Does having L.Smith/A.Joshua as World Champions devalue the status of a World Champ?

Yes, but this kind of thing has been going on for years.

The most annoying part is that the broadcasters go along with the promoters in portraying this level of boxer as legit world champions and even portray the fights as significant historical events.

I'm not saying they should be 100% dismissive and negative, we have to expect them to sugar coat it a bit, but they do a disservice to the sport when they broadcast a fight such as Joshua-Martin with a load of footage of the heavyweight greats (Ali, Louis, Dempsey, Tyson, Lewis or whoever) as an intro.
It misleads the casual viewer, and does the image of the sport no favours.

 

Cleverly won a world title without even fighting for it

 

Martin was in the right place at the right time and got lucky, Eddie Hearn used money to put Joshua in the right place at the right time. They knew Martin was a sitting duck. It just shows the corruption in the governing bodies, the IBF knew Fury had a rematch clause as it's in all Wlad's fights and yet they stripped him a week after the fight. It's the shady side of boxing, and it stinks!

 

Fury did not need to sign for a rematch clause, it was the wbo mandatory. A mandatory challenger has no obligation to sign a rematch clause. It was just a very poor move by team Fury.

 

If Fury never agreed to terms he would not have been fighting for all of Klits belts in first place(including IBF) so had no real option. Fury was badly treated.

 

Difficult question this with four sanctioning bodies and multiple belts- I can't think of a worse world champion than Martin off the top of my head.

With Joshua it's more about Sky's hype- if Fury had the BBC/ITV permanently hyping his achievements then he'd be recognised for what he is- the lineal Heavyweight champion of the world. Alas he does not.

I'd like to see mandatory unifications every two years (tricky to set up I know) so eventually the best would fight the best and the weak world champions would be weeded out.

 

Yes.

 

It annoys me that they get called world champions. Smith hasn't even faced anyone in the top 60 in the world.

 

There a multiple belts, have been for years, occasionally circumstance leads to people on their way up picking up a belt quickly, or people who are simply 'in the mix' get in the right place at the right time. I don't think it devalues anything because it's not different, new or special.

 

There's been a lot worse tittle holders than Liam smith

 

Liam Smith is no good, he's so one dimensional and predictable. It's mental that he even has a share of the titles cause Andrade, Martirosyan, Charlo x2, Trout and Lara would all box rings round him.

Joshua on the other hand will probably eventually take over the division so I don't mind him holding a belt.

 

Fury was mandatory, he did not have to sign for the rematch, he did it purely for the huge money they must have promised him for the rematch, I do sympathise with Fury on this as he shouldn't have lost the belt but its of his own doing at the same time, he could have not signed a rematch clause and kept all of the belts and fought the IBF #1 in his first defence no problem.

 

Expect aj to be exposed in next few months....read f.w recent column on fexlix sturm possitive drug test