If the worse resume for a title holder in boxing history only has defeats to Jeff Fenech and Dodie Penalosa; boxing would be bigger than Football, American Football, Basketball and Cricket combined, as it would have attracted that many amazing athletes.
When the IBF started they either inserted big names as title holders or had unprovens fight for vacant titles. A lot of the first IBF title holders were mediocrities. So not surprised by this. Fenech turned out to be great but nobody batted an eye when he won the IBF 118 title because it was so new and he hadnt beaten any known quantities to win it.