I have a stalker.:good Exactly. Notice how he glossed over the points you made about the Hall of Fame & what a lot of other fans think.
And I don't understand why so many so called boxing fans argue that it is a legit title. Shouldn't we just ignore it? Isn't three enough? Actually I do understand. It's usually to enhance the reputation of one of their favourite boxers.
Calzaghe has WBO, Bute has IBF. So who is considered the real champ of SMW? Pavlik has WBO, Sturm has WBA & Abraham has IBF. So who is considered the real champ of MW? Juan Diaz has WBO, David Diaz has WBC. So who is considered the real champ of SMW? Ivan Calderon has WBO. Who is considered the champ of Jnr Fly? With other champs like Penlosa, Ponce De Leon, Torres, Quintana how can anyone with a simple bit of logic deny that this is a major belt no lesser than any of the other 3...?
dan-b: Out of interest, would you not put Calzaghe in the HoF given he's been defending the WBO belt? Or due to lack of 'quality opposition'?
Calzaghe is considered the real champ by many because he beat Lacy and Kessler not because he has the WBO. It's a similar story with the others. Pavlik is considered the champ at MW because he beat Taylor who beat Hopkikns who beat Trinidad for the undisputed title. The reason that a few good fighters end up with the WBO is simply that the WBO don't tend to ask their champions to fight guys they don't want to fight. Their titles don't therefore get stripped or vacated. It's the same with the IBO and I have no doubt that in a few years we'll have threads asking why the IBO isn't recognised.
What are you talking about? Of course Joe goes in the Hall of Fame they just won't be mentioning his WBO belt which is what this thread is about. Once again I agree. If we don't ignore the WBO now, we won't be ignoring the IBO in a few years time. Do you see where this is going people? Three belts is enough.
Boxing titles are just like Pro wrestling titles, It all depends on who's got them for them to be recognised.
Yet Lacy who held I believe the IBF vs Calzaghe who held the WBO lost to Calzaghe. Meaning the IBF champ lost to the WBO champ. Fighters makes the belts and right now, the WBO are held by elite fighters therefore making it an elite belt.
Champions lose against challengers all the time. The challengers will often have inferior titles. Hatton was WBU champion when he beat Zoo but that doesn't constitute an argument for the WBU being a legit title. The ease with which Calzaghe beat Lacy suggests he should have challenged for a proper title several years earlier. He didn't and there's nothikng we can do about that now.
The WBO SMW title was legit a long time before Calzaghe got his hands on it. I would say Eubank drawing with the WBC champion put it up there. The standard of smw champ for the wbo has been consistently high to the extent that it has been their flagship division in many ways.