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.
Rank | Country | No. of Titles | Title Holders |
1st | USA | 10 |
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2nd | Mexico | 9 |
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3rd (2 are tied) | Puerto Rico | 5 |
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3rd (2 are tied) | Ukraine | 5 |
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5th (3 are tied) | Armenia | 4 |
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5th (3 are tied) | Panama | 4 |
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5th (3 are tied) | Philippines | 4 |
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8th (3 are tied) | Argentina | 3 |
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8th (3 are tied) | Japan | 3 |
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8th (3 are tied) | UK | 3 |
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11th (5 are tied) | Ghana | 2 |
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11th (5 are tied) | Hungary | 2 |
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11th (5 are tied) | Poland | 2 |
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11th (5 are tied) | Romania | 2 |
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11th (5 are tied) | Thailand | 2 |
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16th (10 are tied) | Colombia | 1 |
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16th (10 are tied) | Denmark | 1 |
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16th (10 are tied) | Germany | 1 |
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16th (10 are tied) | Indonesia | 1 |
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16th (10 are tied) | Italy | 1 |
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16th (10 are tied) | Nicaragua | 1 |
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16th (10 are tied) | Russia | 1 |
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16th (10 are tied) | South Africa | 1 |
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16th (10 are tied) | Uzbekistan | 1 |
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16th (10 are tied) | Venezuela | 1 |
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