Wlad vs Sultan one step close to a real HW champion

The Undisputed WBC title showdown between Maskaev and Peter is the most important fight, they have a greater claim to be THE champion due to it being the lineage of Lennox Lewis`s belt.

When Lewis retired Vitali fought WBO champion Sanders for Lewis`s vacant title, WBC and RING. It was billed as being for the lineal heavywieght title. Vitali won, Sanders was stripped by the WBO for fighting for the WBC belt but technically Vitali unfied the WBO lineage with Lewis`s REAL title and was awarded the RING belt.
Vitali got injured before his fight with Rahman, Rahman fought for the lineal title and when Vitali retired Rahman became champion, Rahman lost to Maskaev. Maskaev pulle dout of his defence against Peter, Peter became interim champion and fights Maskaev in march for the Undisputed WBC title. The true lineage from Lennox rests in that fight.

The WBO title Sultan Ibragamov holds came about from Brewster beating Wlad for the vacant WBO title that was stripped from Sanders for fighting vitali for the WBC title.
The lineage of that title therefore doesnt amount to much.

Wlads IBF title comes from him beating Byrd who gained the vacant IBF title in an eliminater at the time that Lewis was THE real Undisputed champion. Nobody gave Byrd credit as world champion whilst Lewis was THE champ. It was an irrelevant title which Byrd truly lost to Golota despite getting a gift decision.

Therefore holding the IBF title today from that lineage amounts to less than the true claim as champion which is Maskaev.

Wlad Klitschko is the most famous and well known name but that doesnt make him THE champion now or if he gains the never recognised WBO title and its tenuous lineage which merely flows from Wlads loss to Brewster for the vacant title.

When the returning Vitali fights the Maskaev vs. Peter winner then the true lineage of Lewis`s title which Vitali retired with and subsequently was claimed by Maskaev will then belong to Vitali.

Of course, if Lennox Lewis comes back then he truly holds the lineal title and by fighting Vitali in a rematch of their 2003 fight would crown a true lineal Undisputed champion.

Without Vitali or Lewis then there will only be an Undisputed champion when the IBF,WBA and the WBC titles are unified along with the lineal title held by WBC champion Maskaev.

Saturdays fight does NOT crown THE champion.

 

It would be cool if Wlad faces Chageav or Peter-Maskaev, but very unlikely.

This is the best fight we could get in the current context.

 

The winner tonight is THE champion, none of the other belt holders have bothered unifying which puts Wlad or Sultan one step above IMO.

 

We won't see Klitschko-Chagaev due to problems between Universum and Klitschko. And we won't see Klitschko-Peter/Maskaev because of the WBC mess (at least until 2009).

 

So you're saying that the winner of Maskaev vs. Peter should be ranked ahead of the winner of Klitschko vs. Ibragimov? :yep :rofl

Hahahahaha

 

The WBC has ruined itself. They have insulated themselves from any real discussion of who the REAL Heavyweight champion is by setting up a chain of bogus madatory defenses.

The winner of Maskaev vs. Peter has to face their Champion Emeritus, Vitali Klitschko. Meanwhile they seem to have "eliminators" going on all over the place. Gomez vs. McCall, then it was supposed to be Virchis vs. Gomez, etc., etc. Throw in the fact that fighting that many mandatory defenses in a row in unheard of, whoever prevails will have the right to a voluntary bull**** defense in between. They've effectively tied up their belt beyond 2010 at least.

 

Absolutely true. Who says we can't agree on anything ?:yep

Lately the WBO has been doing a better job than the WBC at enforcing their own rules and making the good fights happen. A few short years ago the WBO wasn't considered equal to the other 3, the IBF, WBC & WBA.

 

I am pissed that it has taken this long for a PARTIAL unification to come about.

Tyson set the standard for HW unification in the 80s when he unified all the legit belts of his era in 2 years.

This is the first unification fight in the division since 1999 !

 

Man, since when was the WBO Heavyweight title a big deal? I remember Benn and Eubanks giving a lot of credibility to the WBO MW title and later Hoya by winning it from Sturm and unifying it with the other MW titles with Hops, then Eubank with the WBO SMW and lately Joe Calzaghe. Acelino Freitas and Juan Diaz also made it for the WBO at LWT and Miguel Cotto at Jr Welter and Margo, PW and Quintana at WW. The WBO HWT title is something I just remember about cause Ray Mercer and Tommy Morrison once fought, Morrisson beat Foreman, and Riddick Bowe had a big fight with Evander Holyfield. Mercer beating Damiani, Bent winning from Morrisson, Hide winning from Bent and Zolkin fighting Akinwande is just unimpressive... The Klitschko brothers have had a lot to do with the importance of that title and that's possibly why Wladimir takes on Sultan. This is not really a Heavyweight unification.

 

When Holyfield won the WBA title from Tyson and unified it with Moorer's IBF version, there was only one thing left to do and that was unification fight Lewis-Holyfield ( WBC-WBA-IBF) and that was in 99. Why do people say this is the first heavyweight unification since 1999, the WBO title was not being disputed by Lewis and Holyfield, nor by Tyson and Holyfield, nor by Holy and Bowe in the first two times, nor by Holy and Moorer, nor by Tyson and Spinks ( Tucker, Bonecrusher Smith or Berbick), not even between Foreman and Shultz... And I am the only one thinking this? Unbelievable.

 

Lennox Lewis was a very talented boxer but a poor excuse for a champion. He should have fought Chris Byrd, John Ruiz and several others but was too lazy to make the effort. Joe Louis and Muhammad Ali were true champions who defended their titles against every worthy contender. All we get these days are lollipops who do more talking than fighting.

The fight tonight proves nothing.

 

The WBC belt is tied up tight as a drum at the moment, but surely there should be an opportunity for the WBA title holder to meet up tonight's winner within the next 12 months.