If Wlad dropped the WBO belt?

Wouldn't it be an incredible feat for Wlad to unify the 4 major titles - WBC, WBA, WBO and IBF? In a day in age where there are multiple titlists in each weight class and where the sanctioning bodies various rules can be strict, and in some cases downright absurd, it's a remarkable accomplishment if you can unify 2 or 3 of them; unifying 4 is incredibly difficult, if not unheard of. Once Wlad has accomplished 'full unificantion' he can then vacate the titles if a certain mandatory doesn't make sense. To go this far, only to then drop the WBO, seems fruitless.

Wlad's the HW champ, the belts themselves don't matter problem is, nobody can beat Wlad, and they all know it for that reason, he needs to keep all the belts consolidated that way, everything at HW has to go through him look how long it took him to get Povetkin in the ring he had a fake WBA belt to hide behind, so he milked it would prefer Wlad keeps all belts so HW's must fight him you know the scramble will be on once Vit lets go of the WBC belt

There are cases of the belts make the fighter and the fighter makes the belts. In Wlads case its very much the case of the belts make the fighter. Without his belts he would of been DQ'd against Povetkin and fighting Mormek, Thompson, Wach, Pianeata and Leapi would would not even get him a top 10 ranking.

How much shame is he going to bring upon himself when he walks to the ring in the usual over the top fashion while holding up all the belts only to climb in and greet some stooley nobody ever heard of. Wlad when is gone , he's gone , because nobody will remember such an uninspiring champion.

Not sure I agree with the "major belt" comment. A belt is only as good as the guy holding it, in the case of the heavyweight division the WBO belt is worth more than the WBC belt, because to win the WBO belt you'd have to beat the reigning heavyweight, unified champion of the world and the best heavyweight in the division. Where as the WBC looks like it's gonna be won by two guys fighting each other, neither as good as Wlad, for the vacant title. I think its a case of the WBA (Super)/WBC/IBF belts being pretty much universally recognised as world titles. Especially now the IBF is recognised in Japan, one of the last places to refuse. The WBO isnt recognised on the same scale, though a lot of places count it as a world title. I think its a step up from the IBO, but pretty much a WBA clone, in porto rico, without regular titles...

Wlad shouldn't give away his belts. He's the champion FFS; contenders SHOULD take the belt from him!

Why would he do that? Every belt provides him a weak ass mandatory opponent and 75% of a purse bid, he is making milions of of it, he would have to be insane to not do it, unless he cares more about random peoples opinions on some forum than his life, in which case again, he would have to be insane. Would "u" give up a payday like this for "fans" respect? Get real.

He can't win either way.

I don't care either way. He earned that belt and has a right to keep it as long as he can unless there's some great, hot contender who wants it and deserves it more than Leapai. And there isn't. Especially since Pulev wants another before Wlad. Leapai pulled the upset and should get his if he wants it. Just because Boytsov was supposed to win and just because he lost more on his fault than Leapai's ability doesn't mean Leapai didn't earn his shot by agreement. It wasn't pretty and it wasn't too impressive but it was an honest job done and opportunity earned by Leapai. If there was someone ready and worth dropping the belt for, I'd say yes without a doubt. Now? Probably people trolling about how Wlad ducked Leapai if he ditched the belt and then trolling about how Wlad's disgraceful for fighting Leapai if he fights him. Whatever.

With all due respect, show me which WBO heavyweight champion was regarded as the true champion besides Wlad. He doesnt need an org feeding him stiffs to be regarded as the champ, and i think histors bears that opinion out. George Foreman? I guess.

He should definetely keep it so he can become undisputed champion when Vitali retires which hopefully will be soon. If he dropped the WBO and still kept the IBF/WBA and won the WBC down the line I'm sure everyone would consider him the undisputed champ. And yes, if he dropped the WBO belt to secure a better fight he'd most definitely win more respect.

The WBO isn't a major belt anyway so trashcan the worthless thing. Not sure I agree with the "major belt" comment. A belt is only as good as the guy holding it, in the case of the heavyweight division the WBO belt is worth more than the WBC belt, because to win the WBO belt you'd have to beat the reigning heavyweight, unified champion of the world and the best heavyweight in the division. Where as the WBC looks like it's gonna be won by two guys fighting each other, neither as good as Wlad, for the vacant title.

How are people too stupid to see that dropping the WBO belt would make it harder for Wlad to fight good contenders? Most of them are already avoiding him and another vacant belt would spawn another WBC situation. With Vitali set to retire Stiverne, Wilder, Jennngs, Arreola are ranked in the top 4 in the WBC with all of them aside from Stiverne having bought their ratings. The same would happen if he dropped the WBO belt with guys lke Fury, Haye, Jennings, Solis all avoiding Wlad trying to win a vacant title while proclaiming themself the HW Champion.

One time Wlad dropped the WBO belt. Vitali picked it up for him.

It's not what he does outside of the ring or who he fights inside of it that engenders the ill-will that I feel towards Wladimir. It is how he fights once he's in there.

For the Pulev situation, it's difficult. Organisations hate unified champions as they have to make concessions for mandatories...as Wlad has already defeated his IBF mandatory in Thompson, the other organisations get their turn. I'm pretty sure the IBF will be enforcing Pulev (or whoever the mandatory is) the next time around I wish theyd start unifying their rankings a bit more....unified mandatories make so much more sense The problem with this is it could be another year before we see a mndatory enforced. Granted im not up to date on the the different orgs policies for this.

For years people (myself included) were clamoring for someone to unify the division and for all intents and purposes, Wlad has done that. He's got the WBO, WBA, IBF, IBO and Ring belts; and will make a run for the WBC belt once his brother retires. In the late 90's to early-mid 2000's you had multiple titlists holding a piece of the hw crown. Ruiz, Valuev, Byrd, Brewster, et al frequently defended their titles, lost them only to regain them again. There was no 'real' hw champion and it really was a f*ckin' mess. With Wlad at least you have some certainty and clarity that he's the man or the real champ albeit however boring his fights can be. Wlad isn't gonna drop the title; it means too much to him to be the 'unified hw champion. That said, this title defense against Lepeai is f*ckin' weak. It seems like Wlad has avoided his IBF#1 mandatory Pulev to some degree. We'll see how it shakes out this year. If he fight Lepeai and then Pulev then I'll give him a pass. For the Pulev situation, it's difficult. Organisations hate unified champions as they have to make concessions for mandatories...as Wlad has already defeated his IBF mandatory in Thompson, the other organisations get their turn. I'm pretty sure the IBF will be enforcing Pulev (or whoever the mandatory is) the next time around I wish theyd start unifying their rankings a bit more....unified mandatories make so much more sense

Fans know he's the true champ because he's unified all the major paper titles (except the WBC) and then some. He's successfully defended all the titles multiple times and hasn't lost. He's done what many of the paper champs of the last 20 years have not been able to do He's fought the best. Thats the difference between paper champion and the true champion. Allowing the WBO or any org to dictate otherwise just looks bad. I say this all the time...a champion makes the belt, the belt doesnt make the champion.

Tyson is arguably best remembered for being undisputed. You might not think that is worth anything, but a lot of people do. With all due respect, show me which WBO heavyweight champion was regarded as the true champion besides Wlad. He doesnt need an org feeding him stiffs to be regarded as the champ, and i think histors bears that opinion out.

In my opinion paper titles mean nothing. Its the lineal title that counts. People already know Wlad is the true champ. A title cant define him unless it is negatively such as in this instance. Fans know he's the true champ because he's unified all the major paper titles (except the WBC) and then some. He's successfully defended all the titles multiple times and hasn't lost. He's done what many of the paper champs of the last 20 years have not been able to do