1) Who was the last "true" heavweight king BEFORE all the alphabelts belts came into play. Was it Larry Holmes? What year was it that the title became fragmented, and which sanctioning body was formed first? 2) Who was the last undisputed heavyweight king AFTER the alphabelts came into play? The last one I remember was Tyson but someone please correct me if I'm wrong. Any input was would be appreciated.
1) First off, the WBA and WBC have been around for a long time, much longer than a lot of people realize. (For example, not a lot of casual fans realize that the WBA stripped Ali of their title after he came out as a Muslim in 64, and it wasn't until Ali beat Ernie Terrell, who won a little tournament the WBA set up, that they recognized him again. The bout was in early '67). Larry Holmes actually wasn't a unified champion. He held the WBC belt from 78-83, if my memory is right, then dropped the WBC belt when the IBF was first created and picked up the IBF belt at the end of 83/start of 84. It's actually something he's been knocked for a little bit when his ranking as a top Heavyweight comes up, because he never was interested in unifying. So, technically Ali was the last heavyweight champ before things started getting really nuts with the governing bodies. When he retired right after having won the titles back from Spinks, both the WBC and WBA held their own tournaments to crown a champion. The WBC got Holmes, the WBA went through a succession of guys like John Tate, Mike Weaver, Michael Dokes, Gerrie Cootzee, etc. 2) The last one was Lennox Lewis, iirc. There was a period of maybe 6 months to year around the end of '99/start of 2000 where he had all three before the WBA stripped him, and gave the title back to Holyfield, who Lewis beat to get it. Lewis retired holding the WBC and IBF titles. As for the Tyson situation, he lost all 3 to Douglas, who lost them all to holyfield, who lost them all to Bowe. It wasn't until Bowe did that dumbass stunt Rock Newman put him up to of dumping the WBC title in the trash rather than give Lewis a shot that the madness of multiple champions really started up again.
The last person to unify all three title separately is Mike Tyson, who then beat Spinks, to be recognized as the undisputed heavyweight champion.
One character in boxing that I truly despised was Rock Newman. He was a piece of ****. To him, throwing the belt in the can was better than facing Lennox Lewis. The asswipe knew that Lewis would have whipped Bowe. Newman was an all-around, class "A" *******.
Not all three titles separately as I said. He took the WBA and IBF titles from Holy. He had the WBC, that he picked up after Tyson vacated.
It's debatable that Lewis would have whipped Bowe at that point. What I will say is that it surprises me that Newman has no regrets over his actions. His Client is all but bankrupt, yet he turned down a mega payday - or possibly a series of paydays with a rematch and possible rubber.... to face Dokes and Ferguson. Sometimes 60% of a large sum is more than 80% of a smaller one.
Isn't it bizarre to think the Leon Spinks was the last officially undisputed heavyweight champion before Tyson? (That suggests to me that Shavers took a bit more out of Muhammad than is commonly considered. He was diminished after Manila, but not so much that Norton could beat him cleanly. I think Earnie's the one who finally took him down that last peg.)
Holmes has voiced the same opinion, I think. There may be something to it... I watched the early part of that fight last year for the first time and Ali took some crunching shots. I also read somewhere that Ali claims not to remember anything from that fight after the 2nd round. If true, you have to figure that Shavers and Manila did a big portion of the damage on Ali. Also, you're right about Spinks, the WBC stripped him before the rematch with Ali. atsch So Spinks was the last unified champion before Tyson.
1)Leon Spinks. and in 1978, they became fragmented.WBA has been around before the WBC, which was formed in 1963.I think it goes back to 1921, when it was the National Boxing Associaton. 2) I'm thinking Lennox Lewis.
