Luis Callazo is the true Welterweight Champion.

[The Wire]

No.

Antonio Margarito is the true Welterweight Champ.

Mayweather might take it, might not.

Boxing doesn't work like that mate. You can't just choose your favourite fighter and decide that they are the champ. If you did that then I would have Danny Williams as the heavyweight champ, David Haye as cruiser champ, Clinton Woods as light heavy champ etc etc...

Balomir's the man at welter because he beat the man. And until he loses (which I think he will, to Gatti) he will remain champ.

[SnoopySmurf]

Boxing doesn't work like that mate. You can't just choose your favourite fighter and decide that they are the champ. If you did that then I would have Danny Williams as the heavyweight champ, David Haye as cruiser champ, Clinton Woods as light heavy champ etc etc...

Balomir's the man at welter because he beat the man. And until he loses (which I think he will, to Gatti) he will remain champ.

I understand what you're saying....but in my opinion, Baldomir has nothing on Antonio Margarito and Floyd Mayweather. And since Mayweather is not the title holder, Antonio is the man. Baldomir is merely a substitute title holder, IMO.

[SnoopySmurf]

BTW - Antonio Margarito is the WBO Welterweight Champion and title holder.

[The Wire]

yeah that's right but Floyd is better than Margarito so surely that should make him the champ. The true champ is the man who beat the man who beat the man. That's how it's always worked. That's why Tyson had to beat Spinks. When Spinks beat Holmes he became the true champion, and even though we all knew that Tyson was better, Mike still had to beat Spinks to prove it. Is Baldomir the best at welterweight? Almost definitely no. In fact he's probably not even in the top five. But he beat Judah and so inherited the mantel of true welterweight champ.

[SnoopySmurf]

yeah that's right but Floyd is better than Margarito so surely that should make him the champ. The true champ is the man who beat the man who beat the man. That's how it's always worked. That's why Tyson had to beat Spinks. When Spinks beat Holmes he became the true champion, and even though we all knew that Tyson was better, Mike still had to beat Spinks to prove it. Is Baldomir the best at welterweight? Almost definitely no. In fact he's probably not even in the top five. But he beat Judah and so inherited the mantel of true welterweight champ.

Are you aware that Margarito is also a welterweight champion?

[The Wire]

Yes mate. He won the vacant WBO belt by beating Danny Perez and has defended against Andrew Lewis, Maurice Brantley, Hercules Kyvelos, Sebastian Andres Lujan, Kermit Cintron and Manuel Gomez. He lost to Daniel Santos for the WBO light middle belt. You want to take a look at The Ring magazine. That should explain to you what the true champion of the world is. Baldomir has their belt as he beat the TRUE champion. All the rest are merely belt holders. The same as when Barrera was featherweight champion WITHOUT any official belt. The same as Bernard Hopkins won the TRUE light heavyweight title against Tarver even though the only belt on the line was the lightly regarded IBO belt. Just like Ricky Hatton is still the junior welter champion despite not holding a belt at the weight. It's not about belts, it's about fights and fighters.

[wmute]

No.

Antonio Margarito is the true Welterweight Champ.

Mayweather might take it, might not.

No. the champ is the man who beat the man

baldomir
judah
spinks
mayorga
forrest
mosley
de la hoya (considered the man after tito vacated)

tito
de la hoya
whitaker
mcgirt...
and on until donald curry who was considered the man after beating enough contenders and beltholders after leonard vacated the belt in 1982

who did tony fight to get the "man" status you bestow upon him? which lineage of champions does he momentarily conlcude? oh yes he won a vacant belt against diaz

[SnoopySmurf]

No. the champ is the man who beat the man

baldomir
judah
spinks
mayorga
forrest
mosley
de la hoya (considered the man after tito vacated)

tito
de la hoya
whitaker
mcgirt...
and on until donald curry who was considered the man after beating enough contenders and beltholders after leonard vacated the belt in 1982

who did tony fight to get the "man" status you bestow upon him? which lineage of champions does he momentarily conlcude? oh yes he won a vacant belt against diaz

Linear champions, yes. So I think we're arguing over symantecs here. I was arguing over a different meaning whilst others were arguing over Linear champ. My mistake.

I took the phrase "True Champ" and Luis Collazo and thought "No way, that would leave Antonio as the true champ."

[AllEyesOpen]

Collazo is a great contender, IMHO he beat Hatton, but what's done is done. Saying Collazo is the True champ is like saying Judah was still the true after Baldi beat him, we'd like to think so but it's not the truth.

[Guest]

I understand what you're saying....but in my opinion, Baldomir has nothing on Antonio Margarito and Floyd Mayweather. And since Mayweather is not the title holder, Antonio is the man. Baldomir is merely a substitute title holder, IMO.

This kind of logic also precipitates a certain amount of guesswork over who is the better boxer. Yeah, it wouldn't be going out on a limb to suggest that Floyd/Antonio are better boxers than Baldomir, but if you do that in ONE division, logic dictates you have to do it to each and every division, which then becomes problematical.

(In a related note, many were trying to say Floyd was The Man at 140 for much the same reasons over Hatton, even though in that case I really do think they have to prove it in a ring).