In a rare moment in boxing history, two undisputed champions will face one another when Canelo Alvarez defends his undisputed super middleweight championship against the current undisputed super welterweight champion Jermell Charlo on September 30 in Las Vegas.
Canelo and Charlo both hold the WBC, WBA (Super), WBO and IBF titles in their respective weight classes. Canelo became the undisputed super middleweight champion by beating Callum Smith (WBA & WBC), Billy Joe Saunders (WBO) and Caleb Plant (IBF) while Charlo road to undisputed started with recapturing the WBC title against Tony Harrison, stopping Jeison Rosario (IBF and WBC) and then beating Brian Castano (WBO).
Charlo will move up two weight classes to challenge for Canelo's titles and look to become the third boxer in the four-belt era to be undisputed in two weight classes, joining Claressa Shields and Terence Crawford.
Figuring out who the world champions are in boxing has become convoluted for the casual fan. There are a number of belts in each division and things can get quite complicated when trying to figure out what the difference is between a “unified” champion and an “undisputed” champion.
Before 1960, most of boxing’s champions were considered “undisputed” because there was only one champion in each weight class. But as the popularity of the sport grew, so did the number of boxing organizations that would crown their own champions. This led to many disputes over who was recognized as the “real” world champion with fighters moving up and down in weight class, boxing politics coming into play, and various other reasons. Up until 2004, there were three major sanctioning bodies in boxing: World Boxing Association (WBA), World Boxing Council (WBC) and the International Boxing Federation (IBF).
A fourth was added in 2004 when the World Boxing Organization was recognized by the WBC in its ranking listings.
And the four-belt era was upon us in boxing.
What is an undisputed champion?
An undisputed champion is a fighter who holds all four major championship belts (IBF, WBA, WBC and WBO) in a division.
It's a rare feat that has only been accomplished by nine fighters in the four-belt era, five men and four women.
Since 2004, there have only been nine male and nine female boxers who have held all four titles from major sanctioning bodies in the same weight class.
Undisputed boxing champions (male)
- Oleksandr Usyk (cruiserweight)
- Canelo Alvarez (super middleweight)*
- Bernard Hopkins (middleweight)
- Jermain Taylor (middleweight)
- Jermell Charlo (super welterweight)*
- Terence Crawford (super lightweight and welterweight)*
- Josh Taylor (super lightweight)
- Devin Haney (lightweight)*
- Naoya Inoue (Bantamweight)
*current champion
Undisputed boxing champions (female)
- Savannah Marshall (super middleweight)*
- Franchon Crews-Dezurn (super middleweight)
- Claressa Shields (middleweight and super welterweight)*
- Cecilia Braekhus (welterweight)
- Jessica McCaskill (welterweight)
- Chantelle Cameron (super lightweight)*
- Katie Taylor (lightweight)*
- Alycia Baumgardner (super featherweight)*
- Amanda Serrano (featherweight)*
*current champion
But there have been plenty of fighters who have held two or more of the major sanctioning titles in a division.
What is 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
Who are the unified champions in boxing?
Current unified champions include:
- Heavyweight: Oleksandr Usyk — IBF, WBA (super), WBO
- Light heavyweight: Artur Beterbiev — IBF, WBC, WBO
- Junior welterweight: Josh Taylor — IBF, WBA (super), WBC, WBO
- Lightweight: Teofimo Lopez — IBF, WBA (super), WBO
- Super bantamweight: Naoya Inoue — WBC, WBO
- Junior flyweight: Kenshiro Teraji — WBC, WBC