Unlike sports I’m more familiar with who have strong central authorities and therefore one way to become a champion, I’ve never really understood how the pieces all fit together for heavyweight boxing.
I’d be very grateful if someone can please paint a picture for me that covers some / all of the points below:
* In what different ways can you be a heavyweight boxing champion? For which orgs?
* What does it mean to be the undisputed champion or lineal champion, and are there any other kinds of champion I’ve missed here?
* What gives you the right to challenge another champion to take their position?
In: Other
WBA is the oldest boxing association. WBC was started in Mexico for international rules, but WBA didn’t want to give power up and so still exists. IBF started up in the US, saying the WBA is corrupt. WBO said they can be better, but no one cared for a long time. The Ring is a magazine that said “we can pick better fighters.” People went along, because why not. If they suck, people stop caring, but so far those 5 have become the most known.
Really, you can call yourself champ of whatever you want, until you flight someone with another belt. Make up your own magazine or website, decide who your champ is. If they would win in fights against other fighters, you’ll gain credibility. Then you “unify” the belts. Different boxers, countries, promoters, use one lineage over another because they think it’s better, but it’s about money and who wins against other fighters.
Each body calls a different number of defenses “Super Champion” or “Undisputed” but they’re always disputed. It’s all market and hype. Winning all 5 major governing body belts is tough. That’s a lot of fights.
Canelo Álvarez holds all 5 super middleweight belts. If someone beats him, any of the 5 can vacate the title if whoever doesn’t meet their criteria, and then there will be a “Unifying” fight to sell tickets or gets betting going.
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