I have several questions about the belts.?

Question

1.How many times have the heavywieght belts been unified?

2. If they were unified before then why unifie them again?

3.What other belts in other wieght classes have been unified ?

4.How many times have the belts been unified(heavy,middle,light.ect,ect) ?

Thanks

Answer 1

1. The belts being unified or having a undisputed champion is different. Giving the fact that the IBF came during the 80's the 3 belts have been unified 2 official times(tyson,lewis) before that it was just someone would win the belts from somebody else after they have been unified and that doesn't count. You don't count vlad's unification because he doesn't have one of the WBC or WBA belts just the lightly regarded WBO.

2. Since lewis retired without losing his status as champion a unification between the wba and wbc is needed since technically he is still the champion of the two. He gave away the IBF due to red tape issues and it ended up going to chris byrd.. So really all vlad has to do is fight either peter or ruslan to claim the crown. he doesn't have to have all 3(wba,wbc,ibf) to become undisputed champ.

3.except for bantam and flyweight all the belts haev been unified at some point in time in every division

4. quite a few to really count. you could look at stats but they don't account for the WBO always nor do they look at interim unifications, or default belt holders, and that is very important when it comes to legitmacy in a unified champ.

Answer 2

1. The heavyweight belts have been unified many times, but the person who unifies them is rarely ever able to keep them because of mandatory defenses that they have to make for each title.

2.  We currently have a unifed champ in Wladimir Klitschko because he holds the WBO and IBF belts, but he is not considered the true champion yet.  The last true champion that we had in the heavyweight division was Lennox Lewis.  In order for Klitschko (the number 1 contender) to become the true champ he must face the number 2 contender, Samuel Peter.  This rematch/unification will give us the first lineal and true heavyweight champion since Lennox Lewis retired in 2004.

3. Belts have been unified in most divisions, but again, it is virtually impossible to hold all four of them because of mandatory defensed and sanctioning fees.

4. Same answer as #1 and #3.  Nowadays, when there are all of these sanctioning bodies that strip their fighters like band-aids, many fans such as myself only consider the Ring Magazine champions as the true champions because The Ring does not strip their fighters or have pointless mandatories.  The only way to lose the Ring title is by losing it in the ring, retiring, or moving to another weight division- this is the way that it used to be and this is the way that it should be, which is why I have the utmost respect for The Ring Magazine and its champions.  All of the other titleholders are considered just that- titleholders (but not true champions).