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By Cliff Rold - From the purist perspective, it’s still Carlos Monzon.
From 1970-77, Monzon defended the Middleweight crown a record 14 consecutive times. His title wasn’t technically ‘undisputed’ for the entirety of his reign. In his era, there were only two major sanctioning bodies (the WBC and WBA). In 1974, Monzon was stripped of the WBC title that ended up on the waist of Rodrigo Valdes.
Monzon made that a footnote to his reign with wins over Valdes in his last two professional fights. Monzon’s claim to the lineal crown, traceable at that point to the 1963 reign of **** Tiger, was never lost in the ring and confirmed by the Valdes triumphs.
From the purist perspective, the number remains 14.
For almost everyone else, it’s 20.
That’s the number of IBF title defenses Bernard Hopkins made from 1995 to 2005. Hopkins road to 20 was much different than Monzon’s road to 14. There was no clear champion to wrest the title from like Nino Benvenuti. At least according to Ring Magazine, Hopkins wasn’t even regarded as the best Middleweight in the world after stopping Segundo Mercado in their rematch to win his first title. [Click Here To Read More]
From 1970-77, Monzon defended the Middleweight crown a record 14 consecutive times. His title wasn’t technically ‘undisputed’ for the entirety of his reign. In his era, there were only two major sanctioning bodies (the WBC and WBA). In 1974, Monzon was stripped of the WBC title that ended up on the waist of Rodrigo Valdes.
Monzon made that a footnote to his reign with wins over Valdes in his last two professional fights. Monzon’s claim to the lineal crown, traceable at that point to the 1963 reign of **** Tiger, was never lost in the ring and confirmed by the Valdes triumphs.
From the purist perspective, the number remains 14.
For almost everyone else, it’s 20.
That’s the number of IBF title defenses Bernard Hopkins made from 1995 to 2005. Hopkins road to 20 was much different than Monzon’s road to 14. There was no clear champion to wrest the title from like Nino Benvenuti. At least according to Ring Magazine, Hopkins wasn’t even regarded as the best Middleweight in the world after stopping Segundo Mercado in their rematch to win his first title. [Click Here To Read More]
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