This is Rummy’s Corner.
I truly do not know shit about boxing.
My prediction on this one couldn’t have been further from the mark.
I was expecting a close and competitive contest, but at the end of the night it wound up being
a mismatch.
Haney was cool and composed throughout, he masterfully controlled the range and the rhythm,
and fighting in Australia had no ill effects on him whatsoever.
The Dream was patient and focused and he took care of business, barely needing to take things
out of first gear, as he patiently outboxed Kambosos without much difficulty.
Haney was simply too slick and too smooth for Kambosos.
Congratulations to Devin Haney on a terrific victory, proving once again that I really
don’t know shit about boxing!
Devin Haney is now the undisputed lightweight world champion, making him the first undisputed
lightweight champion since the great Pernell Whitaker in the early 1990s.
Which brings us to this ESPN graphic which is a real head scratcher to me.
There are several things wrong with this, starting right at the top where it is erroneously
claimed that the 4-belt era began in 1988.
This is a complete and total falsehood.
The WBO may well have existed back then.
But in no way, shape, or form was it recognized as a major world title, and it was never considered
as such at any point during the 1980s.
Or the 1990s for that matter!
The funny thing about this claim in the ESPN graphic is that it lists 1988 as the beginning
of the 4-belt era, and 1988 just so happened to be the very same year that one of the most
famous boxers of all time just so happened to secure his status as the baddest man on
the planet, the undisputed heavyweight world champion, Iron Mike Tyson.
He solidified his claim of being undisputed in June 1988 when he stopped lineal heavyweight
champion Michael Spinks in the opening round.
Tyson had earned a valid claim to the lineage, and he likewise held all three major world
titles of his day - all THREE major world titles of his day, not all four!
Francesco Damiani became the first WBO heavyweight champion in May 1989.
Damiani was never considered in the discussion, however.
It wasn’t considered a major world title, and nobody was claiming that Iron Mike needed
to beat Damiani to become undisputed.
In fact, even throughout most of the 1990s, those of you old enough might remember HBO
commentator Jim Lampley noting that HBO did not recognize the WBO as a real championship,
and this wasn’t just an HBO thing.
It was just a fact at the time, the WBO was not considered to be on par with the Big 3.
That’s the reality.
When Bowe won the WBO belt in 1995, nobody was calling Bowe a two time heavyweight champion.
Even in 1999 when Lennox Lewis defeated Evander Holyfield to earn the undisputed heavyweight
world championship,nobody was demanding that he needed to beat WBO champion Vitali Klitschko
to call himself undisputed.
Like Iron Mike 11 years earlier, Lennox had a valid claim to the lineage and the 3 major
alphabet belts of his day.
So if we are to believe the erroneous claim in the ESPN graphic that the 4-belt era began
in 1988, then that would mean the last undisputed heavyweight champion was Leon Spinks back
in 1978.
That would mean the undisputed heavyweight championship claims of Iron Mike Tyson, James
Buster Douglas, Evander ‘Real Deal’ Holyfield, Riddick ‘Big Daddy’ Bowe, and the great
Lennox Lewis were all invalid.
It’s a ridiculous claim, and with the WBO you see a lot of this confusion and/or revisionism
happening.
Wikipedia claims that the longest reigning heavyweight champion of all-time is Wladimir
Klitschko!
Huh?
No disrespect to Wladimiri, he was an incredible champion with one of the longest and most
dominant reigns in heavyweight history.
But tacking on his WBO reign, and retroactively applying it as a major world championship
does not reflect the reality of the time.
It simply doesn’t.
Joe Louis is the longest reigning heavyweight champion, both in a single reign or combined
reigns.
Wikipedia’s listing is wrong, and it’s using the same faulty approach ESPN is using
in that graphic.
Which brings us to the next problem, the fact that both Teofimo Lopez and George Kambosos
are being listed as undisputed lightweight champions on this graphic.
That is another falsehood.
Neither Lopez nor Kambosos ever held the WBC belt, because that belt belonged to Devin
Haney!
The Kambosos-Haney fight was the one that was truly for the undisputed lightweight championship,
and the last undisputed lightweight champion was the great Sweet Pea!
So by including Kambosos and Lopez as 4-belt undisputed, they are undermining the historical
value in what Haney just accomplished.
Haney isn’t the first undisputed lightweight champion since George Kambosos, he is the
first undisputed lightweight champion since Sweet Pea.
Now in fairness, the commentators admitted that there is debate over the WBC franchise
champion, and yet they chose to include their names here, which again, diminishes the magnitude
of what Haney accomplished.
Originally the WBC invented this franchise garbage as an honorary title that doesn’t
change hands in the ring.
But then Lomachenko lost to Lopez, and they said whooooa!
Wait a minute!
Maybe it does transfer?
Sure!
And the WBC started claiming they viewed Lopez, and then Kambosos as undisputed.
But the WBC is just trying to muddy up the waters here and make things more confusing.
Was Haney a real world champion or wasn’t he?
According to the WBC’s own website, Haney was the champion, the franchise champion was
listed as a little footnote.
So now the WBC seems to be taking the position that the WBC “franchise” belt is the one
that is their primary major world championship.
If that is the case, I think the WBC only currently has one franchise champion - Juan
Francisco Estrada.
So does that mean the rest of the WBC titlists are just minor champions?
They can’t have it both ways, but they’re trying to.
Same as the WBA with their so-called “regular” champion and the creme de la creme, the “super
duper” championship.
Incidentally, as far as I can tell, the WBA regular and super duper belts look identical.
Same thing with the WBC regular and franchise.
They all look like they’re made from the scraps of old car seats.
Point here, Lomachenko was WBC lightweight champion, and his mandatory challenger was
Devin Haney.
Lomachenko instead decided to defend against Lopez, and that’s when the WBC started this
gigantic mess when they said, OK!
We’ll just give the WBC belt to Haney, and we’ll give Lomachenko this shiny brand new
“franchise” belt.
Oof madone!
You know how this all probably really went down, right?
There were probably a couple of big wig do nothing members of the Board of Directors,
or whatever the hell they call themselves over at the WBC, and they’re in the conference
room, going: Ahh!
Know what we should do?
We should invent a new belt!
See?
Yeah!
That’s what we should do!
Grab ourselves a bigger slice of the pie!
Yeah!
So they invent this new honorary title, and they gave it to Canelo and Lomachenko.
I think they tried giving one to Wilder too, but Wilder nobley rejected the idea and told
the WBC to get bent!
A genuinely admirable move from Wilder in my eyes.
But anyway, they give these honorary titles to two superstars they probably figured would
win for the foreseeable future.
So they can grab a piece of the pie whenever these superstars fought without the need to
worry about mandatory obligations, and they could also keep their regular gig going with
the normal WBC belt, and they can generate bigger revenue streams for this non-profit
organization.
I mean, I guess they need the money!
Look at all of the belts they need to hand out!
That brings us to Tank Davis.
I recently read that in an effort to consolidate their belts, the WBA wants Tank to face Haney!
Davis is the reigning WBA “regular” champion, and he just recently made his defense of that
belt.
But the WBA “super duper” champion is Haney!
In other words, Haney is the REAL WBA champion, the major world championship.
That’s not meant as a knock on Davis.
He is an excellent boxer and a helluva puncher, and I would LOVE to see a bout between Haney
and Tank.
It’s kind of funny though, because the WBA has been preaching about consolidation for
at least a dozen years, and despite all the rhetoric, it never happens!
My point here, however, is that Haney is the undisputed lightweight world champion, and
he is the first man to hold that distinction since Sweet Pea.
So legitimately, despite what the ESPN graphic would like us to believe, Devin Haney is now
the 8th man to become undisputed champion in the modern 4-belt era.
The 4-belt era which officially really began on September 18, 2004, when Bernard Hopkins
defeated Oscar De La Hoya to become the very first 4-belt undisputed champion.
That is the tangible date in time when Bernard ‘The Executioner’ Hopkins became The Godfather
of the modern 4-belt era.
There is NO OTHER DATE that makes sense.
Bernard was ALREADY rightly viewed as the undisputed middleweight world champion after
beating Felix Trinidad in September 2001.
Bernard earned the distinction of becoming undisputed when he beat Tito, and he was considered
such right up until the Oscar fight three years later!
Even before the 4th belt.
So that’s the real date.
Bernard Hopkins is The Godfather of modern boxing and the 1st boxer to ever become an
undisputed world champion in the 4-belt era.
And Bernard still has more 4-belt championship contests than any boxer in history.
So Bernard did it in 2004, and Jermain Taylor did it in 2005.
Then there was a big gap before Bud Crawford did it, and then you have Oleksandr Usyk,
Josh Taylor, Canelo Alvarez, and most recently it was Jermell Charlo, who won the undisputed
world championship at 154 just a few short weeks back.
So Charlo was the 7th man to join the club, and now Devin Haney is the 8th man to earn
the distinction of becoming an undisputed world champion in the modern 4-belt era.
Once again, congratulations to Devin ‘The Dream’ Haney!
I for one was mighty impressed by his blend of finesse and composure, and I’m looking
forward to seeing him back in the ring.
Thanks for watching everyone, I hope you enjoyed, and have a wonderful night.
This is Rummy’s Corner.