[Boxing] How many main title belts are there?

[Herbal]

Watching the Hatton fight yesterday got me thinking :doh:

It seems that every title match i watch now they have at least 2 or 3 belts each. Now how many MAIN belts are there, as anyone can win a belt it seems nowadays.

[Fever Dawg]

Woe betide anybody who gives the wrong answer.

:nono:

[simonmac]

International Boxing Association
International Boxing Council
International Boxing Federation
International Boxing Organization
International Boxing Union
World Boxing Association
World Boxing Council
World Boxing Federation
World Boxing Organization
World Boxing Union

(According to Wiki)

[Ravioli]

Main 4 are WBA, WBC, IBF and WBO rest are worthless. Some are seen as more prestigous at different weights than others (depending who held the belt in the past I guess).

[Herbal]

Why do they have so many belts? And i asume they have in the main 4 all the tiers aswell.

Has anyone held the main 4 at the same time in their weight division?

[GregB]

Why do they have so many belts? And i asume they have in the main 4 all the tiers aswell.

Has anyone held the main 4 at the same time in their weight division?
They have so many belts for one reason - $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

People did used to have unidsputed titles but as you can imagine politics and money make that a very diffuclt task nowadays.

[damell]

It's the thing I hate most about boxing. They need to get the belts unified to show who the true #1 fighters are in each division.

[LiviLion]

It's the thing I hate most about boxing. They need to get the belts unified to show who the true #1 fighters are in each division.

I agree, IIRC Tyson was undisputed champion for a while.

I'm not a huge boxing fan and only ever really watched Heavyweight but when Tyson first appeared on the scene he really was something else. It would have been strange for him not to be the undisputed champion when there was no-one close to him.

Fairly sure Lewis managed it for a short period of time too. Not in Tyson's class IMO though.

[Ravioli]

Think Lewis only held two belts at any one time and even then he had to drop one when he wouldn't fight their no. 1 contender. Bit of a problem really if all the associations have a different no. 1 contender :shrug:

[Pisces Iscariot]

It used to be considered that the WBA and WBC were the most prestigious as they are the oldest then the IBF and then the WBO but among boxing fans belts don't really mean a lot any more as there are far too many organisations and far too much politics. The Ring magazine championship belt and ratings are generally regarded more highly than those of the various sanctioning bodies.

The only purpose of the IBO belt was so they could have a 12 round fight and market it as a 'World title fight.' Of more importance was that Hatton is the Linear and Ring Champion.

[alanjay]

I can confirm there are 4 main alphabet titles:

WBC, WBA, WBO and IBF.

Unification is made somewhat difficult by the fact that the champion/holder of one belt is not ranked by the others.

[Maximus]

I can confirm there are 4 main alphabet titles:

WBC, WBA, WBO and IBF.

Unification is made somewhat difficult by the fact that the champion/holder of one belt is not ranked by the others.

It's okay everyone it's now been comfirmed! ;)

Sorry couldn't resist.

The belt situation is one of the main reasons that put me off getting into boxing more, just makes a mockery of the sport.

[Fat Bloke]

I can confirm there are 4 main alphabet titles:

WBC, WBA, WBO and IBF.

Unification is made somewhat difficult by the fact that the champion/holder of one belt is not ranked by the others.

Don't worry, other people had already given the correct answer. :|