn't care if you were another org's champ. If the champion - like Hagler - was willing to accept the IBF belt, the IBF recognized them.

Larry Holmes was also recognized as the "world" champion. Like someone said, when the WBC threatened to strip Holmes for refusing to fight top contender Greg Page, the IBF jumped in and asked Holmes if he'd accept their title. Holmes had always been loyal to the WBC, because he said the WBA never really ever rated him at all. So when the WBC was about to turn on him, he accepted the IBF's belt.

So, right out of the gate, the IBF had Hagler and Holmes as their middleweight and heavyweight champs. They also recognized Aaron Pryor at 140, Donald Curry at 147 and Michael Spinks at light heavy.

All those fighters were viewed as the "real" champ at the time and they were holding those IBF belts up on worldwide television. That played a big role.

If fans recognize an org's champs as "the best in the world" and the "true champ" ... it lends credibility to that organization.

Then the WBC announced, for safety reasons, it was going to cut title fights from 15 to 12 rounds. It was a very unpopular decision at the time, so the IBF announced all of its title fights would remain 15-rounders. They were widely lauded for that. In cases where the WBC champ was also the IBF champ, there was sometimes some confusion as to how long the fight would go. But the IBF usually backed down and let those fights go 12, just to keep the peace.

Contrast that with the WBO. When it was formed, Mike Tyson was the biggest star on the planet and held all the heavyweight titles. So one of the WBO's first decisions was to announced that they would recognize the winner of the Francesco Damiani and Johnny DuPlooy fight as the heavyweight champion. It was a huge mistake that made zero sense. And it immediately made them completely irrelevant.

The WBC, WBA AND IBF then tried to make sure the WBO stayed irrelevant by saying they would not recognize any of the WBO beltholders as champ, and if a WBO champ fought one of their champs and won, he had to give up his WBO belt or be stripped.

The WBO tried to recover by getting young, rising American heavyweights like Ray Mercer, Tommy Morrison and Michael Moorer involved, but as soon as one of them would win the WBO belt, they'd dump it because the other orgs would drop them from their top 10s.

The WBO didn't really bounce back until Naseem Hamed became WBO champ. He was a huge star in Europe. And when he began fighting the other organization's champions, he'd win ... but he'd dump their titles and keep the WBO belt. To avoid the humiliation, the WBA stripped their champ Wilfredo Vazquez BEFORE he fought Hamed, so Hamed couldn't claim their belt in the ring and then dump them. (Hamed beat Vazquez easily, but everyone saw Hamed win and the WBA just looked foolish.)

Once the WBO had Hamed, who was considered the "real" champ at featherweight, they gained more credibility.

Bottom line, if you recognize "the real" champs, you have a better chance as a ratings body of gaining respect. Trying to make a "splash" by naming "your own" champs and trying to get everyone to agree with your choices later is not the way to go.

All that said, after the IBF's GREAT START, they gave up on what the fans thought and just turned into every other body - stripping TRUE champs if they didn't fight unknown number-one contenders and taking bribes to make fights.

 

Excellent summary and u got the history spot on.. Also I would like add maybe the ibf or wbo also paid there early champs some side money to get off the ground..

 

http://www.boxingforum24.com/showthread.php?t=479433
the ibf decided to take initiative and make a rule which is supposed to be safer. but as with all rules theres ways around it, and now fighters just cut weight twice in 12 hours which is even more dangerous. lol