Ranking the Worst Belt-Holders in Boxing Today
None of the boxers on this list are bad boxers. Even in our era of alphabet-soup absurdity, nobody is just walking off the street and getting belts handed to him.
To become any variety of world champion is an achievement.
But in an era without true, unified champions, it's important to draw attention to the fact that not everybody billed as a world champion really deserves to be one. In a different era, the fighters on this list still would have held the dignified title of "contender" instead of a manufactured championship crown.
I haven't even considered "interim" champions for this ranking. But I have included WBA "regular" champions. The WBA's outrageous insistence on creating "super" world champions and "regular' world champions is a particular affront to common sense and always deserves to be mocked.
8. Orlando Salido, WBO Super Featherweight Champion
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I want to be clear. Orlando Salido has been one of my favorite fighters to watch over the past several years. He's an all-action fighter, and his rise from hard-knocks prospect to world champion is inspiring.
But Salido is 34 and has been a professional for 18 years. At this point, he's seen better days. The high point of his career came in 2010 and 2011, when he stopped undefeated phenom, Juan Manuel Lopez, twice by TKO.
Salido still had enough guile to give Vasyl Lomachenko a crash course in professional prizefighting earlier this year. But Salido never even tried to make weight and came in nearly two weight classes above Lomachenko. He also fought a rough, dirty fight.
Lomachenko was still able to make adjustments and come on strong against Salido in the last part of the fight. Granted, Lomachenko is an elite talent. But it was also just his second professional fight.
Salido is still a warrior through and through. He captured the vacant WBO super featherweight title in September, overcoming three knockdowns in a potential Fight of the Year against Terdsak Kokietgym, to win by Round 11 TKO.
Kokietgym is a veteran, but he's typical of a variety of boxers from Thailand who pads their records heavily with mediocre journeymen and even debuting novices. If he had faced Salido three years ago, I don't think the fight would have been anywhere near the war it was this year.
7. Mickey Bey, IBF Lightweight Champion
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Out of all the fighters on this list, Mickey Bey has the biggest upside. Then again, he's not exactly a kid. At 31, he's past the age of a traditional prospect.
I thought his victory over Miguel Vazquez for the IBF belt was a horrible decision. I don't see how it was possible for Robert Hoyle to give Bey 11 of 12 rounds. If Vazquez was not a defense-oriented fighter, largely decried by fans as boring, I suspect there would have been far more outrage about the outcome.
Bey is certainly not a bad fighter, and perhaps he'll continue to grow into his new belt. But I'd rank at least five or six fighters above him at 135 pounds, just off the top of my head. That makes him a weak champion, in my book.
6. Cornelius Bundrage, IBF Light Middleweight Title
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I'm always happy when another fighter in the 40-and-over club wins a world title. So Cornelius Bundrage's title-winning victory over Carlos Molina this year certainly made me smile.
But there's no question that the IBF belt has become a "B" level title in the 154-pound weight class. Pound-for-pound king Floyd Mayweather is the lineal champion and holds the WBC and WBA belts.
Meanwhile, the IBF belt has become a hot potato among fighters in the lower end of the division's top 10. Bundrage captured it from Corey Spinks in 2010 and held it until Ishe Smith took it from him in February 2013.
Smith dropped the belt to Molina in his first defense and Molina dropped it to Bundrage in his first. These three are all talented, world-class professionals. But I wouldn't place one of them in the division's top five.
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5. Lamont Peterson, IBF Light Welterweight Champion
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Lamont Peterson's IBF light welterweight belt might be the most meaningless title in the entire sport. And that is saying a lot, considering the way the WBA tosses around belts.
Peterson came by the belt under dodgey circumstances. In December 2011 he beat Amir Khan in a controversial fight in his own hometown of Washington D.C., by split decision. Khan lost two points on questionable refereeing decisions, and even with the deductions, I still thought the Brit won the fight.
In the immediate aftermath, Peterson held both the WBA and IBF titles. But when he tested positive for synthetic testosterone prior to a rematch, the WBA stripped him and gave the belt back to Khan. The IBF let Peterson remain in place as its champion.
After his suspension, Peterson returned to stop an over-the-hill Kendall Holt. Then, in May 2013, Peterson got completely steamrolled by Lucas Matthysse, losing in three rounds.
But since it was a non-title fight, Peterson has remained as the champion. He's beaten inexperienced Dierry Jean and journeyman Edgar Santana since.
There's a good argument for having Peterson in the top five at 140 pounds. But his belt is worthless. The IBF actually has Matthysse rated third at light welterweight, even though he holds a dominating win over its current champion.
That's the best current example out there for the kind of absurdity we are asked to swallow in the age of alphabet-soup shenanigans.
4. Arthur Abraham, WBO Super Middleweight Champion
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Arthur Abraham is one of the toughest and gutsiest fighters of the past decade. But at this point, he's a world champion in name alone. The WBO 168-pound belt has little value as a title.
Abraham took the belt from Robert Stieglitz in 2012 after failing to win the Super Six Super Middleweight Tournament, which had established Andre Ward as the only fighter with a true claim to champion status at 168 pounds. Abraham lost it to Stieglitz in a 2013 rematch, when he was stopped on cuts.
Stieglitz proceeded to defend the WBO strap against two of the least qualified title challengers I have ever seen, Yuzo Kiyota and Isaac Ekpo, before losing the belt back to Abraham earlier this year.
Abraham made his first defense against Nikola Sjekloca, nearly as obscure and unqualified as Kiyota and Ekpo, and then faced Paul Smith of England in September. The most notable thing about Smith was that he had been stopped by both George Groves and James DeGale.
But Smith gave Abraham all he could handle, and when the judges in Germany all came in by wide margins for Abraham, an outcry ensued. The uproar was loud enough for the WBO to order a mandatory rematch, even though Abraham won by 119-109 and 117-111 twice on the cards.
Abraham is a legit, two-division champion. He turned in one of the most heroic performance of the last two decades in his first win over Edison Miranda.
But at this point, he's merely a faded name being used to build up a belt that otherwise lacks any credibility.
3. Jermain Taylor, IBF Middleweight Champion
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At one point, Jermain Taylor was among the better boxers in the sport. But that was a long time ago. At this point, I fear for his health.
He's also one of the best possible examples for how stupid things can get in the era of the alphabet soups. Nobody even viewed Jermain Taylor as relevant at middleweight coming into this year. Due to a history of brain injuries, he was a fighter more likely to top a list of "boxers who should retire for their own good."
Taylor's return to the "top" was set in motion when 40-year-old Sam Soliman took the IBF belt from a badly faded Felix Sturm last May. For Soliman's first defense, he faced Taylor, who probably shouldn't even have been approved by the IBF as a suitable opponent, if they had any credibility.
Soliman fought like a guy who was 40, badly injuring his knee during the bout, and Taylor fought like a guy who at least used to be a pretty terrific fighter. The result was a unanimous decision for Taylor, making him a surprise two-time champion at 160 pounds.
Normally, I'm all for unification bouts. But I don't want to see Taylor go anywhere near Gennady Golovkin. It's a fight with tragedy written all over it.
2. Ruslan Chagaev, WBA "Regular" Heavyweight Champion
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Ruslan Chagaev is a rugged boxer with some talent. You can make a legitimate case for placing him in the division's top 10.
But the WBA designating him a "world champion" is beyond ridiculous. The WBA's make-pretend belt was apparently vacated when former "regular" world champion Alexander Povetkin lost to WBA "super" world champion Wladimir Klitschko last year.
Chagaev claimed this "vacant" belt when he beat aging journeyman Fres Oquendo by majority decision. Chagaev's nickname is "The White Tyson."
At his worst, Mike Tyson would never have gone life-or-death with a talent like Oquendo.
1. Juergen Braehmer, WBA "Regular" Light Heavyweight Champion
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Juergen Braehmer is hardly a bad boxer. He's got solid boxing talent. I suppose you could view him as one of the light heavyweight division's 10 best fighters.
But he's not a legitimate world champion and never will be.
He's fought his entire career in Germany, and while that circuit is generally not as tough as North America, any fighter who earns the European belt deserves a claim to world-class status.
But to hold up Braehmer as a world champion is ludicrous. Only the shameless WBA could attempt such a farce.
Last year, the WBA made Beibut Shumenov a "super" champion, no doubt out of consideration for his remarkable 13-1 record. Braehmer captured the "vacant" WBA world title when he beat Marcus Oliveira in December of last year.
Oliveira was undefeated at age 35, with his best win coming over journeyman Antwun Echols.
Beating a guy like Oliveira should at best be enough to earn Braehmer a place in line for a shot at a real world title. But if he were to actually face either of the "true" light heavyweight champions, Adonis Stevenson or Sergey Kovalev, he'd be lucky to see Round 6.
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