SA has six of world’s best
Six SA boxers began the new year as “world” champions, with Hekkie Budler holding two titles.
At the end of 2014, Ali Funeka held the IBO welterweight title, Lusanda Komanisi was the IBO’s featherweight champion and Zolani Tete and Lwandile Siyatha wore the IBF and IBO junior bantamweight crowns respectively.
Moruti Mthalane was the IBO flyweight champion and Budler held the WBA and IBO minimumweight titles.
That the six South Africans boasted five IBO titles to go with one IBF and one WBA belt does not look particularly impressive if one takes into account that the IBO did not have champions in seven of the 17 divisions.
All those vacant belts suggest that the IBO are not among the leading sanctioning bodies in boxing.
Funeka finds himself in good company. Among the other welterweight champions are Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao.
Wladimir Klitschko, who has unified four of the five heavyweight titles, is the nearest to a universally acknowledged champion on the list of title holders. Sergey Kovalev is a triple champion.
The leading sanctioning bodies are the World Boxing Association (WBA), World Boxing Organisation (WBO), International Boxing Federation (IBF), World Boxing Council (WBC) and the International Boxing Organisation (IBO). They all brand their title holders as world champions.
ALL THE CHAMPIONS
The champions in each of the weight classes on January 1 2015 were:
Heavyweight
Wladimar Klitschko – WBA, WBO, IBF and IBO
Bermane Stiverne – WBC
Cruiserweight
Denis Lebedev – WBA
Grigory Drozd – WBC
Marco Huck – WBO
Yoan Hernandez – IBF
Ola Aflobi – IBO
Light-heavyweight
Sergey Kovalev – WBA, WBO and IBF
Adonis Stevenson – WBC
IBO vacant
Super-middleweight
Andre Ward – WBA
Anthony Dirrell – WBC
Arthur Abraham – WBO
Carl Froch – IBF
IBO vacant
Middleweight
Gennady Golovkin – WBA and IBO
Miguel Cotto – WBC
Andy Lee – WBO
Jermain Taylor – IBF
Junior middleweight
Floyd Mayweather – WBA and WBC
Demetrius Andrade – WBO
Cornelius Bundrage – IBF
Zaurbek Basangarov – IBO
Welterweight
Floyd Mayweather – WBA and WBC
Manny Pacquiao – WBO
Kell Brook – IBF
Ali Funeka – IBO
Junior welterweight
Danny Garcia – WBA and WBC
WBO vacant
Lamont Peterson – IBF
IBO vacant
Lightweight
Richar Abril – WBA
Jorge Linares – WBC
Terence Crawford – WBO
Mickey Bay – IBF
IBO vacant
Junior lightweight
Takashi Uchiyama – WBA
Takashi Miura – WBC
Orlando Salido – WBO
Rances Barthelemy – IBF
IBO vacant
Featherweight
Nicholas Walters – WBA
Jhonny Gonzalez – WBC
Vasyl Lomachenko – WBO
Evgeny Gradovich – IBF
Lusanda Komanisi – IBO
Junior featherweight
Guillermo Rigondeaux – WBA and WBO
Leo Santa Cruz – WBC
Carl Frampton – IBF
IBO – vacant
Bantamweight
Juan Carlos Payano – WBA
Shinsuke Yamanaka – WBC
Tomoki Kameda – WBO
Randy Cabellero – IBF
IBO vacant
Junior bantamweight
Kohei Kono – WBA
Carlos Cuadras – WBC
Naoya Inoue – WBO
Zolani Tete – IBF
Lwandile Siyatha – IBO
Flyweight
Juan Estrada – WBA and WBO
Roman Gonzalez – WBC
Arnat Ruenroeng – IBF
Moruti Mthalane – IBO
Junior flyweight
Ryoichi Taguchi – WBA
Pedro Guevara – WBC
Donnie Nietes – WBO
Javier Mendoza – IBF
Ray Loreto – IBO
Strawweight
Hekkie Budler – WBA and IBO
Wanheng Menayothin – WBC
Katsunari Takayama – WBO and IBF.
