Paper champions in boxing, lets make a list

Danny Garcia

bradley is one, marquez is another who never fought for the belt, lara also was given a hand me down, Posted from Boxingscene.com App for Android Well, that would surely mean Pac also is/was. Why don't you mention that? Pac won his paper title, which Bradley then got by robbery, but then Marquez beat Pac legitimately, which should have been for his title, which means he should be the rightful owner of Pac's real championship. But, you're right, Pac was just a paper titlist so Marquez would have been too. Yes. As for Marquez, he lost his last shot at Pac's world title and his fights before that was against the guy who got robbed of that same title, so I'm a bit lost as to any sane reasoning behind your biased douchebaggery. He was Lineal, unified at 135 before that, and held a paper title at 140. But he won Pac's title, or lost it if you considered Bradley the rightful holder. Either way, it also makes Pac a paper titlist by your own definition.

Dont you just love the subjective nature of boxing. Even when you have a lineal champ in Martinez, GGG just cant be considered a paper champ. Same with Ward and Froch. Paper champ would be Felix Sturm, Robert Steiglitz or Chris John who gets a belt and milk it for an eternity till a Daniel Geale shows up. So, having a lineal champion is not just enough its the level of opposition they defended it against.

Pac won his ww title at a cw so was he a paper champ at ww? alvarez proved he was legitimate when he beat trout. floyd BEAT the man at ww which was mosley and hasn't lost since. Pac has lost twice, got a gift vs marquez 3 and has only beat rios since then. Pacquiao was moving up to WW having fought Ricky Hatton at LWW, Mayweather was already champion at light-middle, having fought Oscar Dela Hoya and Miguel Cotto, two champions, meeting for the divisional unification should not be held at a catchweight. These are 2 very different scenarios. Men like Armstrong and Loenard had used catchweights in the past but when moving up in weight, not when fighting for a championship they already held. Pacquiao has, and you know this as well as I do, lost only once, and that to a wonderfully shocking KO from Marquez. The Bradley fight is the worst decision in boxing since Whitaker v Chavez Sr. Right now, the welterweight division is divided three ways, between Pacquiao, Bradley and of course Mayweather, until Mayweather fights the winner of Pacquiao/Bradley, he can not and should not be crowned the lineal champion or whatever terms are being used these days.

Cotto has held many paper titles.

bradley is one, marquez is another who never fought for the belt, lara also was given a hand me down, Posted from Boxingscene.com App for Android

If you thought he lost, then you can't look at him as a real champion. He was the definition of a "real champion" (he was the underdog vs Khan and Matthysse) but the Herrera fight changed that. I agree, but it's an icy road, as a lot of people felt it was a close fight. I'm not the ultimate authority on scoring.

IDK actually. I thought he lost too, but that's not what the history books say. If you thought he lost, then you can't look at him as a real champion. He was the definition of a "real champion" (he was the underdog vs Khan and Matthysse) but the Herrera fight changed that.

I disagree. Wlad Ward Rigo Danny Those are the only real champs now. Martinez could make that claim before he decided he was going for money and not fighting the new biggest threats in his division. MW is wide open for next champ. Floyd can not make a claim to being the real champ at 154 or 147. 147 is closer, but without being able to fight Top Rank fighters, no real champ will ever emerge. You guys are basing stuff off of the old days. Lineal champ is all but useless these days. You have to face the reality of what we got going on these days. Some divisions will never have a true champ if things continue this way. You got network feuds, promoters feuds, duckers. Lineal champ certainly isn't useless. It's the champion who either won it from the previous champion or was the winner of a fight between the top two fighters in a division. If I recall, Mayweather and Alvarez were the top 2 at 154 when they fought. So that would make Mayweather the true champ at 154. As for Martinez, he traces his lineage back to the last undisputed middleweight champion. He beat the previous champion, who beat the previous champion, who beat Hopkins. That makes Martinez champion. Simple as that. You can't arbitrarily strip somebody of a lineal championship. Otherwise I could say Ward is not champion because he hasn't fought Groves, or Rigo isn't champion because he hasn't fought Santa Cruz, or Garcia isn't champion because he hasn't fought Provodnikov and Peterson.

How is Danny a real champ when most people thought he lost his last fight? IDK actually. I thought he lost too, but that's not what the history books say.

I disagree. Wlad Ward Rigo Danny Those are the only real champs now. Martinez could make that claim before he decided he was going for money and not fighting the new biggest threats in his division. MW is wide open for next champ. Floyd can not make a claim to being the real champ at 154 or 147. 147 is closer, but without being able to fight Top Rank fighters, no real champ will ever emerge. You guys are basing stuff off of the old days. Lineal champ is all but useless these days. You have to face the reality of what we got going on these days. Some divisions will never have a true champ if things continue this way. You got network feuds, promoters feuds, duckers. How is Danny a real champ when most people thought he lost his last fight? Omar Figueroa is a paper champ: won an interim belt against Arakawa (lol), never won the WBC belt in the ring, and he will make his first defense vs Jerry Belmontes (lol).

Stuart Hall.

The only true champions in the sport Wlad Stevenson Ward Serg Floyd Danny Rigo The rest are paper champs I disagree. Wlad Ward Rigo Danny Those are the only real champs now. Martinez could make that claim before he decided he was going for money and not fighting the new biggest threats in his division. MW is wide open for next champ. Floyd can not make a claim to being the real champ at 154 or 147. 147 is closer, but without being able to fight Top Rank fighters, no real champ will ever emerge. You guys are basing stuff off of the old days. Lineal champ is all but useless these days. You have to face the reality of what we got going on these days. Some divisions will never have a true champ if things continue this way. You got network feuds, promoters feuds, duckers.

The only true champions in the sport Wlad Stevenson Ward Serg Floyd Danny Rigo The rest are paper champs

Lineal doesn't mean **** anymore. Seriously unless you are undisputed champ and took all the belts, cleared out the division, then you aren't the real champ. It's as simple as that. You can't go by anything else these days. Not with all the bull**** that is going on. There are only a few real champs in boxing today. Wlad being one of them.

OK - So you don't understand what a paper title means. I get it. GGG is the very definition of a paper champion. Not saying he's not potentially the best MW there is, but right now - he's nothing but a paper champ. just like Quillin. I dont consider a paper champ when the real champ makes it clear he will not fight you

GGG defines paper champ......his resume is pathetic.

I would not put Mayweather up there for either WW or light middle, I know he is officially but by missing Pacquiao for years and fighting for a unified title where he was already a champion at a catchweight is unacceptable, especially considering Alvarez won a paper title off a light welter. The rest I agree with, you can add Rigondeaux to the list too. I'd say the winner of Arreola/Stiverne is paper champ, anyone outside of Froch and Ward are paper champs in their divisions and in light heavy, everyone besides Stevenson. Pac won his ww title at a cw so was he a paper champ at ww? alvarez proved he was legitimate when he beat trout. floyd BEAT the man at ww which was mosley and hasn't lost since. Pac has lost twice, got a gift vs marquez 3 and has only beat rios since then.

Because GGG is championship level. While Kid Chocolate is garbage. OK - So you don't understand what a paper title means. I get it. GGG is the very definition of a paper champion. Not saying he's not potentially the best MW there is, but right now - he's nothing but a paper champ. just like Quillin.

But Kovalev has defended his title, and will defend it again. that doesn't mean its not paper