Title Fight Result (Feb. 27)

Tomasz Adamek of Poland keeps his IBF and Ring Cruiserweight titles against Johnathon Banks of the US via TKO in the 8th. As expected, Banks has heavier hands than Steve Cunningham and rocked Adamek at least a couple of times. I thought Banks took the first 2 rounds. But, Adamek once again proved that he has one of the toughest chins in the business. Adamek finally figured out Banks with punishing body punches after the 5th. It was all Adamek from there until the short right in the 8th knocking Banks down. Still staggered when Banks beat the 10-count, Adamek finished him off with flurries. A rematch with Cunningham is the most logical next fight for Adamek but as a fan, I prefer a unification with Panama's Guillermo Jones who doesn't have anything scheduled right now. ESPN; Boxing Scene; Fight News

Prediction result:
Got the winner right but overestimated Banks' durability by at least a round.
My running score: 3-0

Therefore, no changes in the tally. I'll repost the list, with changes or not, together with the 4 title fight results later.

Title Fights Scheduled (Feb. 27-28)

A great weekend in boxing with 5 title fights on tap.

Friday night at the Rock (Prudential Center) in nearby Newark, NJ, the home of the NJ Devils. Poland's Tomasz Adamek [36(24)-1(0)-0] is back in the same ring where he captured his belts 2 months ago versus Steve Cunningham. He will defend his IBF and Ring Cruiserweight titles against the undefeated yet untested Detroit-native Johnathon Banks [20(14)-0(0)-0]. Adamek was an immovable force against the fleet-footed yet light-handed Cunningham. Banks is the complete opposite. The fight will be covered by Showtime at 11 pm ET.

Saturday night in Oaxaca, Mexico. Back-to-back title fights for the 105-pounders. Donnie Nietes [23(14)-1(0)-3] of the Philippines will defend his WBO Mini Flyweight title against #2 ranked Erik Ramirez [25(19)-5(3)-1] of Mexico. Ramirez fought more fights last year than Nietes' number of rounds. If Nietes loses his title it is most probably because of ring rust. Nietes stopped Eddy Castro in the 2nd last August while Ramirez went 4-0 with 3 KOs.

In the same card, Nicaragua's Roman Gonzalez [22(20)-0(0)-0] will defend his WBA Minimumweight title against Mexico's Francisco Rosas [20(12)-5(0)-2]. Gonzales is regarded as the best 105-pounder in the world. This is very likely a mismatch. That's 2 Mexicans challenging for world titles in their home country.

Then on HBO's World Championship Boxing at 10 pm ET from Houston, TX, 2 Houstonians will challenge for world titles. In the main supporting bout, Chris John [42(22)-0(0)-1] will finally defend his WBA Featherweight title outside the confines of Asia (and Australia) when he meets hard-luck Rocky Juarez [28(20)-4(0)-0]. This is the 4th world title attempt for Juarez. Lost twice to Marco Antonio Barrera in '06 and once to Juan Manuel Marquez late '07.

In the main event, Ring Lightweight champion and current #2 pound-for-pound fighter Juan Manuel Marquez [49(36)-4(0)-1] of Mexico will defend his title against former multi-titlist Juan Diaz [34(17)-1(0)-0]. Also at stake is the vacant WBO and WBA Lightweight titles. Marquez is ranked #2 and Diaz #3 by the WBO. The WBO and WBA sanctioned the fight after it was vacated by Nate Campbell when he did not make weight two weekends ago against Ali Funeka. Paulus Moses of Namibia is demoted back to "regular" champion since the winner will be be a unified titlist. Ironically, Diaz lost his belts to Campbell last year and has the opportunity to at least regain two back. A loss by Marquez will further diminish his chances of a blockbuster trilogy against Pacquiao.

My predictions:
Adamek by decision or late KO.
Nietes by stoppage in the late rounds.
Gonzales by early stoppage.
Juarez finally gets a belt and dethrones John by decision.
Marquez by decision, this one's tough to call but Marquez's savy counter punching will be more than enough against the constantly attacking Diaz.

Title Relinquished - WBC Lightweight

According to Boxing Scene, #1 pound-for-pound champ Manny Pacquiao of the Philippines has officially relinquished his WBC Lightweight (135 lbs.) title. Jose Sulaiman of the WBC confirmed that he received a letter from Pacman indicating that he's not going back to the 135-lb. division. That means all 4 sanctioning body belts in the lightweight division are vacant. Pacquiao is scheduled to challenge Ricky Hatton on May 2 for the Ring Junior Welterweight (140 lbs.) title. The interim title fight between Edwin Valero and Antonio Pitalua on April 4 will most likely be promoted to the full WBC lightweight title.

The Philippines drops to 7th tied with Argentina, Japan and the UK. Below is an updated list.

As of Feb. 24, 2009

Rank	Country	No. of Titles	Title Holders
1st	USA	10	Andre Berto - WBC147 Timothy Bradley - WBC140 Chad Dawson - IBF175 Vernon Forrest - WBC154 Kendall Holt - WBO140 Steven Luevano - WBO126 Shane Mosley - WBA147 Kelly Pavlik - WBC160;WBO160;Ring160
2nd	Mexico	9	Cristobal Cruz - IBF126 Raul Garcia - IBF105 Oscar Larios - WBC126 Juan Manuel Marquez - Ring135 Fernando Montiel - WBO115 Ulises Solis - IBF108 Edgar Sosa - WBC108 Humberto Soto - WBC130 Israel Vazquez - Ring122
3rd (2 are tied)	Puerto Rico	5	Ivan Calderon - WBO108;Ring108 Miguel Cotto - WBO147 Juan Manuel Lopez - WBO122 Daniel Santos - WBA154
3rd (2 are tied)	Ukraine	5	Sergiy Dzinziruk - WBO154 Vitali Klitschko - WBC200+ Wladimir Klitschko - IBF200+;WBO200+ Andreas Kotelnik - WBA140
5th (2 are tied)	Armenia	4	Arthur Abraham - IBF160 Vic Darchinyan - WBA115;WBC115;IBF115
5th (2 are tied)	Panama	4	Celestino Caballero - WBA122;IBF122 Guillermo Jones - WBA200 Anselmo Moreno - WBA118
7th (4 are tied)	Argentina	3	Hugo Hernan Garay - WBA175 Omar Andres Narvaez - WBO112 Victor Emilio Ramirez - WBO200
7th (4 are tied)	Japan	3	Hozumi Hasegawa - WBC118 Daisuke Naito - WBC112 Toshiaki Nishioka - WBC122
7th (4 are tied)	Philippines	3	Nonito Donaire - IBF112 Donnie Nietes - WBO105 Gerry Peñalosa - WBO118
7th (4 are tied)	UK	3	Nicky Cook - WBO130 Carl Froch - WBC168 Ricky Hatton - Ring140
11th (5 are tied)	Ghana	2	Joseph Agbeko - IBF118 Joshua Clottey - IBF147
11th (5 are tied)	Hungary	2	Karoly Balzsay - WBO168 Zsolt Erdei - WBO175
11th (5 are tied)	Poland	2	Tomasz Adamek - IBF200;Ring200
11th (5 are tied)	Romania	2	Lucian Bute - IBF168 Adrian Diaconu - WBC175
11th (5 are tied)	Thailand	2	Denkaosan Kaovichit - WBA112 Oleydong Sithsamerchai - WBC105
16th (10 are tied)	Colombia	1	Juan Urango - IBF140
16th (10 are tied)	Denmark	1	Mikkel Kessler - WBA168
16th (10 are tied)	Germany	1	Felix Sturm - WBA160
16th (10 are tied)	Indonesia	1	Chris John - WBA126
16th (10 are tied)	Italy	1	Giacobbe Fragomeni - WBC200
16th (10 are tied)	Nicaragua	1	Roman Gonzalez - WBA105
16th (10 are tied)	Russia	1	Nikolay Valuev - WBA200+(co)
16th (10 are tied)	South Africa	1	Cassius Baloyi - IBF130
16th (10 are tied)	Uzbekistan	1	Ruslan Chagaev - WBA200+(co)
16th (10 are tied)	Venezuela	1	Jorge Linares - WBA130

Title Updates - WBA 108, 135 & 200+ lbs.

I need to make a few adjustments to the tally. I did some research on a few titles that's been bugging me for quite awhile. Well, first of all, these are all because of WBA's inconsistent rulings in their titles. The WBA seems to intentionally make it confusing to boxing fans for reasons I can't fathom. This in turn gives the fans more reasons to not give credence to the sanctioning bodies.

The WBA is the only sanctioning body that can have as much as 5 titleholders in 1 division. You have your actual champion, which is the legitimate titleholder. Then there's the interim which all other alphabet organizations have. They are the temporary champ while the actual champ is in the voluntary stage of their reign. There also is the "regular" world champion. That's created if the actual champ acquires more than just the WBA belt in the same division. The multi-belted champ is promoted to the so-called super champion (also called unified or undisputed). The WBA then declares the "regular" title vacant or in several cases the interim takes over. Confusing? Yeah I know. Blame the WBA.

Aside from the aforementioned 3, they also have 2 others. These are the champion in recess and the co-champion. Right now in the heavyweight division, the co-champion is a consequence of having them declare a recess champion in the first place. An example of not anticipating well enough possible dilemmas or on the contrary probably analyzed well enough to have more title fights which of course charge more sanctioning fees.

Anyway, I can go forever chastizing the WBA for "brilliant" moves in declaring titleholders but, that's not the gist of my new entry. Besides, that's not also the purpose of my blog. I just want to tally current titleholders and rank the boxing nations. They just add more twist to it which makes it more challenging on my part. Probably, at another time when I'm in the mood to rant further then I post an entry on WBA's inability to decide on one single champion (or ability to make more money).

So, what are the adjustments. Let's start with the WBA Light Flyweight (108 lbs.) title. I have France's Brahim Asloum in my list. He won the title against Juan Reveco on Dec. 8, 2007. Never defended it since. He almost did last July against Giovanni Segura but due to reported disagreements with the televising network about his pay, Asloum left training. Cesar Canchila replaced him with a rescheduled date and venue for an interim title fight. Canchila won by decision. In June 2008 ratings of the WBA, Asloum was declared champion in recess. I kept him in the list regardless. 8 months later Asloum is still the champion in recess and Canchila the interim. There is still no actual titleholder. Reports have surfaced that WBO and Ring 108-lb. titleholder Ivan Calderon will be facing Canchila soon to unify the belts. So whoever wins, will eventually become the WBA, WBO and Ring unified champ. Asloum remains the champion in recess. He will probably get his shot later but as of now he still is a champion in recess and there's no actual WBA light flyweight titleholder. So with that, I removed Asloum and France's only title in the list. Also, leave the WBA light flyweight title vacant until Calderon and Canchila settles the score.

Another adjustment is in the WBA Lightweight (135 lbs.) division. Namibia's Paulus Moses seem to be on a roller coaster ride since the start of the year. Back in Jan. 3, Moses won the "regular" title by outpointing Yusuke Kobori in Kobori's home turf. Nate Campbell is the unified champion at that time with the WBA, WBO and IBF belts neatly tucked in. A week later on Jan. 10, Campbell relinquished his WBA belt due to anticipated difficulties in meeting his mandatory challenge obligations. Campbell was already scheduled to fight IBF mandatory Ali Funeka and is planning on getting a marquee fight after. Instead of paying WBA sanctioning fees for the Funeka fight to retain the belt (if he wins) and getting stripped anyway because he can not fulfill the mandatory obligations, he just relinquished to save money. So with that, naturally, Moses is then elevated to full title status. Therefore, he was was added in the list and I believe, that gave Namibia its first boxing world title. Then on Feb. 13, the day of the weigh-in for the Campbell-Funeka title fight, we got ourselves a curve ball thrown in the lightweight division. Campbell was over the 135-lb. weight limit and therefore was stripped off all his titles. Since Funeka will not have any issues in fulfilling any mandatory obligations if in case he wins then the WBA belt is again up for grabs aside from the stripped WBO and IBF belts. So if Funeka wins, he gets all 3 belts. If Campbell wins which he did, Moses remains the only WBA titlist while WBO and IBF are vacant. Then last week, with objections from the Moses camp, the WBA (and the WBO) sanctions the upcoming Feb. 28 fight between Ring champion Juan Manuel Marquez and Juan Diaz. Moses is back as the WBA "regular" champion and the actual champ will be crowned coming Saturday. Therefore, I removed Moses and Namibia from the list and left the WBA lightweight title vacant until Marquez and Diaz slug it out Saturday.

And the final adjustment. On July 5, 2008, Uzbekistan's Ruslan Chagaev was scheduled to defend his WBA Heavyweight (200+ lbs.) title against mandatory challenger Nicolay Valuev. The rematch was twice postponed and finally cancelled when Chagaev tear his Achilles tendon during training. The WBA decided to declare Chagaev champion in recess and mandated Valuev and John Ruiz to fight for the actual title. So on Aug. 30 Valuev won the heavyweight title by decision over Ruiz. Meanwhile, after 6 months, Chagaev's fully recovered from his injury. On Jan. 7, he won over Carl Davis Drummond by technical decision. With the injury behind him and a comeback fight successful, the WBA now declares Chagaev and Valuev WBA heavyweight co-champions. So, I will add Chagaev and Uzbekistan in the list joining Russia's Valuev. They are scheduled to fight before the end of June to determine the only champion. In my opinion, that'll put an end to Valuev's bogus (again my opinion) reign.

There you go. So in light of all of that, below is the updated list.

As of Feb. 23, 2009

Rank	Country	No. of Titles	Title Holders
1st	USA	10	Andre Berto - WBC147 Timothy Bradley - WBC140 Chad Dawson - IBF175 Vernon Forrest - WBC154 Kendall Holt - WBO140 Steven Luevano - WBO126 Shane Mosley - WBA147 Kelly Pavlik - WBC160;WBO160;Ring160
2nd	Mexico	9	Cristobal Cruz - IBF126 Raul Garcia - IBF105 Oscar Larios - WBC126 Juan Manuel Marquez - Ring135 Fernando Montiel - WBO115 Ulises Solis - IBF108 Edgar Sosa - WBC108 Humberto Soto - WBC130 Israel Vazquez - Ring122
3rd (2 are tied)	Puerto Rico	5	Ivan Calderon - WBO108;Ring108 Miguel Cotto - WBO147 Juan Manuel Lopez - WBO122 Daniel Santos - WBA154
3rd (2 are tied)	Ukraine	5	Sergiy Dzinziruk - WBO154 Vitali Klitschko - WBC200+ Wladimir Klitschko - IBF200+;WBO200+ Andreas Kotelnik - WBA140
5th (3 are tied)	Armenia	4	Arthur Abraham - IBF160 Vic Darchinyan - WBA115;WBC115;IBF115
5th (3 are tied)	Panama	4	Celestino Caballero - WBA122;IBF122 Guillermo Jones - WBA200 Anselmo Moreno - WBA118
5th (3 are tied)	Philippines	4	Nonito Donaire - IBF112 Donnie Nietes - WBO105 Manny Pacquiao - WBC135 Gerry Peñalosa - WBO118
8th (3 are tied)	Argentina	3	Hugo Hernan Garay - WBA175 Omar Andres Narvaez - WBO112 Victor Emilio Ramirez - WBO200
8th (3 are tied)	Japan	3	Hozumi Hasegawa - WBC118 Daisuke Naito - WBC112 Toshiaki Nishioka - WBC122
8th (3 are tied)	UK	3	Nicky Cook - WBO130 Carl Froch - WBC168 Ricky Hatton - Ring140
11th (5 are tied)	Ghana	2	Joseph Agbeko - IBF118 Joshua Clottey - IBF147
11th (5 are tied)	Hungary	2	Karoly Balzsay - WBO168 Zsolt Erdei - WBO175
11th (5 are tied)	Poland	2	Tomasz Adamek - IBF200;Ring200
11th (5 are tied)	Romania	2	Lucian Bute - IBF168 Adrian Diaconu - WBC175
11th (5 are tied)	Thailand	2	Denkaosan Kaovichit - WBA112 Oleydong Sithsamerchai - WBC105
16th (10 are tied)	Colombia	1	Juan Urango - IBF140
16th (10 are tied)	Denmark	1	Mikkel Kessler - WBA168
16th (10 are tied)	Germany	1	Felix Sturm - WBA160
16th (10 are tied)	Indonesia	1	Chris John - WBA126
16th (10 are tied)	Italy	1	Giacobbe Fragomeni - WBC200
16th (10 are tied)	Nicaragua	1	Roman Gonzalez - WBA105
16th (10 are tied)	Russia	1	Nikolay Valuev - WBA200+(co)
16th (10 are tied)	South Africa	1	Cassius Baloyi - IBF130
16th (10 are tied)	Uzbekistan	1	Ruslan Chagaev - WBA200+(co)
16th (10 are tied)	Venezuela	1	Jorge Linares - WBA130

Title Fights Scheduled (Feb. 21)

We have 2 title fights this Saturday with Top Rank PPV covering via split feed from New York and Ohio.

First up, Puerto Rico's Miguel Cotto [32(26)-1(1)-0] will try to redeem himself by capturing the vacant WBO Welterweight title against #2 ranked Michael Jennings [34(16)-1(0)-0] of the UK. It will be a tall order for Jennings to upset a determined Cotto. Antonio Margarito's handwrap controversy stirred a lot of questions on the Tijuana Tornado's recent fights including the one against Cotto. My opinion, Margarito's been guilty for quite some time until he got caught in the Mosley fight. It's possible that Cotto would still be undefeated until now. But then, we really can't tell. So, with Cotto aching to get back in the ring there's no way Jennings can pull an upset, with "handwraps" or not.

Then, in Kelly Pavlik's [34(30)-1(0)-0] hometown of Youngstown, OH, he will defend his WBC, WBO and Ring Middleweight titles against Mexico's Marco Antonio Rubio [43(37)-4(2)-1]. Rubio is ranked #1 by the WBC, #3 by the WBO and #8 by the Ring. Another redemption fight after Pavlik was thoroughly educated by Bernard Hopkins 4 months ago.

My predictions:
Cotto before the end of the 8th
Pavlik before the end of the 6th

Quick Review of Boxing Weight Classes

A guide on the 17 divisions or weight classes of boxing and how they're listed by the different sanctioning bodies and the Ring magazine.

Weight Limit	Ring	WBA	WBC	IBF	WBO
200+ lbs.	Heavyweight	Heavyweight	Heavyweight	Heavyweight	Heavyweight
200 lbs.	Cruiserweight	Cruiserweight	Cruiserweight	Cruiserweight	Junior Heavyweight
175 lbs.	Light Heavyweight	Light Heavyweight	Light Heavyweight	Light Heavyweight	Light Heavyweight
168 lbs.	Super Middleweight	Super Middleweight	Super Middleweight	Super Middleweight	Super Middleweight
160 lbs.	Middleweight	Middleweight	Middleweight	Middleweight	Middleweight
154 lbs.	Junior Middleweight	Super Welterweight	Super Welterweight	Junior Middleweight	Junior Middleweight
147 lbs.	Welterweight	Welterweight	Welterweight	Welterweight	Welterweight
140 lbs.	Junior Welterweight	Super Lightweight	Super Lightweight	Junior Welterweight	Junior Welterweight
135 lbs.	Lightweight	Lightweight	Lightweight	Lightweight	Lightweight
130 lbs.	Junior Lightweight	Super Featherweight	Super Featherweight	Junior Lightweight	Junior Lightweight
126 lbs.	Featherweight	Featherweight	Featherweight	Featherweight	Featherweight
122 lbs.	Junior Featherweight	Super Bantamweight	Super Bantamweight	Junior Featherweight	Junior Featherweight
118 lbs.	Bantamweight	Bantamweight	Bantamweight	Bantamweight	Bantamweight
115 lbs.	Junior Bantamweight	Super Flyweight	Super Flyweight	Junior Bantamweight	Junior Bantamweight
112 lbs.	Flyweight	Flyweight	Flyweight	Flyweight	Flyweight
108 lbs.	Junior Flyweight	Light Flyweight	Light Flyweight	Junior Flyweight	Junior Flyweight
105 lbs.	Strawweight	Minimumweight	Strawweight	Mini Flyweight	Mini Flyweight

Title Promotion - WBO Jr. Heavyweight

I just found out that interim titleholder Victor Emilio Ramirez of Argentina has been elevated to the full WBO Junior Heavyweight (200 lbs.) title. Ramirez won the vacant interim title on January 17 against Alexander Alexeev. He's scheduled to fight Enzo Maccarinelli on March 14 for the full title but was replaced by Ola Afolabi. The Maccarinelli-Afolabi fight is now for the interim title. While Ramirez is very likely to defend his title against Ali Ismailov on April 11.

Argentina adds another titlist in the list and moves up to 8th tied with Japan and the UK. Here's the updated list:

As of Feb. 16, 2009

Rank	Country	No. of Titles	Title Holders
1st	USA	10	Andre Berto - WBC147 Timothy Bradley - WBC140 Chad Dawson - IBF175 Vernon Forrest - WBC154 Kendall Holt - WBO140 Steven Luevano - WBO126 Shane Mosley - WBA147 Kelly Pavlik - WBC160;WBO160;Ring160
2nd	Mexico	9	Cristobal Cruz - IBF126 Raul Garcia - IBF105 Oscar Larios - WBC126 Juan Manuel Marquez - Ring135 Fernando Montiel - WBO115 Ulises Solis - IBF108 Edgar Sosa - WBC108 Humberto Soto - WBC130 Israel Vazquez - Ring122
3rd	Ukraine	5	Sergiy Dzinziruk - WBO154 Vitali Klitschko - WBC200+ Wladimir Klitschko - IBF200+;WBO200+ Andreas Kotelnik - WBA140
4th (4 are tied)	Armenia	4	Arthur Abraham - IBF160 Vic Darchinyan - WBA115;WBC115;IBF115
4th (4 are tied)	Panama	4	Celestino Caballero - WBA122;IBF122 Guillermo Jones - WBA200 Anselmo Moreno - WBA118
4th (4 are tied)	Philippines	4	Nonito Donaire - IBF112 Donnie Nietes - WBO105 Manny Pacquiao - WBC135 Gerry Peñalosa - WBO118
4th (4 are tied)	Puerto Rico	4	Ivan Calderon - WBO108;Ring108 Juan Manuel Lopez - WBO122 Daniel Santos - WBA154
8th (3 are tied)	Argentina	3	Hugo Hernan Garay - WBA175 Omar Andres Narvaez - WBO112 Victor Emilio Ramirez - WBO200
8th (3 are tied)	Japan	3	Hozumi Hasegawa - WBC118 Daisuke Naito - WBC112 Toshiaki Nishioka - WBC122
8th (3 are tied)	UK	3	Nicky Cook - WBO130 Carl Froch - WBC168 Ricky Hatton - Ring140
11th (5 are tied)	Ghana	2	Joseph Agbeko - IBF118 Joshua Clottey - IBF147
11th (5 are tied)	Hungary	2	Karoly Balzsay - WBO168 Zsolt Erdei - WBO175
11th (5 are tied)	Poland	2	Tomasz Adamek - IBF200;Ring200
11th (5 are tied)	Romania	2	Lucian Bute - IBF168 Adrian Diaconu - WBC175
11th (5 are tied)	Thailand	2	Denkaosan Kaovichit - WBA112 Oleydong Sithsamerchai - WBC105
16th (11 are tied)	Colombia	1	Juan Urango - IBF140
16th (11 are tied)	Denmark	1	Mikkel Kessler - WBA168
16th (11 are tied)	France	1	Brahim Asloum - WBA108
16th (11 are tied)	Germany	1	Felix Sturm - WBA160
16th (11 are tied)	Indonesia	1	Chris John - WBA126
16th (11 are tied)	Italy	1	Giacobbe Fragomeni - WBC200
16th (11 are tied)	Namibia	1	Paulus Moses - WBA135
16th (11 are tied)	Nicaragua	1	Roman Gonzalez - WBA105
16th (11 are tied)	Russia	1	Nikolay Valuev - WBA200+
16th (11 are tied)	South Africa	1	Cassius Baloyi - IBF130
16th (11 are tied)	Venezuela	1	Jorge Linares - WBA130

Initial Post

A running list of current boxing titleholders and a tally per country is something I've been doing in one of the popular boxing forums. Creating a blog for it is something I've been planning on doing for quite some time. So if you're reading this then that means I finally found the time to publish it.

There are 3 sports I follow religiously - pigskins (football), hoops (basketball) and the sweet science (boxing). I was pretty athletic when I was a lot younger but 20 years and 50 pounds later, I'm just glad to have myself a favorite couch with a cold one on one hand and the clicker on the other. Depending on my wallet's health, I try to catch a game or two. Tailgate on a Jets game or just right across the stadium is the Izod Arena to watch the Nets. I'm fortunate to reside within 10 miles of at least 6 sports stadiums.

Anyway, the main point of this blog is to have a running tally of the boxing titleholders and rank them by country. Sort of my way of determining the boxing powers of the world. Here are my baseline rules:

1. I only count Ring magazine champions and titleholders from the 4 major sanctioning bodies - WBA, WBC, IBF & WBO. I know it's a never ending debate on the validity of the alphabet organizations, nevertheless, they are the 4 that I consider legit or above others.


2. I count the titles not the people. Therefore champs that hold multiple belts are counted by the number of belts. For example: American Kelly Pavlik is counted thrice because he holds the WBC, WBO and Ring Middleweight titles.


3. I exclude interim champs and WBA's regular champs. WBA have this uncanny way of having another so-called "regular" title if the actual titleholder holds more than the WBA version. For example: Panama's Celestino Caballero holds both the WBA and IBF Super Bantamweight titles. He is therefore a unified champ so because of that the WBA will also have a regular title. That title is held by Japan's Nobuo Nashiro. I will only count the title for Panama and not for Japan.


4. I determine the boxer's place of birth as their country. Jus soli not jus sanguinis.

So with those baseline rules in mind, here's the tally of current boxing titles by country.

As of Feb. 15, 2009

Rank	Country	No. of Titles	Title Holders
1st	USA	10	Andre Berto - WBC147 Timothy Bradley - WBC140 Chad Dawson - IBF175 Vernon Forrest - WBC154 Kendall Holt - WBO140 Steven Luevano - WBO126 Shane Mosley - WBA147 Kelly Pavlik - WBC160;WBO160;Ring160
2nd	Mexico	9	Cristobal Cruz - IBF126 Raul Garcia - IBF105 Oscar Larios - WBC126 Juan Manuel Marquez - Ring135 Fernando Montiel - WBO115 Ulises Solis - IBF108 Edgar Sosa - WBC108 Humberto Soto - WBC130 Israel Vazquez - Ring122
3rd	Ukraine	5	Sergiy Dzinziruk - WBO154 Vitali Klitschko - WBC200+ Wladimir Klitschko - IBF200+;WBO200+ Andreas Kotelnik - WBA140
4th (4 are tied)	Armenia	4	Arthur Abraham - IBF160 Vic Darchinyan - WBA115;WBC115;IBF115
4th (4 are tied)	Panama	4	Celestino Caballero - WBA122;IBF122 Guillermo Jones - WBA200 Anselmo Moreno - WBA118
4th (4 are tied)	Philippines	4	Nonito Donaire - IBF112 Donnie Nietes - WBO105 Manny Pacquiao - WBC135 Gerry Peñalosa - WBO118
4th (4 are tied)	Puerto Rico	4	Ivan Calderon - WBO108;Ring108 Juan Manuel Lopez - WBO122 Daniel Santos - WBA154
8th (2 are tied)	Japan	3	Hozumi Hasegawa - WBC118 Daisuke Naito - WBC112 Toshiaki Nishioka - WBC122
8th (2 are tied)	UK	3	Nicky Cook - WBO130 Carl Froch - WBC168 Ricky Hatton - Ring140
10th (6 are tied)	Argentina	2	Hugo Hernan Garay - WBA175 Omar Andres Narvaez - WBO112
10th (6 are tied)	Ghana	2	Joseph Agbeko - IBF118 Joshua Clottey - IBF147
10th (6 are tied)	Hungary	2	Karoly Balzsay - WBO168 Zsolt Erdei - WBO175
10th (6 are tied)	Poland	2	Tomasz Adamek - IBF200;Ring200
10th (6 are tied)	Romania	2	Lucian Bute - IBF168 Adrian Diaconu - WBC175
10th (6 are tied)	Thailand	2	Denkaosan Kaovichit - WBA112 Oleydong Sithsamerchai - WBC105
16th (11 are tied)	Colombia	1	Juan Urango - IBF140
16th (11 are tied)	Denmark	1	Mikkel Kessler - WBA168
16th (11 are tied)	France	1	Brahim Asloum - WBA108
16th (11 are tied)	Germany	1	Felix Sturm - WBA160
16th (11 are tied)	Indonesia	1	Chris John - WBA126
16th (11 are tied)	Italy	1	Giacobbe Fragomeni - WBC200
16th (11 are tied)	Namibia	1	Paulus Moses - WBA135
16th (11 are tied)	Nicaragua	1	Roman Gonzalez - WBA105
16th (11 are tied)	Russia	1	Nikolay Valuev - WBA200+
16th (11 are tied)	South Africa	1	Cassius Baloyi - IBF130
16th (11 are tied)	Venezuela	1	Jorge Linares - WBA130