There are only 7 legitimate champions in men's boxing right now.

Now half the divisions feel like they’re stuck in limbo. Too many belts, too much politics, not enough clarity. It reminds me of scrolling through msnbc reviews one night, everyone’s frustrated, nobody agrees, and somehow nothing gets fixed. Still, the few legit champs we do have are elite. Hopefully the momentum picks up and we get more real lineal action soon.

You're trying to re-litigate Lomachenko vs Lopez now? Get a grip on reality, Lopez won the first seven rounds of the fight before Lomachenko even woke up. In the first 7 rounds Loma didn't got hit at all which would have been hailed as defensive wizardry for others.

You're trying to re-litigate Lomachenko vs Lopez now? Get a grip on reality, Lopez won the first seven rounds of the fight before Lomachenko even woke up. In the first 7 rounds Loma didn't got hit at all which would have been hailed as defensive wizardry for others.

You're trying to re-litigate Lomachenko vs Lopez now? Get a grip on reality, Lopez won the first seven rounds of the fight before Lomachenko even woke up. In the first 7 rounds Lopez didn't land which is counted as defensive points for other fighters.

Kambo owned Lopez, Loma owned Kambo, Loma had the best work in the Lopez fight and got barely hit clean, less than 10 times total in the whole fight. Claiming Lopez is some star is just parroting narratives. You're trying to re-litigate Lomachenko vs Lopez now? Get a grip on reality, Lopez won the first seven rounds of the fight before Lomachenko even woke up.

Lopez's last fight was literally against the TBRB's #1 contender at 140. And he's the lineal champ no matter what way you want to look at it. Josh Taylor became lineal at 140 via the Prograis fight. Then his first official loss was to Lopez, so Lopez is lineal. Of course, you could say that Catterall got robbed against Taylor (and he did) so the true lineage should run through him. Well, Catterall lost to Barboza and then Barboza lost to Lopez. So either way, the lineage at 140 runs through Teofimo Lopez. I don't like the guy, he's a racist moron, but he was the legitimate champion at 135 and now he's the legitimate champion at 140. Kambo owned Lopez, Loma owned Kambo, Loma had the best work in the Lopez fight and got barely hit clean, less than 10 times total in the whole fight. Claiming Lopez is some star is just parroting narratives.

The legitimate lineal world champions of each division Heavyweight: Usyk Cruiserweight: Opetaia Light Heavyweight: Bivol Super Middleweight: Crawford Middleweight: VACANT Super Welterweight: VACANT Welterweight: VACANT Super Lightweight: Lopez Lightweight: VACANT Super Featherweight: VACANT Featherweight: VACANT Super Bantamweight: Inoue Bantamweight: VACANT Super Flyweight: Rodriguez Flyweight: VACANT Light Flyweight: VACANT Strawweight: VACANT What a sad state of affairs it's not so bad as it looks. at minimumweight #1 is clear although not lineal technically because #1 collazo already had a win over recent #2 jerusalem. kenshiro and junto recently moved up so those 2 vacancies are understandable. kyosuke takami - rene santiago unification is a step in a good direction at 108. canizales and simsri are willing to travel to japan. this division can be sorted out next year again. at 112 top 3 are warriors and willing to travel (yabuki even for peanuts). i think they will sort it out next year or 2027. featherweight is the worst because they are all waiting for naoya payday. super featherweights fought good fights recently so i am not mad. there were simply many good contenders and not one fantastic fighter to defeat them all. lightweight can't be sorted out with all the moving up and retirements (alleged). welterweight is a problem because barrios is inexplicably (for me) #2 for 2 years and he doesn't want any of the other top fighters. also he couldn't defeat non top boxers. norman - haney winner would be a clear #1 and it wouldn't be their fault if barrios doesn't want to fight them. after lara - alimkhanuly middleweight is only 1 fight away from lineal and undisputed champion. things are not as bad as they look when you only say 7/17. i prefer divisions without lineal champions but top contenders are fighting each other every year than a division with a lineal champion who doesn't fight his top 2 challengers for years (for example canelo - benavidez and jermell).

point is we have clear undisputed champions which we did not have in recent history, we had Charlo at 154 but he took the Canelo fight then decided to do nothing after. You can be undisputed and still not be the real champion. Dina Thorslund is the real champion at women's bantamweight but Cherneka Johnson has the WBA, WBC, IBF, and WBO titles. That's why we have lineal championships.

Stevenson was not the main man at 175, neither was Canelo after that "draw" against GGG and then being popped for PEDs, Garcia might have had a trinket, neither Rigo nor Rungvisai were clearly the man via running through their divisions either. Things are better now so the only sensible thing for you to do is convert to islam if you have not already and praise his excellency for saving fisticuffs. Those were the lineal champions. Your opinions and nitpicks about them are irrelevant.

5 years ago I don't think we had any clear cut legitimate champions so its an improvement. 5 years ago today we had Usyk at cruiserweight, Stevenson at light heavyweight, Canelo at middleweight, Mikey Garcia at super lightweight, Rigondeaux at super bantam, and Sor Rungvisai at super fly.

whats going on with zurdo? im not following it that closely but when i see a jai opt interview hes getting ratty with zurdo saying hes asking for phone book money & has no clue when the fight will happen, bit sad Zurdo just had a shoulder surgery. But I straight up don't believe Jai when he says Zurdo is the one ducking. Look at Zurdo's last 5 opponents and compare them to Jai's. Zurdo is fighting killers back to back to back while Jai has only faced one good opponent in his entire career (twice): Briedis. The rest of Jai's opponents are literally the worst guys he can get away with fighting without the IBF stripping him (or, in one case, they did strip him).

not a bad bunch in the divisions that are clear not so sure on teo tho, i mean take a look at his past opponents for many years, lacking a lot of names on there & he bailed on a haney fight & has looked poor in some of these fights as well v a certain style, which is why he avoided haney of course and turned down 11 mil turki cash WOW Lopez's last fight was literally against the TBRB's #1 contender at 140. And he's the lineal champ no matter what way you want to look at it. Josh Taylor became lineal at 140 via the Prograis fight. Then his first official loss was to Lopez, so Lopez is lineal. Of course, you could say that Catterall got robbed against Taylor (and he did) so the true lineage should run through him. Well, Catterall lost to Barboza and then Barboza lost to Lopez. So either way, the lineage at 140 runs through Teofimo Lopez. I don't like the guy, he's a racist moron, but he was the legitimate champion at 135 and now he's the legitimate champion at 140.

whats going on with zurdo? im not following it that closely but when i see a jai opt interview hes getting ratty with zurdo saying hes asking for phone book money & has no clue when the fight will happen, bit sad

dont think crawford can be considered a legit champion since canelo ducked benavidez so badly he forfeited his claim due to cowardice

not a bad bunch in the divisions that are clear not so sure on teo tho, i mean take a look at his past opponents for many years, lacking a lot of names on there & he bailed on a haney fight & has looked poor in some of these fights as well v a certain style, which is why he avoided haney of course and turned down 11 mil turki cash WOW