By Joe Harrison

With the year 2005 coming to an end, we still have four world heavyweight champions to look at. With no unification match anywhere in sight, we can only continue to argue about who the real world heavyweight champion is. However, neither of the champions have really earned anyone's full trust.

The WBA champion, John Ruiz (45-5-1, 28 KO’s), has lost his belt twice, only to have it handed back both times. After losing to Roy Jones back in March of ‘03, the title was given back to Ruiz when Jones returned back to the light-heavyweight division. Then, after losing to James Toney last April, the title was given back to Ruiz since Toney tested positive for a banned substance after the fight.

These incidents surely didn’t help Ruiz’s reputation. On the other hand, Ruiz did successfully defend his titles against Hasim Rahman, Fres Oquendo, and barely against Andrew Golota. But his fighting style alone has created a negative feeling among his critics. The continuous hugging and grappling just doesn’t sit well with most boxing fans. So perhaps his fight with Nikolay Valuev in December will tell us just how good he really is. It may not be so easy to grapple with the seven-foot tall Russian.

The IBF champion, Chris Byrd (39-2-1, 20 KO’s), also has a unique fighting style that draws criticism from boxing fans. However, his defensive technique and pawing-style punches have proven to be enough to score close wins over opponents such as Fres Oquendo, Andrew Golota, and Jameel McCline. But his match against DaVarryl Williamson last month was one of the most boring fights in the history of boxing, and did nothing positive for his career.

It will be interesting to see if he steps into the ring with either of the Klitschko brothers, or maybe James Toney. Then maybe we will have a better idea of whether or not he is the real world heavyweight champion.

The WBO champion, Lamon Brewster (33-2, 29 KO’s), is gaining more popularity as he continues to defend his title. He won the title when he shocked the world with his stunning knockout win over Wladimir Klitschko. Since then, he has defended his title successfully three times. He barely scored a decision over Kali Meehan, destroyed Andrew Golota in one round, and then knocked out Luan Krasniqi while being behind on the scorecards.

So what’s the deal with this guy? At one point, he’s losing to boxers like Charles Shufford & Clifford Etienne. A few years later, he’s pulling wins out of nowhere, always coming through when it looks like he doesn’t have a chance.

Maybe it’s his heart, maybe it’s his power left hook, or maybe his luck is about to run out. We may know after he fights his next opponent, which may very well be a rematch with Wladimir Klitschko, or even a showdown with WBC champion Vitali Klitschko.

Speaking of WBC champion Vitali Klitschko, most people seem to recognize him as the real world heavyweight champion. Most boxing polls have shown this, but there are doubters among us. When Klitschko lost to Lennox Lewis because of the cut over his eye, he appeared to be winning the fight. But some fans claim that Lewis was just out of shape. Others claim that Lewis was beginning to turn the fight around and would’ve knocked out Klitschko if the fight continued.

Either way, the fact remains that Klitschko did earn the WBC title by knocking out Corrie Sanders, and then defended it by knocking out Danny Williams. Thirty-four of his thirty-five wins came by knock-out, and both of his two losses came by injury, both during fights in which Klitschko was winning. So now we can only look forward to his fight with Hasim Rahman on November 12th.

If Rahman wins, we’ll have yet another questionable world champion on our hands. If Klitschko wins, then he can continue his domination of the heavyweight division, and provide more evidence to why most boxing fans recognize him as the real heavyweight champion of the world.