Least Credible Heavyweight Title

WBC - mandatories r us

WBO - one time fringe title

WBA - must see something in Ruiz that I sure don't see

IBF - Still ranks Rahman in the top 10

 

Excellent choice!

 

I'll also go with the WBA, it's being rotated between 1 mediocre fighter (Chagaev) and two terrible fighters (Valuev and Ruiz)

 

"The WBO sanctioned a fight between two relatively unknown fighters, Francesco Damiani and Johnny DuPlooy, to determine the initial holder of it's heavyweight title in 1989. Damiani went on to win the initial WBO heavyweight title. All other sanctioning bodies of boxing recognized Mike Tyson as the heavyweight champion at the time."

 

"The WBO twice moved Darrin Morris up in its super-middleweight rankings in 2001, despite the fact that he was dead. Morris was #7 at the time of his death and #5 when the WBO discovered the error. Varcarcel said "we obviously missed the fact that Darrin was dead. It is regrettable." One week after British newspaper The Independent broke the story, one of the three men ranking the boxers, Gordon Volkman, still had not heard that Morris was dead."

 

"The WBA has been plagued with charges of corruption for years. In perhaps the most notable instance, promoter Bob Arum claimed in a 1982 interview that he had to pay off WBA officials to obtain rankings."

 

"In a 1981 Sports Illustrated article, a WBA judge claimed that he was influenced by the WBA president to support certain fighters. The same article also discussed a variety of bribes paid to WBA officials to obtain title fights or rankings with the organization."

 

"Under WBC rules, a fighter is supposed to defend his title against a mandatory challenger at least once a year. For fighters controlled by Don King, this rule is often ignored. Alexis Arguello, and Carlos Zarate, for instance, were allowed to ignore their obligations to their mandatory contenders while WBC champions."