Next year Deontay Wilder vs Charles Martin for the heavyweight championship

[techliam]

who is to say who is and is not a "true" boxing fan? millions of people watch wilder defend his belt, the belt that has been the most prestigious and lucrative throughout boxing history.

and even if every "true" boxing fan considered fury the one and only champion, "true" boxing fans would be such a small percentage of sports fans that it would still be irrelevant.

lennox lewis had universal recognition as champion, which created a lineage that the world at large respected as being the 'real' championship. klitschko never had universal recognition because his brother held the most prestigious belt and many felt his brother would have beat him.

so there was no universal recognition for klitschko to pass on to fury. sure, fury is regarded as #1 in the division, as he should be, but he just got stripped of his belt, he never had all of the belts, the guy he beat never had all of the belts, nobody had all of the belts since lennox and lennox retired with the lineage.

EVERYBODY is a paper champion until a new lineage is started with an undisputed champion.

The WBA has been in many, if not most, prestigious and lucrative fights in history. More so than the WBC. So you'll have to provide some evidence that the WBC is 'prestigious' - something you've consistently failed to do. Your prior argument's examples were all shot down, and you did not respond to them at all. Mike Tyson dropped the WBC title to fight for the WBA, Floyd held the WBA in his most 'lucrative' fights, nearly every single noteworthy HW champion has held the WBA etc. You really need to explain your claim, because to me it seems like you've picked up on some hearsay and seem too adamant (conveniently) to change your mind on it.

Klitschko was universally recognised as the World Heavyweight Champion - honours he received with his vast resume (and wins over the no.2 contender, whoever you thought that was). People across the sport have recognised that sanctioning body, promoter and network politics make it near impossible for an undisputed champion to be crowned, and thus alternative methods for determining the 'champion' had to be used - you'll find networks like HBO referring to lineal champions a lot more in recent times. A lineal champion is far different from a 'lineage' descending from undisputed champions - lineal championships are there to establish the 'man' despite the politics of it all. Not to mention, undisputed champions may not necessary be lineal, look at Roy Jones.

As for your other argument regarding the wider public though, I really don't see the public taking to Wilder as the 'heavyweight champion'. Al Haymon has tried so hard to market him as the HW champion, but from what i've seen, it's only been met with cynicism, as it should be. People are aware of Klitschko, and now Fury. When he actually fights someone, like Povetkin, you may see a drastic change.

Things to remember:
-The WBC championship reflects a top 5 contender at Heavyweight.
-The WBC isn't there to recognise the champion of the world. Its there to recognise the world champion of the WBC.
-You need to provide some evidence for your claim, that the WBC is the most 'prestigious', whilst explaining why the WBA can't claim the same thing.

[IMDAZED]

Haymon controlling a number of heavyweight belts is a frightening prospect.

Still can't believe they actually offered Briggs the Wilder fight. Embarrassing.

Some posts on here just make you wanna laugh.

[Fury4daWIN]

who is to say who is and is not a "true" boxing fan? millions of people watch wilder defend his belt, the belt that has been the most prestigious and lucrative throughout boxing history.

I'd like to know by what measure you consider this to be the case.

[Eastcoast]

Haymon controlling a number of heavyweight belts is a frightening prospect.

Still can't believe they actually offered Briggs the Wilder fight. Embarrassing.

It'll be like when Don King controlled all the HW belts and never tried to unify them. The good ol' glory days of Chris Byrd, John Ruiz, Lamon Brewster, Hassim Rahman.