Is this statement true?

[TBear]

"There are more champions(titlists) in boxing today than there are legitimate contenders"


Heard this on Sirius Radio's fight nation and have been pondering it all week. The more I gave it thought the harder it was to disagree.

[Gideon lock]

It makes sense to me, but it could also be said that there are more paper champs and not enough true champions out there. People who a few years ago wouldn't have got anywhere near a belt but the dilution or creation of all these weightclasses make it easier to get a belt plus the actual amount of belts is staggering.

Back in the day they had most contenders in and around the same weightclass not junior or super etc so the best of the best would win a belt instead of what we have today. I haven't really explained it well but I'm tired at the moment lol.

[Marchegiano]

Can of worms, what is legitimate?

Folks balked at Usyk-Spong, I thought Spong was a good choice myself, a legitimate introduction to HW.

Some folks mad Fujimoto is fighting DD. I think that's a fine pairing for DD.

I think probably the hype is what's bad not so much the fighters. The way folks talk is like the current champs are at all times lightyears ahead of any comp, then they lose and we make excuses for them and hardly ever just give a man a fair shake.

Chisora, for example, is either overpraised like he's a great old'en or he's under appreciated as if he's never given us a good showing.

I'm pretty ******* actually. I realize the difference between most champs and the next guy in line ain't that much actually.


Wilder-Fury comes to mind. Bum with no skills, but, he somehow caught the best mover in the division perfectly. Inversely, Fury has no chin even though he got the **** up. Truth is, they're very very close.

[drablj]

wba has 41 titlists at the moment. there are 39 other champions. i didn't count ibo champions , just wbc, wba, ibf and wbo belts.
how many people know more than 80 legit contenders?

[Tony Trick-Pony]

Haha. Absolutely true.

You should add a poll!

[ShoulderRoll]

In some weight classes this is true. In others it isn't.

[Scipio2009]

Do the count

"There are more champions(titlists) in boxing today than there are legitimate contenders"


Heard this on Sirius Radio's fight nation and have been pondering it all week. The more I gave it thought the harder it was to disagree.

Heavyweight: Wilder, Joshua, Fury, Ortiz, possibly Ruiz Jr, possibly Pulev, and Usyk after we see him in a legit heavyweight fight, are the legitamate contenders (Wilder and Ruiz are the titlist).

Can't really say much about cruiserweight because Usyk blew up that situation.

Light heavyweight: Beterbiev-Gvozdyk, Bivol, Kovalev, Gzovdyk, maybe Pascal, maybe Yarde, maybe Browne, maybe Elieder Alvarez, maybe Zurdo Ramirez (Beterbiev, Bivol, and Canelo are the titlist).

Super middleweight: Callum Smith, David Benevidez, Caleb Plant, BJS, and things fall a bit after that.

Middleweight: Alvarez, Charlo, Golovkin, Andrade, maybe Korobov, maybe Eubank Jr.

154: JRock, Harrison, Charlo, Munguia, Lubin, Lara, maybe Castano, and a nice group of guys on the cusp.

147: Spence, Crawford, Pacquiao, Porter, Danny, Thurman, possinly James, etc.


Bored with the whole thing now, but you get the point.

[Tails]

I agree with that. There are some people that are not the best but are a titleholder due to fortunate circumstances.

Munguia for example I feel is not exactly champion quality. He was very fortunate that Sadam Ali(not 154lb champion quality) upset Cotto in a cherrypick gone wrong which led him to bypass everyone to a shot at a weak titleholder.

I like Munguia and he brings it everytime but I don't for a moment think he is the top dog at 154. Top 10 yes but top 5 I'm not even sure of that.

[Larry the boss]

insane to think about

[tjones1989]

Not true at all; the fighters of today are 100x better than the fighters in the past. There's just so many champion level fighters now, because boxers are up-to-date on all the latest training techniques. The level of skill is just much higher these days.