What situation makes the better champion?

You can add the name of our very first triple crown champion to that list, my friend, as Bob Fitzsimmons won the middleweight, heavyweight, and then light heavyweight titles in that order. True. Added as suggested. Thanks, pal!:)

You know what the problem with this concept is, not everyone , the best in certain divisions, are even willing to fight each other, these days, YOU HAVE to move up, how many worthless hopkins fights did we have to sit through until we got the DLH/Trinidads etc? think about it.

It sort of depends on how many weight classes a fighter goes through. Guys that win belts in 3 or more divisions have to be given a ton of respect. If you've dominated a division and want to prove that you can hang with bigger guys, then you have to move up. Some of the best fighters in history have moved up in weight because it showed that they were great fighters no matter what weight they fought at. Today I think you almost have to move up to establish yourself as a great fighter. I agree with this.A guy like De La Hoya etc.. that can move up like that and capture the titles is an amazing feat.Theres just certain guys that are dominant so it goes both ways.

Carlos Ortiz first won a world title at LightWelter when he beat Kenny Lane in two rounds. He successfully defended the crown with a 10th round stoppage of Battling Torres, but lost it in his second defense to Duilio Loi. After 4 more fights at LightWelter, Ortiz went down to Lightweight to take the crown from Joe Brown. It was as a Lightweight that Ortiz was at his best. Henry Armstrong first won a Featherweight Title, went on to win the world Welterweight Title while still holding the Feather crown, then, went down to win the world Lightweight title, thus, holding all three for a time--at the same time. That's Feather to Welter to Light. Then, he returned to Welter then went up to Middle. You can add the name of our very first triple crown champion to that list, my friend, as Bob Fitzsimmons won the middleweight, heavyweight, and then light heavyweight titles in that order.

Very tough. Consistency is always underrated but it's pretty impressive when a fighter continues to move up and win big fights.

It sort of depends on how many weight classes a fighter goes through. Guys that win belts in 3 or more divisions have to be given a ton of respect. If you've dominated a division and want to prove that you can hang with bigger guys, then you have to move up. Some of the best fighters in history have moved up in weight because it showed that they were great fighters no matter what weight they fought at. Today I think you almost have to move up to establish yourself as a great fighter.

i think it matters more on the competition level and power of the divisions...if theres a weak Light Middleweight division and an extrememly comptetive Welterweight division, i think it would matter more if you dominated the Welterweights for a long time than switching up to LMW overall though, mostly dominating one weight class and then going up to beat the top dogs at others seems like the best champ to me. ________ MARIJUANA BUBBLER

Carlos Ortiz first won a world title at LightWelter when he beat Kenny Lane in two rounds. He successfully defended the crown with a 10th round stoppage of Battling Torres, but lost it in his second defense to Duilio Loi. After 4 more fights at LightWelter, Ortiz went down to Lightweight to take the crown from Joe Brown. It was as a Lightweight that Ortiz was at his best. Henry Armstrong first won a Featherweight Title, went on to win the world Welterweight Title while still holding the Feather crown, then, went down to win the world Lightweight title, thus, holding all three for a time--at the same time. That's Feather to Welter to Light. Then, he returned to Welter then went up to Middle.

i think the best champion is some 1 who is able to dominate his weight division but moves around from time to time showin he can go into other ppls territory and conquer,i think alot of ppl feel more connection with fighters who come from low and get to high,or comeback alot in theyre fights from beatings,but in my opinion hopkins represents a very good champ I fooly agree, for me someone who jumps weight classes, atleast 3, is a good P4P fighter, that is my definition of a P4P champ but aside from that just a Champion I agree with the above. Good shit, G.

i never heard a champ ruled a division then moves down to reign again. because they start at their optimum weight the biggest reason they move is because it gets harder to stay at a weigth, so very few can actually move down to begin with

i think the best champion is some 1 who is able to dominate his weight division but moves around from time to time showin he can go into other ppls territory and conquer,i think alot of ppl feel more connection with fighters who come from low and get to high,or comeback alot in theyre fights from beatings,but in my opinion hopkins represents a very good champ

Eusebio Pedroza holds the record of most number of title defenses (19 wins and 1 draw) at Featherweight, reigning some 7 years. Impressive. But there are those who validly point out that Pedroza never met any of his WBC counterparts at the time, save Juan La Porte. And even the La Porte meeting was not a unification contest; La Porte was not champ at the time of the meeting. The other WBC champs at the time (1978-'85) when Pedroza was WBA Feather king were: Danny "Little Red" Lopez, Salvador Sanchez and Azumah Nelson. Sanchez beat both Lopez (2X) and Nelson (in a classic encounter). Politics is blamed by many for the failure of champions from both organizations to come together for once-and-for-all contests. Pedroza (inducted '99), Sanchez (1991) and Nelson (2004) are all in Canastota's Hall. Both Pedroz and Sanchez failed in campaigns at the lower weights: Pedroza was KO'd in the 2nd round by Alfonso Zamora in his first and solitary bid for a world title (Bantam) prior to holding the WBA Featherweight crown.After losing his Feather title, he tried the Lightweights, but did not do much good. Sanchez's first and only loss was registered by Antonio Becerra; it was for the vacant Mexican Bantamweight title. Sanchez died in a car crash soon after the Nelson fight. Who knows what he could have done in the heavier categories? Nelson was a two-division champ: Featherweight (post-Sanchez) with 6 successful title defenses and Jr. Light with about a dozen successful title defenses (including a couple of draws in which he retained the title, in accordance with the rules.) Nelson's Jr. Light reign was interrupted by a loss to Jesse James Leija, but he soon regained the throne from Gabe Ruelas who had taken the title from Leija in an exciting match that featured three KD's (two-Leija, 1-Ruelas). Nelson never held a WBA title. And, he failed to win any kind of Lightweight crown (lost to Whitaker and Leija in two attempts) In spite of falling short of the criterion of "ruling a division" (which to me means, "undisputed"), the records of the three look pretty good and stack up well against most. Can anyone say without fear of contradiction that they're not P4P listers?

i never heard a champ ruled a division then moves down to reign again. Well, just recently, Shane Mosley. he was champ at 147, held it down for sometime before losing to Forrest

I like people who fight in different weight classes, (but move up not down) once they conquered a lower weight class. I think this defines their greatness more because they prove to everyone that their skills are great and can pull them thru even against naturally bigger and stronger fighters. It really puts the mythology of P4P into perspective, P4P then becomes a reality.

I think Hagler and Hopkins dominating Middle looks better than DLH's resume. If Oscar would have stayed at 140 a long time it would have helped his legacy. Just examples of a few. Another one that comes to mind if Jeff Fenech, he had the ability to be an all time great if he would have stayed at 122 or 126 instead of weight jumping for titles.