If a fighter wins a WBO, WBC, IBF or WBA title fight and also wins the "Ring" title, is it fine for the Champion to discard the alphabet title and fight "Ring" defences instead? I mean, who would want to make an IBF defence within 90 days of winning the belt? Also no rip off sanction fees. Also if Pac beats Hatton for the IBO and "Ring" title at 140lbs, does he go down in history as a junior welterweight champion? Surely that fight is better than two non name fighters picking up the vacant IBF strap. It's so confusing these days. UndisputedUK
Belts don't carry nearly as much weight historically as general resume. Nobody considers DLH a MW champ. The "2-belt" SRL/Lalonde fight is widely considered a joke. The phrase "X many belts in Y many weight classes" pretty much means nothing any more. History will record Pac as a JWW champ if he wins even if it wasn't for a recognized belt. Look at Hopkins - he never won a "big-4" title at LHW but is considered a LHW champ. Ditto for Calzaghe for that matter.
You become "The World Champion" when you beat the best in your division, and belts do not matter. A recent example would be that after JT beat BHop he vacated the WBA and IBF titles, but he was still recognized as the undisputed champ.
Exactly. Another good example is Rafael Marquez. He is on many top ten pound for pound lists, yet he is not a champ.
Taylor refused to fight their meaningless mandatories, and CHOSE to give BHop a rematch and fight Winky. That's vacating no matter what the sanctioning bodies called it!
I think it makes boxing a pretty odd sport in that the main goal isn't to become a world champion. Considering that most of the big 3 (4 if you recognise the WBO) champs aren't even in the top 5 of most respected rankings. I aren't the biggest fan of Ring titles either..... granted most holders are the best fighters in the respective division (and a few are linear too) they don't actually have to face their #1 contender, nor can they lose the title outside of the ring. Imposing mandos would give it more credence in my eyes.
I can't stand the sanctioning bodies...I really wish they'd have a 2 belt system and than the ring belt! Itta make things much easier!
just think if you have 3 belts..there is no way possible to fight all the mandotories in the time frame they want you to......
