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Now that Oleksander Usyk is at heavyweight, it’s Canelo Álvarez and Juan Francisco Estrada. Those are my two boxing champions.
I would even understand if someone said they don’t recognize anyone as a world champion. I just can’t let the ABC titles dictate my life.
The belt Álvarez doesn’t have at middleweight should have never been stripped away from Sergio Martinez in the first place. The most recent fight for that vacant title involved a fighter who’s ranked outside the top five by TBRB and someone else ranked outside the top 10. Álvarez is also widely recognized as the lineal champion.
Estrada is a straight lineal argument, along with the fact that the other three ABC titles are held by guys outside the top 5 in that division.
Everyone else is questionable, even the remaining lineal champions.
At heavyweight, Tyson Fury retired so he lost the lineal status. It’s silly to claim he’s the lineal champion when he retired. Why doesn’t Lennox Lewis come back and defend his lineal championship then?
(The other belts don’t matter. I can’t call Deontay Wilder champion when he beat Bermane Stiverne who beat Chris Arreola for the title while Klitschko was the king. That’s silly. Andy Ruiz’s titles can be traced back to all time great fights like Martin-Glasvkov and his own loss to Joseph Parker. They just don’t matter.)
I would love to say the lineal champion at light heavyweight, Oleksander Gvozdyk is the guy there. But the lineal champion he beat was the most notorious ducker in recent boxing history. It was hard calling Stevenson the champ when Kovalev fought everyone else in the division and won every other title. Stevenson was just fighting bum after bum. So I can’t say Gvozdyk is the champ with all these young talented guys and Kovalev still hanging around, even though he has lineal status. I blame Stevenson.
As for the lineal champ at 122, I just need to see Rigodeaux be a little bit more active and against top competition. Then I’ll feel more comfortable calling him the guy. But that win over Donaire looks better everyday!
I’m also on the verge of calling Callum Smitm and Julian Williams the champ in their divisions but I can’t quite do it.
Smith holds three titles. The Ring Magazine, the WBC Diamond and the WBA Super belt and he’s fought the toughest competition in the division compared to the others.
While I usually crap on the WBC Diamond belt, it seems like the more prestigious belt compared to the normal WBC title in this weight division.
Him holding the WBA super is telling as well because it means he really should hold at least one of the three other titles but doesn’t for a dumb reason. I would look up why but this post is getting long and I don’t feel like it.
He’s missing the IBF, which is held by a super talented kid in Caleb Plant, but not someone I would call the champion yet, the WBO which Billy Joe Saunders won over a warm body, and the wbc which should be held by David Benavidez (insert caleb Plant description here) but isn’t because of a ******* situation so it’s being kept warm by Dirrell.
So I would pick Smith as the guy but I just feel like he needs to beat someone else or a few someone elses to solidify it, if that makes sense.
Williams has two of the four major belts. He won them by beating a guy who beat the current WBC champ and also a boatload of other contenders. It makes me feel like the WBC got it wrong by going with the younger Charlo brother, so I don’t really respect that title anyway. And I definitely don’t care about the WBO which Munguia won over Sadam Ali, who won it over an old Cotto who beat a victim for a vacant title.
But I think Williams needs to do more than just beat one guy. If he wins a rematch with Hurd or beats a couple of other top 5 guys, then I have no problem with him being called champion. He probably will he considers the lineal champion if he wins a rematch with Hurd anyway.
Everyone else needs to fight the other top guys in their weight classes! There’s 68 available major titles in boxing but I consider only two of them champs and really only understand arguments for a few more!
Who are your boxing champions?
I would even understand if someone said they don’t recognize anyone as a world champion. I just can’t let the ABC titles dictate my life.
The belt Álvarez doesn’t have at middleweight should have never been stripped away from Sergio Martinez in the first place. The most recent fight for that vacant title involved a fighter who’s ranked outside the top five by TBRB and someone else ranked outside the top 10. Álvarez is also widely recognized as the lineal champion.
Estrada is a straight lineal argument, along with the fact that the other three ABC titles are held by guys outside the top 5 in that division.
Everyone else is questionable, even the remaining lineal champions.
At heavyweight, Tyson Fury retired so he lost the lineal status. It’s silly to claim he’s the lineal champion when he retired. Why doesn’t Lennox Lewis come back and defend his lineal championship then?
(The other belts don’t matter. I can’t call Deontay Wilder champion when he beat Bermane Stiverne who beat Chris Arreola for the title while Klitschko was the king. That’s silly. Andy Ruiz’s titles can be traced back to all time great fights like Martin-Glasvkov and his own loss to Joseph Parker. They just don’t matter.)
I would love to say the lineal champion at light heavyweight, Oleksander Gvozdyk is the guy there. But the lineal champion he beat was the most notorious ducker in recent boxing history. It was hard calling Stevenson the champ when Kovalev fought everyone else in the division and won every other title. Stevenson was just fighting bum after bum. So I can’t say Gvozdyk is the champ with all these young talented guys and Kovalev still hanging around, even though he has lineal status. I blame Stevenson.
As for the lineal champ at 122, I just need to see Rigodeaux be a little bit more active and against top competition. Then I’ll feel more comfortable calling him the guy. But that win over Donaire looks better everyday!
I’m also on the verge of calling Callum Smitm and Julian Williams the champ in their divisions but I can’t quite do it.
Smith holds three titles. The Ring Magazine, the WBC Diamond and the WBA Super belt and he’s fought the toughest competition in the division compared to the others.
While I usually crap on the WBC Diamond belt, it seems like the more prestigious belt compared to the normal WBC title in this weight division.
Him holding the WBA super is telling as well because it means he really should hold at least one of the three other titles but doesn’t for a dumb reason. I would look up why but this post is getting long and I don’t feel like it.
He’s missing the IBF, which is held by a super talented kid in Caleb Plant, but not someone I would call the champion yet, the WBO which Billy Joe Saunders won over a warm body, and the wbc which should be held by David Benavidez (insert caleb Plant description here) but isn’t because of a ******* situation so it’s being kept warm by Dirrell.
So I would pick Smith as the guy but I just feel like he needs to beat someone else or a few someone elses to solidify it, if that makes sense.
Williams has two of the four major belts. He won them by beating a guy who beat the current WBC champ and also a boatload of other contenders. It makes me feel like the WBC got it wrong by going with the younger Charlo brother, so I don’t really respect that title anyway. And I definitely don’t care about the WBO which Munguia won over Sadam Ali, who won it over an old Cotto who beat a victim for a vacant title.
But I think Williams needs to do more than just beat one guy. If he wins a rematch with Hurd or beats a couple of other top 5 guys, then I have no problem with him being called champion. He probably will he considers the lineal champion if he wins a rematch with Hurd anyway.
Everyone else needs to fight the other top guys in their weight classes! There’s 68 available major titles in boxing but I consider only two of them champs and really only understand arguments for a few more!
Who are your boxing champions?
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