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The fact that I've met 33 heavyweight champions in my day is cool and all but...there shouldn't even be that many available for me to meet!!!!!
Boxing politics (i.e. the WBC) have created the situation we are in today and it is a huge mess that our game will NEVER get out of.
FLASHBACK: In 1978 Muhammad Ali lost the world heavyweight title to Leon Spinks. Rather than face Ken Norton in his first title defense Spinks opted to defend against Ali. The WBC then stripped Ali of the title and AWARDED IT to Ken Norton, who then turned around and lost it to Larry Holmes, setting in motion the situation that we have today in regards to the heavyweight division.
The result, in my opinion, has completely diluted the world heavyweight title, once known as the greatest single title in all of sports, maybe second only to the President of the United States of America.
(The following two lists do not include James Toney, who was stripped of the WBA title after beating Ruiz. It also doesn't include the multiple reigns of repeat champions (Tyson, Moorer, Bowe, etc) because it's just too diluted and confusing. In the first 93 years of heavyweight champions only two men (Patterson and Ali) regained the heavyweight title. Just since 1978, though, (I can't keep track 100 percent without looking it up), there have been at least nine men who have regained a portion of the heavyweight crown.)
From the beginning of professional boxing up until the WBC decided to strip Spinks for giving Ali his rightful return match, there were 28 recognized WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPS from 1885-1978 (that's 93 years and includes bare knuckle champs): Sullivan, Corbett, Fitzsimmons, Jeffries, Hart, Burns, Johnson, Willard, Dempsey, Tunney, Schmeling, Sharkey, Carnera, Baer, Braddock, Louis, Charles, Walcott, Marciano, Patterson, Johanssen, Liston, Terrel, Ali, Ellis, Frazier, Foreman, Spinks...
...as compared to 46 WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPS from 1978-2013 (only 35 years!!): Norton, Holmes, Tate, Weaver, Dokes, Coetzee, Witherspoon, Thomas, Page, Tubbs, Spinks, Berbick, Tyson, Smith, Tucker, Damiani, Douglas, Holyfield, Mercer, Moorer, Bowe, Lewis, Morrison, Bent, Hide, McCall, Seldon, Akinwande, Bruno, Vitaliy, Wladimir, Byrd, Ruiz, Rahman, Jones Jr., Sanders, Brewster, Valuev, Liakovich, Ibragimov, Peter, Maskaev, Chagaev, Briggs, Haye, Povetkin.
In other words, there have been 18 more world heavyweight champions in the last 35 years than there were in the previous 93! And this doesn't even include all the times the title has changed hands since Holmes won his in 1978 (Holyfield won and lost it how many times?)
Boxing politics (i.e. the WBC) have created the situation we are in today and it is a huge mess that our game will NEVER get out of.
FLASHBACK: In 1978 Muhammad Ali lost the world heavyweight title to Leon Spinks. Rather than face Ken Norton in his first title defense Spinks opted to defend against Ali. The WBC then stripped Ali of the title and AWARDED IT to Ken Norton, who then turned around and lost it to Larry Holmes, setting in motion the situation that we have today in regards to the heavyweight division.
The result, in my opinion, has completely diluted the world heavyweight title, once known as the greatest single title in all of sports, maybe second only to the President of the United States of America.
(The following two lists do not include James Toney, who was stripped of the WBA title after beating Ruiz. It also doesn't include the multiple reigns of repeat champions (Tyson, Moorer, Bowe, etc) because it's just too diluted and confusing. In the first 93 years of heavyweight champions only two men (Patterson and Ali) regained the heavyweight title. Just since 1978, though, (I can't keep track 100 percent without looking it up), there have been at least nine men who have regained a portion of the heavyweight crown.)
From the beginning of professional boxing up until the WBC decided to strip Spinks for giving Ali his rightful return match, there were 28 recognized WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPS from 1885-1978 (that's 93 years and includes bare knuckle champs): Sullivan, Corbett, Fitzsimmons, Jeffries, Hart, Burns, Johnson, Willard, Dempsey, Tunney, Schmeling, Sharkey, Carnera, Baer, Braddock, Louis, Charles, Walcott, Marciano, Patterson, Johanssen, Liston, Terrel, Ali, Ellis, Frazier, Foreman, Spinks...
...as compared to 46 WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPS from 1978-2013 (only 35 years!!): Norton, Holmes, Tate, Weaver, Dokes, Coetzee, Witherspoon, Thomas, Page, Tubbs, Spinks, Berbick, Tyson, Smith, Tucker, Damiani, Douglas, Holyfield, Mercer, Moorer, Bowe, Lewis, Morrison, Bent, Hide, McCall, Seldon, Akinwande, Bruno, Vitaliy, Wladimir, Byrd, Ruiz, Rahman, Jones Jr., Sanders, Brewster, Valuev, Liakovich, Ibragimov, Peter, Maskaev, Chagaev, Briggs, Haye, Povetkin.
In other words, there have been 18 more world heavyweight champions in the last 35 years than there were in the previous 93! And this doesn't even include all the times the title has changed hands since Holmes won his in 1978 (Holyfield won and lost it how many times?)
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