Would boxing be better if a fighter could remain champion at different weights?

[Mikkel_K]

Actually Ishe Smith's daily mailbag on boxingtalk got me thinking about this and I think he makes a good point.

If Floyd had been allowed to retain his welterweight title when moving up to fight Oscar, he could by moving back down to 140 and defeating Hatton join Henry Armstrong as a three weight consecutive world champion.

As long he's making the madatory defenses on then why not allow this? It could only be good for boxing as it provides a real talking point in the sport.

I'd personally love to see fighters aiming to rule 3 divisions at the same time, it would give them far more quality opponents to choose from and enable the truly elite fighters to attempt even greater feats.

I'm sure the lure of being a three weight consecutive champ would be too great for a Floyd Mayweather to resist and that he'd come down to 140 to face Hatton, then try and defend his 147 belt before maybe trying to fight Taylor and become a 4 weight consecutive world champ.

What do you guys think about this? I'm all for giving boxers new records to chase and new ways to showcase their talents and immortalise themselves in the ring.

Actually - at least according to their official site - PBF currently holds the WBC title at both 147 and 154. Also he holds the Ring belt at 147, while being rated #3 at 154 also.

Anyway, I kind of like your idea, but my initial concern is what will happen if the fighter, campaigning at multiple divisions, loses? I mean, does PBF keep his belt at 154, if (however unlikely it seems) he was to lose to Hatton at 147 (or 140)? Surely the idea of weight classes must be that the 154 champ is stronger than the 140 champ, so it would seem a bit backwards, if he did. On the other hand, Hatton may still be the best boxer in the world at 140, even if he did lose a fight, when moving up. Perhaps a fighter should only be allowed to keep his belt, while campaigning in another division when he is the one moving up in weights?

Also, there is the obvious problem of different alphabet groups. How confusing would it be to the casual fans, if Hatton and Mayweather meet for the IBO 140 title, WBA 147 title and the WBC 154 title for example? And if the title fights have to be between two fighters holding the same alphabelt in two bordering weightclasses, it kind of limits the number of mouthwatering prospects for fights. PBF vs Witter, any takers?

They way I think it should work is that you can hold titles in different weights but when defending a title only the title/s that are in the weight category you defned in are at stake.

so if Mayweather was 140, 147 and 154 lb champion and lost to Hatton at 140 Hatton would win all the belts that Mayweather held at 140 but none of the others.

While I understand your idea, I am still not sold on this. In my world the whole notion of weightclasses imply a hierarchy. The champ at a higher weight is always able to beat the champ at a lower weight. Therefore it would screw up the system if Mayweather kept the 147 and 154 titles after losing at 140. And even more it would screw things up, if Mayweather kept 140 and 154, but lost the 147.

(Now I understand that this does not necessarily make sense - e.g. Mayweather-Hatton at 154 is a completely different fight than the same fight at 140, and it is not completely ridiculous to believe that Hatton is the best at 140, but wouldnt be the best at 154. Hmm, perhaps the even better example would be Hatton-Cotto, where I'd fancy the former at 140, the latter at 147. PBF I would fancy at any weight.)

Still - in my opinion - whenever you lose a fight at a lower weight, then your titles in higher weights should be removed as well. Obviously it would be fair, if you didnt fall completely out of the picture, but perhaps just fell to the #1 position, mandatory for a fight for the now vacant title. Then somebody would still have to defeat you to gain your title.

One last note - this is all based on the notion that you can keep your titles by defending them. 3-weight champions means 3 (mandatory) defenses in a year. Not much room for further unifying there... And boxing is in more dire need of unifications than multiple-weights-at-the-same-time champions - to keep with the PBF example, I would rather see him face Cotto, than to see him face Witter and Cotto face M'Baye.