Too many belts, too many champions in boxing
Floyd Mayweather Jr once said, “Boxing is tainted. There are too many belts, too many champions.”
Mayweather’s words somewhat point towards some facts as there are four sanctioning bodies namely World boxing Council (WBC), World Boxing Association (WBA), World Boxing organistaion (WBO) and International Boxing Federation (IBF) and 96 title belts across these bodies.
Vijender Singh, unbeaten so far, would be fighting for WBO Asia Title bout only nine months after making his professional boxing debut.
This is because while there are only 17 weight divisions, the WBA and WBC often have multiple champions in each category.
For instance, the WBA has super champion, a regular champion, a silver champion (formerly the interim champion) and a diamond champion (an honorary title awarded to winners of a historic fight between elite boxers).
On the other side, the WBO has only one champion in each of 17 professional weight division.
In addition to World title each of the major sanctioning bodies sanctions a number of belts.
The WBO has 15 regional affiliates which award belts for Africa, Asia Pacific, Asia Pacific Youth, China Zone, European, Intercontinental, Latino, NABO, NABO Youth and Oriental in addition to world belts.
354
There are 354 belts in all in each weight division (including mirror sanctioning bodies and regional titles) according to Boxrec.
255
The WBO sanctiones 255 belts across regional affiliates and weight divisions.
6018
So if Vijender Singh wins his title bout in April, he would hold one of these 255 titles and one of the estimated 6018 belts world wide.
