Count as what? I count them as fights between contenders in accordance with their status. To me they are absolutely no different. There is no reason to take the WBA regular title any more or less seriously than the WBA Super title so far as I can see. Do they count as championships? This content is protected
I don't think the WBO, WBC, IBF or WBA know either! I tend to ignore titles now and just focus on the quality of the fighters and the fights. "World titles" are so degraded now and just marketing tool for casual fans. Everyone pretty much knows who the champs are whether they have a title or not. I would probably respect whoever has The Ring title as much as any other, but there have also been some cr*p fighters who have won this so it is all a mess, you just have to go with your own judgement (which I know you do from your other knowledgeable posts). Officially I believe they do count but I am unsure if anyone is keeping track!
On $ome weird level of thinking they probably count, but I do not pay much attention to them. I know one thing: I am probably not paying $100, give or take a few bucks, to watch some "interim title" fight, so I guess my answer is usually no. However, I would pay that $100 to watch Tyson Fury and Oleksandr Usyk fight, no matter what belts were involved or not involved, interim or otherwise.
Do you consider Dillian Whyte and Luis Ortiz TWO-Time heavyweight champions? Does anyone consider the Trevor Bryan-BJ. Flores bout a heavyweight title fight? How about Daniel DuBois vs. Bogdan Dinu? The answer would be no. BUT does anyone consider Alexander Povetkin a former heavyweight champion ... because he only won "interim" belts and "regular" belts? When he held the WBA "Regular" and WBC "interim" belts, there was always someone else rated higher who was the org's actual champion. But I've seen some Povetkin diehards over the years call him a champion or former champ when, in truth, he was no more a "champion" than Luis Ortiz was. I think most rational people would say no. But, if your favorite fighter picks up one, fans tend to change mindsets on a dime.
