Who cares? The only title that should matter to any boxing fan, is the lineal title! Nobody should care who the Whetabix Boxing Federation, or the Irrelevant Boxing Comission, thinks is the champion!
For me they had to stop at 4: WBC, WBA, WBO, IBF. If for example they create the WBF I already see the number 2 ranked with 20-0-0 of chronicle (perhaps gained in 2 or 3 years) as the next Fury challenger. Lol
For me they should have stopped at ONE. Imagine a world where the WBA was run by an elected and incorruptible board of directors; a board that made logical decisions and had legitimate power to carry them out. A champion doesn't defend against the top contender for over, say, 18 months? He not only loses the title but faces a six month suspension for violating the WBA's directives. The WBA has the full support of governments around the world. Forming a new boxing commission would simply not be legal. A hypothetical scenario - February 1978: Muhammad Ali loses to Leon Spinks. The winner, likely Ali, had already agreed to next fight Ken Norton. Spinks wants a rematch against Ali. The board logically discusses and has a vote on which fight to allow. Let's say they vote to allow the Ali rematch because of Ali's long service to boxing and the long tradition of return bouts. Norton has to live with it. He can be inactive for several months and wait for his shot, but risk slipping in the legitimate rankings due to inactivity, or he can fight another top contender to maintain his ranking, say a Shavers or Holmes. September 1978: Ali regains the title against Spinks. The previous June, Holmes beats Norton in a non-title or regional title (U.S. title) bout. The board decides to order Ali-Holmes, but allows Ali to have a bout vs. a top-15 contender of his choosing prior to the mandated Holmes fight. Ali chooses to retire after beating Spinks. The WBA holds an 8 fighter tournament to crown a new champion. Larry Holmes decides to sit it out, citing "boxing politics" and argues that in beating Norton, he should automatically fight for the title without having to enter a tournament. Holmes doesn't have a WBC or an IBF to run to. They don't exist. Holmes has to wait out the tournament. If he's inactive, his ranking will likely drop. Or he can box guys outside of the top 10 or early-round tournament losers. Mid 1980: Holmes finally gets a shot against tournament winner John Tate.
With 4 different champions, plus "super champions," plus interim champions already...add a few more and eventually every fight will be a title fight of some sort.
