Is it fair if Virgil Hill gets voted into the HOF but not Michalczewski?

[crold1]

Originally Posted by Anthony342

Yeah I thought I heard somewhere WBO wasn't a major belt until 2004.

That was when HBO started to recognize them. Ring never did. Others (ABC, Showtime) treated them as equal to anything else from early on. They were a major title depending on who had their belt.

[crold1]

Originally Posted by Anthony342

So then DM was lineal champion at light heavyweight? And then Roy Jones became lineal when he beat Glen Kelly for the Ring title belt?

Roy didn't beat Kelly for the Ring belt. He got it the day they restarted giving out belts because, initially, anyone with BC/BF/BA got a Ring belt. However, if one recognizes the lineage starting at Hill/Maske (and they should), Roy was NEVER lineal champ.

The lineage ran through Erdei, who ultimately vacated. The lineage also wasn't worth much more than its footnote for years.

[Scott9945]

Originally Posted by crold1

That was when HBO started to recognize them. Ring never did. Others (ABC, Showtime) treated them as equal to anything else from early on. They were a major title depending on who had their belt.

My memory is that Hamed put the WBO on the map. It was also enhanced by the Klitschko's holding their belt in the 1990's.

[crold1]

Originally Posted by Scott9945

My memory is that Hamed put the WBO on the map. It was also enhanced by the Klitschko's holding their belt in the 1990's.

Bowe holding the WBO helped too. If HBO had shown guys like Benn and Eubank in the 90s, it would have gotten some looks earlier.

[Freedom.]

Originally Posted by joe strong

The WBO was a regional belt not a world title in 2001...europn\asian based regional belt like the NABF was in north america...2005 is when it started getting recognized. it was a stepping stone belt that gave you a top 5-10 ranking in the WBC. any north american fighter who won it vacated it to get a shot at a real world title....

You keep posting that over and over again to discredit European boxers, but it's not really true.

Ray Mercer defended it against Morrison. Tommy Morrison won it against Foreman, defended it against Tomacheck and lost it to Bentt. Riddick Bowe won it against Hide, and defended it against Gonzalez.

[Clegg]

Would be interested in seeing some more info on the claim that in 2001 any WBO champ was ranked in the top 5 of the WBC. I don't recall anything like that happening.