There are only 7 legitimate champions in men's boxing right now.
Collapse
-
-
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.Comment
-
it's not so bad as it looks.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
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).Comment
-
No one knows who these women boxers are, they win titles against baristas and single moms from dating apps.😂 1Comment
-
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.
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.Comment
-
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.Comment
-
In the first 7 rounds Loma didn't got hit at all which would have been hailed as defensive wizardry for others.Comment
-
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.Last edited by Wayneta; 11-25-2025, 03:15 AM.Comment
Comment