Well in short it goes like this.........Origionaly the world champion was decided by Ring magazine....Then in the late 60's early 70's ( cant remember exactly when at the moment) there was the NBA title..Caused a big stir in the HW scene witht the whole Ali/Frazier scene....In the late 70's early 80's they started to come up with org's WBC-WBA-IBF and so on (not sure which was first WBA or IBF-WBC i think it was WBC)...each claimed its own chmpion good for money in promoters pockets bad for sport....No real Champion...We have undisputed champs who have all the major ones WBC WBC IBF----WE now have the WBO---which has become a major belt over the years as of late---So that gives us 4 ABC Champions----The ABC divisions have sub champs---If you watch pro wrestling at all they are equivelent to the Inter Contenentil Title--EG USBA-NABA-USBF-NABO---
WBC title holds the most weight in the sport---also most crooked---Then WBA---Probably most legit as far as ranking system IMO--IBF the weakest of the 3 but somehow seems to have the sturdiest of champs and it's belt holders usually last longer not alyas but in most cases...EG Hopkins--BYRD--the WBO is the up and coming star that has started to make big strides due to it's belt holders being faithful and defending it with the pride that any of the other 3 champions seem not to...NAZ was a long time WBO champ who stayed with it forcing the world to recognize him as a world champion---Same with Calzaghe---The Klitschkos mostly Wlad brought it to a new level amoung the heavys...Until then it was not thought much of----

All in all the ring magazine still names it's own champion. Most real fans and experts count their champ as the legit one of the division...It is all mostly a numbers game....




I could be more specific but it would take a while it's actually confusing..but That is the short overview..Hope it helped... ......It gave me a headache thinking about it lol