As any boxing fan knows the landscape of a division and the belt holders change regualrly. Frequently a fighter doesn't even have to be defeated to lose his belt, rather just not fight the guy one of the "alphabet" boxing organizations has deemed a worthy contender. Frequently that fighter is not the best available fight and the rankings are very subjective.

For example When Jermaine Taylor defeated Bernard Hopkins for the Middleweight Title(s) he was the undisputed champion. Yet without having lost he is now left with just the WBC and WBO Middleweight titles. The WBA Champion is now Javier Castillejo and the IBF Champion is now Arthur Abraham. Part of the reason for this is because Taylor chose to fight the very worthy and very dangerous Winky Wright, who one or both of the above mentioned bodies didn't have ranked as the #1 contender. The system is just corrupt. Frequently a fighters ability to be ranked by a Boxing body is just a matter of him paying (or not paying) sanctioning fees to the body (Ie. WBC, IBF, WBA, WBO etc.). If he doesn't he isn't ranked and evne though he may be the best fighter in the division and deserves a title shot, he won't get it.

This trend is nothing new it's been going on for years. Back when Riddick Bowe defeated Evander Holyfield for the Heavyweight title it was the Undisputed belt, but Bowe ended up throwing out (literally into a garbage can) the WBC belt to avoid Lennox Lewis but kept both the WBA and IBF belts. While I applaude the WBC for trying to make Bowe fight a deserving contender the WBA and IBF should have followed suit as Bowes subsequent defenses were against Michale Dokes and Jesse Ferguson fighters presumably ranked highly by the IBF and WBA, but no where near the calibur of fighter as Lewis.  Each sanctioning body has their own ranking system and they almost never look anything alike. A fighter ranked #1 in the WBC may be ranked #15 in the IBF and unranked all together in the WBA.. The system is terrible and is one of the biggest problems with boxing today. There shouldn't be 4 different champions in each division. There shouldn't need to be talks of a unifacation bout. At a time when promoters are trying to find ways to draw in new fans, sell PPV fights and fill seats having truely undisputed champions would be a great start. If the rankings were consistent among the 4 big sanctioning bodies, and mandatory challengers were consistent, it would force the champions to fight deserving challengers and bring excitement back to the sport reguardless of weight class.

The only belt that doesn't follow this logic is the "Ring Magazine" championship. It generally follows the linear path (ie. the last guy to beat "The Guy"). In my mind unless you beat the champ (retirement being the exception to the rule) you aren't the real champ. It's a shame that even when unifacation bouts come up for discussion, they rarely materialize. Until the sport get some sort of uniformity and consistency it will continue to struggle to keep fans interested.

I'll close with a Quote from ESPN's Dan Rafael in is Heavy Weight Rankings:

John Ruiz (41-6-1)
The former titlist got married in Puerto Rico a couple of weeks ago. Naturally, he promised to have and to hold (and hold and hold and hold and hold) his new wife.

1- Floyd Mayweather Jr. - (Welterweight) - Unbeaten and so far no one has been a real threat to beat him. you can't argue with success. Opponents I'd like to see : Ricky Hatton, Oscar DeLa Hoya, Shane Mosely

2- Joe Calzaghe - (Super Middleweight) - Another unbeaten fighter who solidifies the #2 spot after his destruction of Jeff Lacy. Opponents I'd like to see: Mikkel Kessler, Antonio Tarver

3- Ronald "Winky" Wright - (Middleweight) - Slick South Paw is hard to beat and is scheduled to fight Jermain Taylor. Opponents I'd Like to see: Arthur Abraham, Felix Sturm

4- Jermain Taylor - (Middleweight) - Unbeaten fighter who twice beat Bernard Hopkins. Fight with Winky Wright should be a big test for this young fighter. Opponents I'd Like to see: Arthur Abraham,  Joe Calzaghe

5- Ricky Hatton - (Welterweight) - Unbeaten Brittish fighter could be Mayweathers biggest threat if a match ever happens. Opponents I'd like to see: Floyd Mayweather, Arturo Gatti

6- Manny Pacquiao - (Super Featherweight) - Has beaten Barrea and Morales. A rubber match with Morales is next. Opponents I'd like to see: Marco Antonio Barrera, Diego Corrales

7- Marco Antonio Barrera - (Super Featherweight) - One of the best all time at his weight. A recent draw changed to a victory over Rocky Juarez puts Barrera at #7. Opponents I'd Like to see: Manny Pacquiao, Juan Manuel Marquez

8- Oscar De La Hoya - (Light Middleweight) - A dominating KO in his return bout showed that Oscar still has what it takes. He only has 1 or 2 fights left before he calls it quits. Opponents I'd like to see: Felix Trinidad, Floyd Mayweather

9- Juan Diaz - (Lightweight) - Unbeaten champ breaks into the top 10 with his win over Jose Miguel Cotto. A young fighter with a ton of potential. Opponents I'd like to see: Diego Corrales, Acelino Freitas

10- Antonio Tarver - (Light Heavyweight) - The Ring Champion is the uncrowned champ of the Lt. Heavyweight division. A title shot or a move to a different weight division looks likely. Opponents I'd like to see: Joe Calzaghe, Glen Johnson, O'Neil Bell

In the past the Heavyweight division of professional boxing has produced some of the most well known and dominate fighters of their respective era's. Fighters such as Muhammad Ali, Joe Louis, Rocky Marciano, Joe Frazier, Larry Holmes,  and Mike Tyson were well known, dominant and unquestionably reguarded as THE Heavyweight Champion of the World.  Unfortunately anyone who has been paying attention to boxing in the past few years has seen multiple "champions" thanks to the greed and power struggle between the many sanctioning bodies within the sport. The four largest being the WBC, WBA, IBF, and WBO (in no particular order).  Fighters no longer have to "beat the man, to be the man", and are instead simply awarded belts that they never earned.Take a look at todays Heavyweight division. The champions and contenders (who are ranked subjectively by above mentioned sanctioning bodies) are a list of has beens, nobodys, and hopefulls with no clear cut front runner among them.

The Longest reigning and possibly best known champion is Hasim Rahman who won the WBC belt in August of 2005 by defeating Monte Barrett when then-champion Vitali Klitschko announced his retirement. Rahman is best known for his upset of Lennox Lewis (arguably the last linear and legitimate champion) in 2001. In his career Rahman has been knocked out by David Tua, Oleg Maskaev, and Lennox Lewis as well as managing to lose to a 39 year old Evander Holyfield (who was dominated in his 3 subsequent fights), and was embarassed by then WBA champ John Ruiz. Most recently Rahman defended his portion of the Heavyweight title against James Toney and despite a suprising motivated effort by Rahman, the fight ended in a draw.  I personally had the fight scored 116-112 in favor of Rahman, but against antalented but overweight former Middleweight champion the fight should have been all Rahman. Rahman must face mandatory challenger Oleg Maskaev in August. The bottom line as far as Hasim Rahman is concerned is that he has the skills to be a very good fighter when he is motivated, but he will never be a great fighter, just look at his fight against John Ruiz if you need proof. 

Next up is Wladimir Klitschko the newly crowned IBF champion.  Wladimir is the younger brother of former WBC champ Vitali Klitschko who was looked at as the "next big thing" until a 2nd Rd. TKO defeat to Corrie Sanders in 2003. Wladimir followed that loss with two quick KO's of lightly reguarded opponets before having is "glass jaw" exposed in the 5th Rd. against Lamon Brewster. Wladimir earned a shot at Chris Byrd's IBF belt by outpointing then unbeaten Samuel Peter in September 2005. The title fight between Byrd and Klitschko was even more one sided than their 1st bout in 2000 (a unanimous decision for Klitschko) as the light punching Byrd (now 6 years slower at age 35) was dominated by Klitschko until Byrd was TKO'd in the 7th Rd.  Klitschko's dominance of Byrd was not a suprise as Byrd is a soft puncher (his last KO victory came in 2002) as well as being undersized.  Klitschko has been stopped three times in his career two of the times being mentioned above, and the thrid by journeyman  Ross Puritty (who sports a 30-19-3 record). Klitschko is probably the most physically gifted of the current champions and unlike many Heavyweights he has some real boxing skills. He stands 6 feet 6 inches tall and was given the nickname "Steel Hammer" for a reason. Since taking on Emmanuel Steward as his trainer his style in the ring has been similar to that which Lennox Lewis used effecively. The bottom line with Klitschko is that he has the tools to become a dominant fighter, if he continues to use his height and left jab effectively. The biggest question about him is his stamina and ability to stand up to the bigger punchers in the division. If Klitschko paces himslef during his fights and uses the left jab to keep a safe distance between his suspect chin and his opponets he should be tough to beat.

While there aren't many suprises  about Rahman or Klitschko the current WBA Champion Nikolay Valuev is a bit more of an unknown.  Valuev stands at towering 7 feet tall and weighs in at over 300lbs. Of the 4 champions he is the only undefeated fighter. Valuev won his belt by defeating John Ruiz in December 2005. The first question about Valuev has got to be the quality of his past opposition. Valuev has 43-0 record with 31 KO's and he has been fighting since 1993. However, all of his fights have been in Europe and until recently his fights were against guys that the average boxing fan had never heard of.  His biggest wins to date are against John Ruiz, Larry Donald, and Cliff Etienne, all of whom are 2nd or 3rd tier fighters at best. Lets face it John Ruiz has as much boxing skill as Valuev has back hair. Much like Klitschko, Valuev could be tough to beat if he uses his size to his advantage he can make things difficult for his opponents. His size is his biggest asset as Valuev has rather suspect boxing skills, and against better competition he could be exposed as the 2nd coming of Michael Grant. Valuev's next opponent is once promising fighter Owen "What the Heck" Beck who is relatively undeserving of a title shot. The bottom line with Valuev is that he is a giant man and he is relatively unknown and untested. It should become apparent fairly quickly whether or not he's the real deal as he steps up his level of competition.

Lastly there is WBO champion Serguei Lyakhovich who recently defeated Lamon Brewster in by decison in April 2004 to wrest the WBO strap from Brewster.  Lyakhovich has a 23-1 record with 14 KO's and is largely unknown to fans outside of Europe. Lyakhovich was an underdog coming into his fight with Brewster and his lone defeat came by KO at the hands of journeyman Maurice Harris. Like Valuev most of Lyakhovich's opponents have been unknown fighters and his 2 most significant victories are wins over Brewster and Dominick Guinn. He fought an exciting fight against Brewster but Brewster is not known for his ability to win fights that go to the score cards.  Lyakhovich's  60% KO rate against what has been suspect competition until recently indicates that he may not have the one punch KO power possessed by the other 3 champions and that doesn't bode well for his potential to draw many fans at the heavyweight level (especially with 2 other European title holders).  Of the 4 current champions Lyakhovich  is my pick to lose his title first, he is a solid technical fighter but lacks  power as well as experience against top level competition. His 1^st defense is against the lightly regarded Owen Beck who was probably as shocked to get the fight as anyone else.

A quick look at the best of the rest:

1- James Toney - 69-4-3 (43KO) - Former multidivision title holder beat Ruiz for but failed a drug test and fought to a Draw with Rahman.and holds victories over Rydell Booker, Dominick Guinn, and Evander Holyfield. Toney is unbeaten as a heavyweight, if actually got into shape for his fights he might be a real threat to a weak division.

2- Lamon Brewster - 33-3-0 (29KO) - Former WBO champ holds KO victories over Wladmir Klitschko and Andrew Golota. Brewster is a KO artist and a fun fighter to watch. Look for him to seek a rematch with Lyakhovich  after his eye heals or challenge for one of the other belts. His biggest weakness is that he relies too much on a KO victory to win the fight and often falls  behind in the score cards.

3- Calvin Brock - 28-0 (22KO) - By far the most promising young fighter in the division. He has KO power and he can box. I have seen very little that Brock does not do well. He is one of the best rounded fighters in the division. The only knock on him at this point is a lack of wins over quality fighters (Jameel McCline is his biggest name to date). If he beats Timur Ibragimov in his next fight he could be looking at a title shot.

4- Samuel Peter -26-1 (22KO) - By far the best one punch KO power in the division. Reminds me alot of David Tua early in his career. He has some of the same weaknesses as Tua and may struggle against a skilled boxer who can avoid the big punch. If he has learned from his mistakes in the Kilitschko fight he has a chance to be great. If he keeps winning he should get a title shot in late 2006 or early 2007.

5- Chris Byrd – 39-3-1 (20KO) – At 35 years old he’s not nearly as illusive as he used to be. As an undersized heavyweight who has little to no KO Power against quality opponents (only 2 KO’s in the past 6 yrs against suspect opposition) it’s not a good sign when he can no longer make the big guys miss. He’s a former IBF and WBO champion but he has little to no drawing power for PPV’s, and while he usually fights smart, it’s rarely interesting. Byrd my consider retirement after his KO loss to Klitschko.

6- Shannon Briggs – 46-4-1 (40KO) – Briggs is a former Olympian and has had shot at the Heavyweight title in 1998 when Lennox Lewis was champ. Briggs has been out of the spotlight for several years and has been racking up wins for lesser known belts. He has great power (40 KO’s in 51 fights) and with the lack of serious talent in the division Briggs could make a push to get back into the title picture in the next year. He is only 34 years old and is a legitimate threat to any of the fighters ranked ahead of him.

7-Oleg Maskaev – 32-5 (25KO) – At 37 years old his match with Rahman (who he knocked out in their 1^st meeting) is likely his last shot at a major title. Maskaev has good power but a questionable chin as all 5 of his losses have come by KO  (3 of them before Rd. 5). A weak chin in a division full of big punchers is not a recipe for long term success. His 10 straight wins coming into his match with Rahman are against B rate fighters or worse.

8- Danny Williams – 36-4 (29KO) – Williams is best known for his upset of  Mike Tyson in 2004. Despite the fact that he was a shadow of his former self, a win over Tyson was enough to get Williams a shot at Vitali Klitschko’s WBC title. Williams showed guts and a strong chin during the fight despite taking a savage beating in the failed attempt. Williams has decent power and is a capable fighter. Wins over previously unbeaten Matt Skelton and Audley Harrison have pushed Williams back into contention. If Williams wins his rematch with Skelton in July he definitely would deserve a shot at one of the champions. I would like to see Lyakhovich Vs. Williams.

9- Monte Barrett 31-4 (17KO) – Barrett is a sound technical fighter with decent punching power. He is most likely a “gate keeper” for younger fighters and will need a win or two over some solid opponents to get back into the title hunt.  Barrett took the highly touted and unbeaten Joe Mesi to the limit in 2003 knocking him down for the 1^st time in his career, and has victories of then highly regarded fighters Dominick Guinn and Owen Beck. His recent loss to Hasim Rahman was likely his best shot at a major title. Barrett is a good fighter and by no means a easy opponent for anyone in the division.

10- John Ruiz- 41-6-1 (28KO) – If there was any other signs of life within the Heavyweight division Ruiz wouldn’t even be ranked. Without a doubt he has the worst ring style of any former champion in recent memory. Ruiz Won the WBA belt with a rematch victory over an ancient Evander Holyfield (who had beaten him in the previous fight, and fought him to a draw in their rubber match) and managed to lose the belt to Roy Jones and James Toney (both former Middleweight champions) in decisive fashions only to have the belt handed back to him. He was given a gift of a decision over Andrew Golota (who I had winning the fight 116-113) and lost to Valuev in December. Ruiz’s ring style resembles a wrestling #### with Parkinson’s and he is ranked only because of his status as a former champion and a lack of other contenders.

Others to watch -

Joe Mesi- Unbeaten, but returning from a major head injury, a ton of potential but he’s rusty and I really hope this guy doesn’t get hurt.

Brian Minto – A very fun fighter to watch with great power has only 1 loss, needs to fight better opponents if he wants to get to the next level

David Tua- Former contender with 1 punch KO power, inactive lately and limited by lack of boxing skill

Tye Fields- Southpaw who has only 1 loss, but has yet to be tested, fighting style may hinder his ability to get some fights

 Dominick Guinn- Former elite prospect has potential but hasn’t been able to win when it counts

Juan Carlos Gomez- Only 1 loss, a good fighter who may be ready to take some bigger fights