WBO in the 1990's

That`s the fight that made Leonard think Hearns was shot and why he fought him a year later earning a draw, after the fight Hearns said to Ray you thought I was shot but Ray denied it.

 

Benn still wasn`t recognised as the real champ though apart from in Britain, McCallum and Nunn were considered the best middles at that point and he beat Watson impressively defending his WBA belt then a year after Watson fought Eubank for WBO titles at middle then super middle and gave Eubank hell proving the gap between the real champs and the paper champs even though Benn was more entertaining he became a much better fighter and went on to bigger things.

 

Mercer was limited and beaten by Holmes for the WBO crown when Holmes was in his 40`s!, Collins was beat by Johnson and McCallum when he fought for real world Titles, Benn wasn`t that good when he won the WBO belt and after losing to Eubank had to improve to win the WBC belt, McClellan was exposed as having no defense when trying to win the higher WBC belt off Benn, Camacho wasn`t half the fighter when he won the WBO belt after being WBC champ at his prime weight, ODLH wasn`t any good when he fought at lightweight and got decked by Bredhal went on to improve and won loftier titles, while Bowe was WBO champ Lewis was reaching his peak under manny and went on to destroy the man that beat a shot Bowe twice.

 

Yup. That's the way it happened. Leonard could't make weight fo Lalonde and cheated the scales with weights in his pockets.

The WBO gave British boxing a new lease pf life in the 90's.

 

I think that's right.

I also remember Hearns accusing Leonard of being on the juice during that period.

Leonard didn't deserve the draw in the rematch, which he admitted years later on a TV show.

 

So all these fighters where only good once they dropped the WBO belt or before they got it?

Right.....

Every single fighter can have your "theory" done to them regarding any belt.

And.....if you believe all them fighters are no good I suggest you go watch another sport because this one isn't for you.

 

Tommy Morrison had the WBO title and I think Francesco Damiani had the WBO title, but back then it did not mean much, it was like the IBO, perhaps a little better thought of, but not much............

 

Hahahaha. Oh, man. Get a load of this guy.

 

yes as you can see, it was a unrecognised title in the 90s, as is the "reg" or IBO today.

There are plenty of horror stories about the sham way it was run, such as, in some instances, appalling opposition for so called defences, allowing injured should-have-been-retired fighters to challenge for it, and promoting dead fighters up its ranks, which everyone can agree is truly appalling.

My personal feeling is that if I had a wbo title in the 90s, I would have dumped it in disgust and moved on.

it became significant in time, and by 2004 it was recognised.

of course, it meant they accumulated some middling recipients of their belts, but by sheer numbers it also meant they increasingly landed a decent champ now and again, in turn improving their reputation until people began to forget they promoted dead people and gave injured-retired guys a shot. And thus they improved as a body. The rest is history - wbo today is seen as fairly equivalent to the others.

 

yes it was the minor, eurosque, unrecognised-at-world-level title, it is cool, isnt it bro.

 

Yup in Britain they hyped Eubank and the WBO to the hilt, they had most of the country believing Saturday night was the night not to go out, people stayed in to tune in watch Eubank, it was crazy...