It was never a major title Herbie Hide chucked it in the bin i think The SMW and Nassem Hammeed gave it credibility in the 90s
Frank Warren played a considerable part in "legitimising" the organisation. A lot of his boxers fought for the belt and it was marketed as a world title strap like any other. It's a unique one from a historical perspective. It's as though people get mixed up in time lines. How can anything be regarded as a legitimate world title, if it isn't required to be undisputed? Lennox Lewis won the "undisputed" title in November 1999 having won the WBA, IBF and WBC belts to do so. Today, I see Tommy Morrison being lauded as a world champion, having won the WBO belt in 1993. Henry Akinwande, however, who won the belt in 1996 is sometimes not regarded as a legitimate world champion. Similarly with Herbie Hide. But then we have Chris Eubank, promoted by Frank Warren, who only ever held the WBO belt, first winning it in 1990.
From my POV the UK legitimized it because I remember Bernard Hopkins was undisputed after beating Trinidad in 2001.. But if thats the case then Joe Calzaghe doesn’t share the SMW defense record if it wasn’t considered a major belt for majority of his reign.. Also ODLH SFW and LW titles wouldn't be considered legit either.. I just believe whomever carried it determined if it was legit or not..
