The sport of boxing never makes it easy when it comes to fans discussing who is the number one fighter in each division.
With four governing bodies each having their own versions of world titles, it can be get confusing, however, it looks like boxing is slowly starting to crown more undisputed champions.
Saul 'Canelo' Alvarez is the undisputed champion at 168lbs despite his recent defeat to Dmitry Bivol, which was at light-heavyweight. Katie Taylor recently solidified her undisputed status by beating Amanda Serrano in April.
However, while there are very little undisputed champions, there are plenty of unified champions including Oleksandr Usyk at heavyweight and Errol Spence Jr at welterweight.
Putting all of those titles and terms together certainly can be a mouthful. What does unified and undisputed champion mean? What are the differences between the two?
What does it mean to be a unified champion?
A unified champion is one who holds two or more of the major sanctioning titles in a division:
- IBF
- WBA
- WBC
- WBO
Current unified champions include:
- Heavyweight: Oleksandr Usyk — IBF, WBA (super), WBO
- Welterweight: Errol Spence Jr. — IBF, WBC
- Light heavyweight: Artur Beterbiev — IBF, WBC
- Middlweight: Gennadiy Golovkin - IBF, WBA
- Junior middleweight: Jermell Charlo — IBF, WBA (super), WBC
- Welterweight: Errol Spence Jr. — IBF, WBC
- Lightweight: George Kambosos Jr — IBF, WBA (super), WBO
- Super bantamweight: Stephen Fulton - WBC, WBO
- Super bantamweight: Murodjon Akhmadaliev — IFB, WBA (super)
- Bantamweight: Naoya Inoue — IBF, WBA (super)
What does it mean to be an undisputed champion?
An undisputed champion is a fighter who holds all four major championship belts (IBF, WBA, WBC and WBO) in a division.
Since the four-belt era began in 2004, there hasn't been an undisputed heavyweight champion. The last undisputed champion in the heavyweight division was Lennox Lewis back in November 1999, when he defeated Evander Holyfield in their rematch. At the time, there were three major belts (WBC, WBA, IBF).
During the four-belt era, there have been six undisputed champions in men's boxing: Oleksandr Usyk (cruiserweight), Bernard Hopkins (middleweight), Jermain Taylor (middleweight), Terence Crawford (junior welterweight), Josh Taylor (junior welterweight) and Saul 'Canelo' Alvarez.
On the women's side, there have been four undisputed champions, with three currently holding all four belts:
- Lightweight: Katie Taylor
- Welterweight: Jessica McCaskill
- Super-middleweight: Franchon Crews Dazurn
Previously, Cecilia Brækhus held all four 147-pound titles before losing them to McCaskill in August 2020.
Why is George Kambosos Jr not considered the undisputed lightweight champion?
Matchroom
One bone of cotention when it comes to the current crop of undisputed champions is whether George Kambosos Jr is the undisputed lightweight champion.
The Australian currently holds the WBA, WBO, IBF and WBC (franchise) titles after beating Teofimo Lopez last November. However, there is another lightweight world title currently present in the boxing sphere and that's the WBC title belt which is held by Devin Haney.
Haney was given the belt after the governing body made Lopez the 'franchise' champion following his win against Vasiliy Lomachenko in 2020. A 'franchise' champion is given the luxury of not having to make mandatory defences and pursue whichever fights they desire.
As a result of this status, and the fact that there is not a 'franchise' champion in every divison, most fans do not consider the 'franchise' belt as a legitimate belt, instead the fighter who holds the normal WBC title is considered the organisation's champion.
Nonetheless, if Haney and Kambosos were to fight at some point this year, it could end up being for the undisputed lightweight championship if neither are defeated or stripped of a title before then.