In the old days was boxing under one sanction?

[Josh knight]

In the early half of last century how did boxing work? Was there only one champion for each weight class?

[Josh knight]

Bump I really would like to know this question

[Steven Mccowan]

New tyson book i just read explains much of boxing from around the 30's through 70's and cus d amatos fight against the ibc control over msg, nsac, and boxing on tv. If you are interested you should check it out. Good read

[soul_survivor]

Good question and the answer varies.

In the US, where the idea of boxing world champions as we know it was largely formed, boxing was run by the NYSAC and their champions were widely regarded as the true "world" champions...although most fights were contested purely between Americans and there was very little to do with the rest of the world. Having said that, the best fighters did want to fight and be recognised for and by the NSAC and they relationship with MSG.

Much later, divisions formed with the WBC and WBA becoming recognised bodies and there were times when titles were split (hw title between Ali and Terrel for example) but there were unification fights organised very quickly most of the time.

The modern issues of too many world titles per division started in the 80s with the introduction of the IBF and the subsequent lack of unifications that followed outside of the heavyweight division.

The added advantage today is that there are a wider range of nationalities involved in boxing than ever before BUT sanctioning bodies have proliferated and each one can have between 2 to 3 world champions.

[W1LL]

In the real old days there was only one universally recognised World Champion in each weight class. There was also a time when the white Champions refused to fight the black boxers. This resulted in Colored Champions being created, basically blacks and other races who were avoided by the whites. I think the WBA is the oldest of the current bodies and can be traced back to the 1920s when it was known as the NBA (National Boxing Association) but I don't know much about that.

[HAMMER77777]

They need to go back to that again.

[A.K]

Terrance Crawford is the modern day push to go back to one champ a division.