I've charted the history of heavyweight champions from the formation of the NBA and NYSAC in the early 1920s to the present day. Showing the initial 2-belt era (1922 to 1983), the 3-belt era (1983 to 2007), and the modern 4-belt era. Where there is more than one champion, the fighter with the oldest lineage is listed at the top. For example, in 2018 Wilder is shown above Joshua, as Wilder's lineage dates back to Stiverne vs Arreola in 2013, and Joshua's dates back to Martin vs Glazkov in 2016. Lineal champions shown in dark grey with white text, but only shown if they hold a major belt. Hope some of you find this interesting. Link: Heavyweight Champions
Stribling was NBA champ in the 30-31 period after they stripped Schmeling. The WBA seems to have retconned this seeing how Schmeling beat Stribling right after. The Schmeling DQ caused chaos and the dust was not considered settled until the rematch. The ABA had Sharkey as champ in 1929 from the Loughran fight and gave it back to him in 1931. The ABA presumably goes belly up during the Depression as the early 30s is the last era they show up in but they were a major body from 1915 to that point. Think Schmeling had some flimsy recognition by NBA and/or NYSAC bodies during the tail end of the Braddock period too. Late 1936 early 1937 is another chaos period. The modern alphabet system starts more in 1912 with the NYSAC, IBU and ABA popping up in quick succession. I get leaving out the IBU because that situation was kinda complicated because they kept stripping champs for going to the US and then Godfrey retired and they never really get a lineage going.
https://boxrec.com/wiki/index.php/Young_Stribling_vs._Tuffy_Griffiths Heres boxer rec source. Theres others. This is the fight he won it in. Thats why Stribling fought Schmeling next.
Very confusing, as the newspapers reported in Jan 1931 that Schmeling was champion everywhere apart from New York, as NYSAC had stripped him while the NBA continued to recognise him. See here: https://ibb.co/JcfLHG7 Also, the NBA ratings issued on 5th Jan 1931 listed Schmeling as champion: National Boxing Association's Quarterly Ratings: 1930 - BoxRec
