Boxing has eight weight classes:
This is an extremely important matter about which there can be no compromise. Henry Armstrong was a triple crown champion, holding the featherweight, lightweight, and welterweight championships simultaneously. He was only the second fighter to hold three championship belts across three different weight classes (and the first did no do so simultaneously). Many have claimed that there were more than one such fighter before Armstrong. In fact, the man Armstrong defeated to win the welterweight title, Barney Ross, is said to be such a fighter. But Barney Ross held the lightweight and welterweight championships. That's two weight classes, not three. The alleged third is a junior welterweight title that was eliminated shortly after Ross won it. Since junior welterweight is not a legitimate weight class, Ross could not have held three world titles.
If we were to recognize Ross as a three-time champion on the basis of a defunct weight class he claimed a title in, we would dilute Armstrong's accomplishment. Junior welterweight is only five more pounds than lightweight, whereas Armstrong bridged weight classes with a 21 pound difference to win his titles. The quality of competition at junior weights was inferior to that at the legitimate weights. This means that many of those who are claimed to be triple, quadruple, etc. champions (Wilfred Benitez, for example) are nothing of the sort.
Another important point needs to be made here. It requires explaining two rules. First, although sanctioning bodies stopped the practice of fighters holding titles in more than one weight class simultaneously, there is absolutely no rational basis for such a rule. Second, a world championship is on the line if both fighters are at or under the recognized weight limit. For example, the lightweight championship can only be on the line if both fighters weigh no more than 135 lbs. If a fighter is simulaneously world lightweight and welterweight champion, and both fighters weighs no more than 147 lbs but more than 135 lbs, then only the welterweight title is on the line. However, if both fighters weigh no more than 135 lbs, then both titles are on the line. This rule is important as future entries will show.
Each weight class has one world champion at a time (just as each country only has one national champion at a time). The world champion is the man who defeats the world champion. The statement, "World championships are won and lost in the ring," remains the first and best rule of determining the boxing champion of the world in any of the eight weight classes.
Larry Holmes became the world heavyweight champion in 1980 when he beat Muhammad Ali. Before that time, he was a claimant only. Ezzard Charles became world heavyweight champion because he beat Joe Louis. Jack Johnson became world heavyweight champion when he beat Jim Jeffries. If people tell you there can be more than one world champion in a division, they're wrong. If it is not clear who the world champion is, then there is no world champion. The championship is either vacant or disputed.
While this rule is the first and best rule, it cannot be an absolute rule because champions sometimes retire. The solution to the problem of retirement is straightforward: if the champion stays retired, then the two best fighters fight for the championship. Sometimes this means that the persons who hold the belts from the two oldest and most respected continuous sanctioning bodies - in the present case the WBA and the WBC - is champion.
The WBA, or World Boxing Association, grows out of the National Boxing Association (NBA), which was established early in the twentieth century (1921). The NBA changed to the WBA as boxing became a global sport. The WBC, or World Boxing Council, was created in 1963 with the support of the NYSAC, or New York State Athletic Commission, which was founded in 1920. The creation of the WBC was also in response to the globalization of boxing. The WBC is affiliated with the North American Boxing Federation, the Oriental and Pacific Boxing Federation, the European Boxing Union), and the African Boxing Council. Both the WBA and WBC are established international organizations. No Johnny-come-latelys are they.
There are several other sanctioning bodies that claim they belt champions, but it fundamentally undermines the sport of boxing to recognize the legitimacy of any and every organization that sanction what it purports to be world title fights. If boxing fans recognize the legitimacy of such a thing, then theoretically every boxer in a weight division could claim to be a world titleholder. All they would need is some organization claiming they belted world champions. Indeed, if all these organizations are taken seriously, the top fighters in every division are claiming to hold a world title. It's a ridiculous situation that rational fans don't recognize.
While the situation is not ideal, the WBA and WBC are nearly a century old, and most recognized world champions in history have held one or both of their belts, so they can play a constructive role in determining who is the champion, participating in regulating the sport, and suggesting contenders for the championship. There is no constructive role for the other organizations and they should be ignored.
A fighter may be interim champion, of course, because the linear champion may come out of retirement, at which point the interim champion becomes the number one challenger.
For example, Muhammad Ali was the champion when he fought Joe Frazier the first time. At the very least, the championship was disputed and the dispute was settled when Frazier won. Ali had not lost his title in the ring.
Under no circumstance is the holder of both the WBA and WBC belts champion if the real world champion has not retired. Michael Spinks was world champion when Mike Tyson defeated him even though Spinks was recognized neither by the WBA nor the WBC and Mike Tyson was recognized by both. Why? Because Spinks defeated Larry Holmes, the linear champion.
A world champion can never be stripped of his championship for any reason. He can only retire or lose in the ring.
Sometimes the WBA and WBC belts need to be unified to determine the champion in the wake of a retirement. This is true when a fight who was defeated by, say, the WBC belt holder goes on to win the WBA title. Suppose Larry Holmes had not beat Muhammad Ali to win the linear title. When Mike Weaver won the WBA title after losing to Holmes, Holmes would have become the champion.
These rules can make life difficult and step on toes, but then the truth is often not easy to swallow. I will give two examples, both extracts from an essay I am writing on the linear middleweight championship.
Example one: It is generally held that, in the way of Suger Ray Robinson's retirement, Carl Olson won the vacant title when he defeated Randy Turpin in 1953. He successfully defended the title three times over quality opposition, most notably Kid Gavilan and Ricky Castellani. Ray Robinson returned to the ring three years later and knocked out Olson in two rounds. In the record books, Ray Robinson was once again the champion of the world—now for a record third time. Robinson lost to Gene Fullmer in his first title defense on a unanimous decision. But he regained the title from Fullmer with a spectacular fifth-round knockout. Now he was four-time world middleweight champion. Robinson lost the title yet again in his next defense against Carmen Basilio on a 15-round split decision in 1957. But, once more, he regained the title on a split decision in 1958. Both battles were recognized as fight of the year by the Ring magazine. Robinson was champion for a fifth time! In his next defense he lost the title to Paul Pender. This time he didn’t get it back, losing the rematch.
That’s the way the story is usually told. However, a historical fact has been overlooked. When Robinson returned to the ring, before he defeated Olsen to become recognized as champion for a third time, Robinson lost to Ralph Jones. Since both Robinson and Jones were under the weight limit of 160 lbs, Robinson’s linear middleweight championship was on the line. The record books record this as one of a series of tune-up fights, but the rule of lineage suggests a different history.
Jones is the middleweight with a direct line through Robinson to the past. Jones lost to Eduardo Jorge Lausse. Lausse lost to Bobby Boyd. Boyd lost to Joey Giardello, who was a fine boxer and would become world champion defeating Dick Tiger in 1963. Giardello lost to Spider Webb in 1958. Webb lost to Fullmer in 1959. Fullmer had just won the vacant NBA title and would defend the title six times before losing to Dick Tiger in 1962. Thus the middleweight championship picture becomes clear in 1959 when Gene Fullmer defeats Spider Webb. This makes Gene Fullmer two-time middleweight champion with six title defenses an impressive record.
Robinson was never five-time world middleweight champion, despite what the record books says. He was two-time world champion at this weight. I take no pleasure in pointing this out, since Robinson is, in my view, the greatest boxer who ever lived and part of that greatness came in fights with Fullmer and Basilio, even if Robinson was over the hill.
Example two: Ray Leonard won the middleweight championship on a disputed split decision over all-time great Marvelous Marvin Hagler. Leonard nominally retired, but continued fighting, claiming the light heavyweight title (the WBC version) in a win over Donny LaLonde and drawing with Tommy Hearns. Leonard next fought Roberto Duran at the middleweight limit. Duran had claimed the title by winning the WBC version with a win over Iran Barkley in the 1989 fight of the year. However, Leonard was the linear champion and clarified it by defeating Duran.
During Leonard “retirement,” Hearns defeated Roldan over four rounds to win the WBC title. Since these two were the top contenders, this was the strongest claim to the title. Hearns lost his title to Barkley. Barkley had previously lost in a fight for the vacant WBA title against Sumbu Kalambay. Many claim that this strengthened the WBA line, but I disagree; Kalambay outpointed Barkley, but there was nothing in the victory that demonstrated that Kalambay was the best in the world. At any rate, Barkley lost the WBC title to Duran in 1989.
So why didn’t Duran lose his WBC title to Leonard? Early reports said the title would be on the line. But then we were told it wasn’t. When both weighed under the limit (Duran weighed 158 lbs and Leonard weighed 160 lbs), Jose Sulaiman, the president of the WBC said the title may in fact be on the line. A contract was signed stipulating that the title was not on the line (what was on the line was some such thing called a “supermiddleweight” title). Sulaiman said he would abide by the agreement. All that is irrelevant. It was a middleweight fight and Leonard was the linear champion. Terry Norris became world middleweight champion when he defeated linear champion Ray Leonard. And so on.
* * *
There is no standing eight count. If but for the ropes the fighter would have been knocked down, then the fighter has been knocked down, and a ten count (timed in one-second intervals) is started, stopped at the count of eight if the fighter remains standing.
There is no three-knockdown rule. If a fighter can keep getting up before the referee reaches the count of 10, and if the referee determines that the fighter is fit to continue, no arbitrary number of knockdowns shall prevent the fighter from continuing. It may just as easily be the case that after five knockdowns the fighter is as fit to continue as a fighter who has been knocked down only once.
There is no saving of a fighter by the bell in any round. If a fighter cannot rise before the count of 10, he shall be ruled knocked out and declared the loser. No fighter can ever be permitted to win a fight having failed to beat a 10 count.
Flyweight 112 lbs (51 kg) and belowThese are all the weight classes. There are no others. If people tell you otherwise, they're wrong. If you read a boxing magazine and see listed there such weight classes as "super middleweight" or "junior welterweight," you can know with confidence that these are illegitimate weight classes invented by promoters and sanctioning bodies to exploit boxing and undermine our sport for their private gain.
Bantamweight 118 lbs (53.5 kg)
Featherweight 126 lbs (57.1 kg)
Lightweight 135 lbs (61.2 kg)
Welterweight 147 lbs (66.7 kg)
Middleweight 160 lbs (72.5 kg)
Light Heavyweight (or Crusierweight) 175 lbs (79 kg)
Heavyweight Over 175 lbs (79 kg)
This is an extremely important matter about which there can be no compromise. Henry Armstrong was a triple crown champion, holding the featherweight, lightweight, and welterweight championships simultaneously. He was only the second fighter to hold three championship belts across three different weight classes (and the first did no do so simultaneously). Many have claimed that there were more than one such fighter before Armstrong. In fact, the man Armstrong defeated to win the welterweight title, Barney Ross, is said to be such a fighter. But Barney Ross held the lightweight and welterweight championships. That's two weight classes, not three. The alleged third is a junior welterweight title that was eliminated shortly after Ross won it. Since junior welterweight is not a legitimate weight class, Ross could not have held three world titles.
If we were to recognize Ross as a three-time champion on the basis of a defunct weight class he claimed a title in, we would dilute Armstrong's accomplishment. Junior welterweight is only five more pounds than lightweight, whereas Armstrong bridged weight classes with a 21 pound difference to win his titles. The quality of competition at junior weights was inferior to that at the legitimate weights. This means that many of those who are claimed to be triple, quadruple, etc. champions (Wilfred Benitez, for example) are nothing of the sort.
Another important point needs to be made here. It requires explaining two rules. First, although sanctioning bodies stopped the practice of fighters holding titles in more than one weight class simultaneously, there is absolutely no rational basis for such a rule. Second, a world championship is on the line if both fighters are at or under the recognized weight limit. For example, the lightweight championship can only be on the line if both fighters weigh no more than 135 lbs. If a fighter is simulaneously world lightweight and welterweight champion, and both fighters weighs no more than 147 lbs but more than 135 lbs, then only the welterweight title is on the line. However, if both fighters weigh no more than 135 lbs, then both titles are on the line. This rule is important as future entries will show.
Each weight class has one world champion at a time (just as each country only has one national champion at a time). The world champion is the man who defeats the world champion. The statement, "World championships are won and lost in the ring," remains the first and best rule of determining the boxing champion of the world in any of the eight weight classes.
Larry Holmes became the world heavyweight champion in 1980 when he beat Muhammad Ali. Before that time, he was a claimant only. Ezzard Charles became world heavyweight champion because he beat Joe Louis. Jack Johnson became world heavyweight champion when he beat Jim Jeffries. If people tell you there can be more than one world champion in a division, they're wrong. If it is not clear who the world champion is, then there is no world champion. The championship is either vacant or disputed.
While this rule is the first and best rule, it cannot be an absolute rule because champions sometimes retire. The solution to the problem of retirement is straightforward: if the champion stays retired, then the two best fighters fight for the championship. Sometimes this means that the persons who hold the belts from the two oldest and most respected continuous sanctioning bodies - in the present case the WBA and the WBC - is champion.
The WBA, or World Boxing Association, grows out of the National Boxing Association (NBA), which was established early in the twentieth century (1921). The NBA changed to the WBA as boxing became a global sport. The WBC, or World Boxing Council, was created in 1963 with the support of the NYSAC, or New York State Athletic Commission, which was founded in 1920. The creation of the WBC was also in response to the globalization of boxing. The WBC is affiliated with the North American Boxing Federation, the Oriental and Pacific Boxing Federation, the European Boxing Union), and the African Boxing Council. Both the WBA and WBC are established international organizations. No Johnny-come-latelys are they.
There are several other sanctioning bodies that claim they belt champions, but it fundamentally undermines the sport of boxing to recognize the legitimacy of any and every organization that sanction what it purports to be world title fights. If boxing fans recognize the legitimacy of such a thing, then theoretically every boxer in a weight division could claim to be a world titleholder. All they would need is some organization claiming they belted world champions. Indeed, if all these organizations are taken seriously, the top fighters in every division are claiming to hold a world title. It's a ridiculous situation that rational fans don't recognize.
While the situation is not ideal, the WBA and WBC are nearly a century old, and most recognized world champions in history have held one or both of their belts, so they can play a constructive role in determining who is the champion, participating in regulating the sport, and suggesting contenders for the championship. There is no constructive role for the other organizations and they should be ignored.
A fighter may be interim champion, of course, because the linear champion may come out of retirement, at which point the interim champion becomes the number one challenger.
For example, Muhammad Ali was the champion when he fought Joe Frazier the first time. At the very least, the championship was disputed and the dispute was settled when Frazier won. Ali had not lost his title in the ring.
Under no circumstance is the holder of both the WBA and WBC belts champion if the real world champion has not retired. Michael Spinks was world champion when Mike Tyson defeated him even though Spinks was recognized neither by the WBA nor the WBC and Mike Tyson was recognized by both. Why? Because Spinks defeated Larry Holmes, the linear champion.
A world champion can never be stripped of his championship for any reason. He can only retire or lose in the ring.
Sometimes the WBA and WBC belts need to be unified to determine the champion in the wake of a retirement. This is true when a fight who was defeated by, say, the WBC belt holder goes on to win the WBA title. Suppose Larry Holmes had not beat Muhammad Ali to win the linear title. When Mike Weaver won the WBA title after losing to Holmes, Holmes would have become the champion.
These rules can make life difficult and step on toes, but then the truth is often not easy to swallow. I will give two examples, both extracts from an essay I am writing on the linear middleweight championship.
Example one: It is generally held that, in the way of Suger Ray Robinson's retirement, Carl Olson won the vacant title when he defeated Randy Turpin in 1953. He successfully defended the title three times over quality opposition, most notably Kid Gavilan and Ricky Castellani. Ray Robinson returned to the ring three years later and knocked out Olson in two rounds. In the record books, Ray Robinson was once again the champion of the world—now for a record third time. Robinson lost to Gene Fullmer in his first title defense on a unanimous decision. But he regained the title from Fullmer with a spectacular fifth-round knockout. Now he was four-time world middleweight champion. Robinson lost the title yet again in his next defense against Carmen Basilio on a 15-round split decision in 1957. But, once more, he regained the title on a split decision in 1958. Both battles were recognized as fight of the year by the Ring magazine. Robinson was champion for a fifth time! In his next defense he lost the title to Paul Pender. This time he didn’t get it back, losing the rematch.
That’s the way the story is usually told. However, a historical fact has been overlooked. When Robinson returned to the ring, before he defeated Olsen to become recognized as champion for a third time, Robinson lost to Ralph Jones. Since both Robinson and Jones were under the weight limit of 160 lbs, Robinson’s linear middleweight championship was on the line. The record books record this as one of a series of tune-up fights, but the rule of lineage suggests a different history.
Jones is the middleweight with a direct line through Robinson to the past. Jones lost to Eduardo Jorge Lausse. Lausse lost to Bobby Boyd. Boyd lost to Joey Giardello, who was a fine boxer and would become world champion defeating Dick Tiger in 1963. Giardello lost to Spider Webb in 1958. Webb lost to Fullmer in 1959. Fullmer had just won the vacant NBA title and would defend the title six times before losing to Dick Tiger in 1962. Thus the middleweight championship picture becomes clear in 1959 when Gene Fullmer defeats Spider Webb. This makes Gene Fullmer two-time middleweight champion with six title defenses an impressive record.
Robinson was never five-time world middleweight champion, despite what the record books says. He was two-time world champion at this weight. I take no pleasure in pointing this out, since Robinson is, in my view, the greatest boxer who ever lived and part of that greatness came in fights with Fullmer and Basilio, even if Robinson was over the hill.
Example two: Ray Leonard won the middleweight championship on a disputed split decision over all-time great Marvelous Marvin Hagler. Leonard nominally retired, but continued fighting, claiming the light heavyweight title (the WBC version) in a win over Donny LaLonde and drawing with Tommy Hearns. Leonard next fought Roberto Duran at the middleweight limit. Duran had claimed the title by winning the WBC version with a win over Iran Barkley in the 1989 fight of the year. However, Leonard was the linear champion and clarified it by defeating Duran.
During Leonard “retirement,” Hearns defeated Roldan over four rounds to win the WBC title. Since these two were the top contenders, this was the strongest claim to the title. Hearns lost his title to Barkley. Barkley had previously lost in a fight for the vacant WBA title against Sumbu Kalambay. Many claim that this strengthened the WBA line, but I disagree; Kalambay outpointed Barkley, but there was nothing in the victory that demonstrated that Kalambay was the best in the world. At any rate, Barkley lost the WBC title to Duran in 1989.
So why didn’t Duran lose his WBC title to Leonard? Early reports said the title would be on the line. But then we were told it wasn’t. When both weighed under the limit (Duran weighed 158 lbs and Leonard weighed 160 lbs), Jose Sulaiman, the president of the WBC said the title may in fact be on the line. A contract was signed stipulating that the title was not on the line (what was on the line was some such thing called a “supermiddleweight” title). Sulaiman said he would abide by the agreement. All that is irrelevant. It was a middleweight fight and Leonard was the linear champion. Terry Norris became world middleweight champion when he defeated linear champion Ray Leonard. And so on.
* * *
There is no standing eight count. If but for the ropes the fighter would have been knocked down, then the fighter has been knocked down, and a ten count (timed in one-second intervals) is started, stopped at the count of eight if the fighter remains standing.
There is no three-knockdown rule. If a fighter can keep getting up before the referee reaches the count of 10, and if the referee determines that the fighter is fit to continue, no arbitrary number of knockdowns shall prevent the fighter from continuing. It may just as easily be the case that after five knockdowns the fighter is as fit to continue as a fighter who has been knocked down only once.
There is no saving of a fighter by the bell in any round. If a fighter cannot rise before the count of 10, he shall be ruled knocked out and declared the loser. No fighter can ever be permitted to win a fight having failed to beat a 10 count.
