Who the heck is the real champion?

Once upon a time there was only one champion in a given weight division. Once upon a time, there were only 7 weight divisions, which mean there were only 7 world recognized champions at that time. Back in the day when you talk about the middleweight champion of the world, the whole world thinks about Sugar Ray Robinson. When people say "Featherweight champion of the world" they think of "Flash Elorde". When people talk about the heavyweight champion of the world, they talk about Rocky Marciano, Sonny Liston or Muhammad Ali, etc.

One champion in a weight division in a given time.

But those days are long gone. Now there are already fifteen weight divisions. Four major sanctioning bodies and multiple other minor sanctioning bodies and one major boxing publication that gives the lineal title.

Nowadays, if we talk about the welterweight champion of the world, we're not only talking about one person, but four persons. And those are Andre Berto who holds the WBC belt, Isaac Hlatshwayo the IBF welterweight champion, Miguel Angel Cotto the WBO welterweight title holder, Sugar Shane Mosley and Vyacheslav Senchenko both hold WBA world welterweight titles and the Ring Magazine Lineal Championship is vacant.

Say what?! Who's the WBA welterweight champion again??? It's Sugar Shane Mosely and Vyacheslav Senchenko.

Yeah, you heard it right! There are two men holding WBA world titles at welterweight.

I know it is confusing enough for a casual boxing fan to think about multiple champions from different sanctioning bodies in a given weight division. But having multiple champions in the same sanctioning body in a given weight division, even a regular boxing fan can get confused!

Who is the WBA superflyweight champion? Is it Vic Darchinyan? Nonito Donaire? Or Nobuo Noshiro?

What about the WBA featherweight champion? Is it Yurokis Gamboa or Chris John?

What about the WBA lightweight champion? Is it Juan Manuel Marquez? Michael Katsidis? Or unbeaten Paulus Montes?

What about the WBC?! Who the heck is WBC super featherweight champion?
Is it Humberto Sotto or Humberto Mauro Gutierrez?

What about the WBO?! Who the heck is WBO super welterweight champion? Is it Sergiy Dzinziruk or Paul Williams?

I could go on and on, and the more I go on, the more it will confuse the boxing fans regarding these multiple world champions!

But let's break this down and try to make sense out of all these multiple champions in the same Sanctioning body in a given weight division.

You have to realize that the sanctioning bodies are business entities. Which means the more title they give out, the more "sanctioning fees" they can collect! That is the same reason why the WBC is now giving the "WBC Diamond Belt" which is in line in the Miguel Cotto vs Manny Pacquiao fight other than Miguel's WBO welterweight title.

The WBA, WBO, and the WBC, do have multiple world champions in a given weight division within the same sanctioning body. And we're just talking about "world titles" here, not to mention the"International", "Intercontinental", "Continental" and "Regional" titles that these bodies sanction.

So, what the heck are those multiple "world titles" for? Why can't there just be one world champion in a sanctioning body?

As I've said earlier, these sanctioning bodies get their income by collecting sanctioning fees from their champions. Therefore, WBA, WBC, and WBO have "Interim World Champions". These interim world champions also pays "sanction fees" just like the "regular world champions" do. And what the heck are the interim world champions are for? Well, these interim world champions are there, so that if the "regular champion"failed to fight his "mandatory defense" or failed to pay the "sanctioning fees", then the "Interim World Champion" can step up to take the "regular world champion". So basically, it’s a "back-up" system for these sanctioning bodies to keep earning "sanctioning fees".

Hence the WBO and WBC have the "Interim" and "Regular" World Champions per weight division.

Such is the case with Sugar Shane Mosley the "regular" WBA World Welterweight Champion, and Vyacheslav Senchenko the "interim" WBA World Welterweight Champion.

Same is true with the WBC he's got the regular super featherweight champion Humberto Sotto and an interim super featherweight champion Humberto Mauro Gutierrez.

WBO on the other hand has Paul Williams and Sergiy Dzinziruk as its "regular" and "interim" champions, respectively.

Alright, I could understand having an "interim champion and a regular champion" but why the heck does WBA has three lightweight and three super flyweight champions?!

Ah! Good question!

Apparently, the WBA created another category of champion called the "Super Champion".

What the heck is the SUPER CHAMPION?

It is said that the Super champion is a champion who is holding or has held a title or titles from other sanctioning body/ies or other respected title giving organizations (such as the Ring Magazine for its' Lineal title), through a "title unification".

Let's take the case of Juan Manuel Marquez, Miguel Acosta and Paulus Montes, all WBA lightweight champions.

Juan Manuel Marquez, when he defeated Juan Diaz, the vacant WBO and WBA titles, as well as the Ring Magazine Lineal title (he won from Joel Casamayor) was on the line. When he won and got the three titles, the WBA considered him as their "Super Champion" for he is the holder of the three belts in the lightweight division. Miguel Accosta is then the WBA interim lightweight world champion, and Paulus Montes is the
WBA "regular" lightweight world champion.

Let's take another example in both undefeated Chris John and Yurokis Gamboa. When Chris John defeated Juan Manuel Marquez, Marquez was the unified IBF and WBA featherweight champion. When Chris John took those titles he became the WBA "featherweight super world champion" because he held two belts in that weight division. And now, even though Chris John relinquished his IBF title, he is still considered the WBA "super champion" for the featherweight division, and Yurokis Gamboa as the
WBA "regular" featherweight world champion.

Same is true with Vic Darchinyan (who also holds the WBC title and held the IBF super flyweight title), Nonito Donaire and Nobuo Nashiro; they are the WBA superflyweight super world champion, interim worldchampion and regular world champion, respectively.

What the heck is the Ring Magazine Lineal World Championship?

Let's look at what the Wikipedia has to say:

In 2002, The Ring attempted to clear up the confusion regarding world champions by creating a championship policy. It echoed many critics' arguments that the sanctioning bodies in charge of boxing championships had undermined the sport by pitting undeserving contenders against undeserving "champions", and forcing the boxing public to see mismatches for so-called "world championships". The Ring attempts to be more authoritative and open than the sanctioning bodies' rankings, with a page devoted to full explanations for ranking changes. A fighter pays no sanctioning fees to defend or fight for the title at stake, contrary to practices of the sanctioning bodies. Furthermore, a fighter cannot be stripped of the title unless he loses, decides to move up in weight, or retires.

There are currently only two ways that a boxer can win The Ring's title: defeat the reigning champion; or win a box-off between the magazine's number-one and number-two rated contenders (or, sometimes, number-one and number-three rated). A vacant Ring championship is filled when the number-one contender in a weight-division battles the number-two contender or the number-three contender (in cases where The Ring determines that the number-two and number-three contenders are close in abilities and records).

The Ring's championship policy has gained the acceptance of outlets in North America such as ESPN and, to an extent, HBO; as well as being mentioned by the BBC in the United Kingdom.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Ring_(magazine)

In professional boxing, the lineal championship of a weight class is a national world championship title. It is initially held at some moment in time by a boxer universally acclaimed as the best in the class. Another boxer can only win the lineal championship by defeating the reigning lineal champion in the ring. The lineal champion is described
As "the man who beat the man".

The concept was developed by boxing fans dissatisfied by the tendency of each of the various sanctioning bodies (WBC, WBA, IBF, etc.) to recognize different champions, and in particular to strip a champion of his title for refusing to fight its top-ranked contender. Prior to the 1970s, this rarely happened; the National Boxing Association (NBA) and the New York State Athletic Commission (NYSAC) sometimes recognized different champions, but there was usually only a short interval before one champion defeated the other. The "lineal championship" is intended as a return to that era. Several top boxers have specified holding the lineal championship as a personal accomplishment (e.g. Lennox Lewis,) or goal (e.g. Nate Campbell).

An issue in the implementation of a "lineal championship" is what to do if the lineal champion retires, or dies, or moves to a different weight class. Different ways of resolving this vacancy mean the "lineal championship" may itself be subject to dispute. In the NBA/NYSAC era, a title vacancy was generally filled by having a box-off between 2, 4, or even more top-ranked contenders. Since the modern lineal championship is merely a national title tracked by fans, there is no money or organization to arrange such box-offs, and there may not be consensus on who the top contenders are.

The Ring, boxing's most respected magazine, has its own version of the lineal championship. In 2007, The Ring was acquired by the owners of fight promoter Golden Boy Promotions, which has publicized the Ring's world championship when this is at stake in fights it promotes, such as Joe Calzaghe vs. Roy Jones, Jr. in 2008. Further information: List of The Ring world champions

The Cyber Boxing Zone website maintains its own lists of lineal champions.

Another criticism of the lineal championship is that a fighter may defend it against inferior opponents. For example, George Foreman was considered lineal champion from 1994 till 1997, when Shannon Briggs beat him. After the WBA and IBF stripped him of their titles in 1994, he fought only two minor opponents before Briggs. The lineal champion is not necessarily the boxer viewed as the best.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lineal_championship

Then what the heck is the WBC Diamond Belt?!

WBC came up with the idea of awarding a "belt" for a mega-bout between two world-class fighters fighting at a "catchweight" such as the case with the up and coming bout between Manny Pacquiao versus Miguel Angel Cotto. Although the bout is in the welterweight division, both fighters agreed to officially weigh-in at a "catchweight" of 145lbs instead of the usual welterweight limit of 147. Whoever wins that bout shall be awarded the WBC Diamond Belt, which would mean additional income for the WBC for sanctioning fee.

I hope this helped clear up the confusion. Although having all these champions per weight divisions would seem beneficial to these sanctioning bodies by earning more income, but I feel like its hurting boxing rather than doing more good to the sport. Multiple champions per weight divisions take a lot of the prestige of being a champion. It generates more confusion to regular fans.