how many belts do you need to become undisputed?

[x-PeROxiDE-x]

Undisputed means there can be no doubt, so IMHO you gotta win 'em all...

WBC + WBA + IBF + WBO + RING = Undisputed.

[Garo]

i originally thought that an undisputed champ was someone who had 3 of the 4 belts. after doing some research i found out that an undisputed champ was someone who had the wba, wbc, and the ibf belts. however, it's still unclear if having any 3 of the 4 belts will make you an undisputed, because if i remember correctly (and i may be wrong), david haye was undisputed and he never held the ibf title. mike tyson and lennox lewis were also undisputed and they didn't have all 4 belts at once. matter of fact, the only person i can think of that held all 4 belts at once is bernard hopkins. more recently, vic darchinyan became undisputed champ after combining his ibf title with mijares' wba and wbc titles.

i did some research and found this wikipedia article that elaborates more on what an undisputed champion is.

so, to answer boxing great's original question, an undisputed champion is someone who holds the wba, wbc and ibf belts, or possibly any 3 of the 4 belts. unification is nto the same as undiputed, a unified champ is someone who holds 2 of the 4 belts, one which has to be the wba.

[RisAri0]

I always thought unification is just another term for undisputed or vice versa... and cleaning out a division would make u undisputed..

[supRa]

all 4 but the order is
wbc>>>wba>>>ibf>>>>wbo

[Grimmer]

Didn't Jermaine Taylor have all 4 belts?

I know Calzaghe has never simaltenously held all the belts but has held them all during his career and was forced to give up the IBF belt.

[Garo]

Didn't Jermaine Taylor have all 4 belts?

I know Calzaghe has never simaltenously held all the belts but has held them all during his career and was forced to give up the IBF belt.

You're right, Jermain Taylor did have all 4 belts simultaneously also.

Oh and yea, there are few other boxers who had all 4 belts at one point, but not simultaneously. except Hopkins and Taylor of course.

[Kris Silver]

I thought holding 3 of the main 4 belts made you undisputed.

Holding all 4 = super champion, which is pretty rare these days.

Shame there's so many types of champion, tricky for hardcore fans to understand let alone casual fans. A sport being made un-necessarily complex puts people off it, which is bad for everyone.

[Garo]

for casual fans it may be hard to understand, but not for hardcore fans, it's not too complicated.

it's pretty simple actually, as i said in my earlier post
1 = champion
2 = unified
3 = undisputed
4 = super

the complications are that it appears that you must have wba and one other out of the 4 major belts to be unified.
and you must have wba, wbc, and ibf out of the 4 belts to be undisputed, though it's still uncertain if any 3 will get you the title of undisputed or not. what IS certain, is that you DO NOT need all 4 major belts to be undisputed.

[Kris Silver]

for casual fans it may be hard to understand, but not for hardcore fans, it's not too complicated.

it's pretty simple actually, as i said in my earlier post
1 = champion
2 = unified
3 = undisputed
4 = super

the complications are that it appears that you must have wba and one other out of the 4 major belts to be unified.
and you must have wba, wbc, and ibf out of the 4 belts to be undisputed, though it's still uncertain if any 3 will get you the title of undisputed or not. what IS certain, is that you DO NOT need all 4 major belts to be undisputed.

Well, not once you've got it no. But it's still overly complex, and being expected to spontaneously explain that all to a casual fan is no easy feat. List those 4 levels of champion, the belts behind them, and what meaning it has, you'll be lucky if they follow it if they choose to hear out that mickey mouse stuff, let alone if they understandably don't.

There's less people becoming hardcore boxing fans these days, and I like many cite this as one of the reasons. As part and parcel you have numerous bodies, rankings, mandatories, silly time wasting fights, other fights not happening and such, it's ruining the sport imo.