Some of the other fans in the boxing ring did not think that the interim titles were actual World Titles — they were the belts that were handed out when the champion was not active (often injured).
Boxing has so many belts because they generate hype and, therefore, revenue for the sport. The belt system of boxing allows light promoters to behave as though the fight is far more impressive than it truly is, and this increases the likelihood that people will pay to watch it and purchase merchandise.
There are also other governing bodies, like the WBU (World Boxing Union) and IBO (International Boxing Organization), that declare their belt holders to be the world champions, however, their belts are considered interim titles. International Boxing Federation 4 and the WBU are also becoming known for their world championships however, many boxing fans believe four recognized governing bodies are more than enough for boxing.
These are 4 of the main boxing sanctioning bodies called the IBF, WBA, WBO, and WBC respectively, and all of them have their own belts.
If a boxer holds a WBO title, in addition to any other organization’s belts, he is declared Super World Champion. In professional boxing, an undisputed champion in a weight class is the boxer who holds the world titles from all of the major sanctioning organizations at the same time.
Super Champions Are The Superest
If you have ever seen a weight class with both a regular WBA champion and a super champion of the WBA, devoted boxing fans would consider only the super champion the true King, since he holds the highest version of their title. In this instance, the boxing fans are accepting that they are kings because Anthony Joshua holds the other legitimate belts along with his championship — just like Joshua does right now. When a fighter holds an IBO belt alone (such as Chris Eubank Jr), many boxing fans refuse to accept their champion as legit.
Even when a fighter holds the IBO belt, he is not considered to be a real champion if he does not hold the belt of another major organization, too. When a fighter does indeed earn an undisputed champions belt, that is an enormous achievement and one to be celebrated, as they have effectively defeated the best talent in their division.
To summarize, there are far too many organizations, and far too many world champions in each division, leading to far too many belts to hold on the feet of the sport of boxing. Another reason behind the alarming amount of championship belts is the number of divisions within professional boxing.
Fans Are Always Excited About World Title Fights
Generally speaking, fans are always hyped up about each and every world title fight, and they view the boxing belts from every organization as a premier title. Overall, WBC championship belts are considered by most boxing audiences to be the most prestigious and well-respected titles.
The World Boxing Council (WBC) is generally considered to be the most prestigious of the world titles, being the belt that every fighter wants. The WBC championship is considered to be the most respected belt in boxing since so many fighters such as Floyd Mayweather, Muhammad Ali, Sugar Leonard, and others are expected to be wearing it.
There are some sanctioning bodies who also give out belts which are not necessarily given the same importance by the industry and fans, this includes organizations such as WBC, the WBU (World Boxing Union), the IBU (International Boxing Union), WBF (World Boxing Federation) and others.
All these organizations do award belts and categorize fighters, but it is the major sanctioning bodies that receive the most attention, and really, anyone is not truly considered a champion in their division by fans and media in general, if they do not have a title shot at any of the major belts. There are the major sanctioning bodies, the WBA WBC IBF WBO, and usually, when we speak about a champion undisputed or a lineal champion, that is when referring to a boxer that is been able to win all four of those belts within the division.
The Undisputed Meaning of the Undisputed Title
Undisputed This is slightly easier to grasp since this is a boxer who is currently holding a belt from the WBA, WBC, WBO, WBC, and Ring magazine. A fighter holding a title, like WBA, that holds another, like WBC, or has unified a division, taking WBC, WBA, and IBFs WBA IBF, e.g. Under the rules for the WBA Championship, when the champion also holds the title of either boxing federation at the same weight class, the fighter is granted special credit for being the Unified Champion. A unified champion is defined as a boxer who holds at least two world titles from major sanctioning bodies (WBA, WBC, IBF, or WBO) in the relevant division.
Boxers frequently fight in different weight classes in order to maximize their chances for success, with Manny Pacquiao currently being the only fighter to have won titles in eight divisions. It gets a bit tricky when a fighter holds more than one belt since there can be different mandatory fighters for each organization. For example, Anthony Joshua holds four world titles belts, and each organization is pushing for its contender to fight Joshua next, and regardless of which contender he fights, all of the belts are still up for grabs.
The great Floyd Mayweather said that the boxing game just needs a change, singling out the WBA for their absurd system of WBA super, regular, and interim world titles. The amount of belts and champions in the sport has left BOXING legend Floyd Mayweather fuming, saying that it needs cleaning up because it is detrimental to the sport. The WBA recently announced their own champion belts for the gold, too, but we will do what any other boxing fan would do and simply ignore that.