What Does Undisputed Mean in Boxing?

There’s currently over 60 world champions in boxing right now, and only three of these are undisputed, but what’s the difference?

There are multiple world titles in boxing to win, but only when you collect them all can you call yourself the undisputed champion.

Becoming an undisputed champion means exactly what the title suggests – that no one can argue with your claim to be the best in the world. But how can you achieve this unique and scarce status?

Where this gets confusing is that there are four major world titles in boxing, but only when you win them all together can you be crowned as undisputed.

But the four-belt era has only existed since 1988, so before this time, the criteria was much different and far more simplified than it is now.

In the early days, over a century ago, to become undisputed was fairly straightforward, with only a couple of belts required, but now that criteria has doubled, making the feat more extraordinary and rarer than ever.

In order to understand what it means to be an undisputed boxing champion, we have to go way back to the early days of the sport.

The Origins

It was over a century ago when world championships first became official in 1921 in America, even though professional boxing dates back decades before.

Back then, there was the New York State Athletic Commission (NYSAC) and the National Boxing Association (NBA) titles available to win. A boxer who held both these early championships simultaneously were recognised as the undisputed champion of the world.

The first in history to achieve this was the legendary Jack Dempsey, regarded as one of the best heavyweights of all-time, when he defeated Georges Carpentier in 1921.

He was also the first recipient of The Ring belt, which is awarded to the winner of a bout that features the Ring Magazine’s No.1 and No.2 ranked boxers in their independent ratings.

Over time, this evolved as more world governing bodies emerged, and therefore the criteria to becoming undisputed changed and inevitably became more complicated and difficult.

The NBA became the WBA, changing their name to recognise their growing countries joining as members around the world; then the WBC was formed as a second world governing body; followed by the IBF; then the WBO.

The emergence of multiple bodies in boxing has made the process to becoming undisputed more convoluted and challenging than ever.

Over the years, the list below reflects the world titles a boxer was required to hold simultaneously to be crowned undisputed:

1921 – 1923: NYSAC and NBA
1963 – 1983: WBA and WBC
1983 – 2007: WBA, WBC and IBF
2007 – Present: WBA, WBC, IBF, WBO

Politics

Now that there are four world titles required to be considered an undisputed champion, there’s basically far more hurdles placed in the way.

It may appear simple from the outside to say, ‘why can’t all the world champions just fight each other?’ But each governing body operates differently and have their separate world rankings in place. This means that they all have a No.1 contender waiting patiently for a shot at the champion.

So if the WBC world champ wants to unify against the WBA titlist, they may be forced to wait while their No.1 mandated challenger fights first. Now times this by three, which is what could be required for one world champion to try to collect the other three titles.

Rival promoters and network deals only add to these obstacles, too.

As referenced earlier, they all have different rules, so the IBF are well known for being the biggest of obstacles when trying to create an undisputed fight.

They historically do not recognise rematches, so Oleksandr Usyk has already lost his IBF title shortly after becoming undisputed in May this year, because his next fight is a contractual rematch with Tyson Fury.

‘The Gypsy King’ actually has every world title at home in his trophy cabinet – the WBC, WBA, IBF, WBO, Ring Magazine – but has never been undisputed, because he hasn’t ever held them all together.

So, a century ago, a boxer only had to unify NYSAC and NBA titles to be crowned undisputed champion, but to unify all four belts in the modern era is an arduous, complicated task.

Lineal Title

Further adding to the confusion, there is a Lineal Championship, which is an intangible title bestowed upon the fighter who defeats the No.1 in the division, regardless of belts.

In short, it’s given to the man who beats the man. So, when Tyson Fury dominated Wladimir Klitschko in Germany to become a unified world heavyweight champion, he automatically became the Lineal Champion. After that he retained this title until his sole career defeat to Oleksandr Usyk in May this year.

Even though Usyk collected three of the four major belts and Fury spent almost five years without any belts at all, he was still seen as the man who beat the man, so in the absence of being beaten himself, he remained the Lineal Champion.

Another example is when the Lineal Champion at cruiserweight, the aforementioned Usyk, moved up to heavyweight, it then allowed Mairis Briedis and Yuniel Dorticos to battle it out as No.1 and 2, which Briedis won to be declared Lineal Champion, then Jai Opetaia took it from him in their 2022 fight.

Other World Titles

What’s even more confusing is that there are other world governing bodies in boxing, the most notable of these is the International Boxing Organization (IBO).

This fifth world title is described as “the independent, transparent and respected version of the world title”.

Although not universally recognised, the IBO World title carries a lot of prestige and popularity; with Oleksandr Usyk and Dmitriy Bivol as just some of their reigning world champions. Past champions have included Anthony Joshua, Gennadiy Golovkin and Ricky Hatton.

Notable Undisputed Champions

Some of the most notable names in boxing history have become undisputed champions, such as Rocky Marciano, Mike Tyson and Lennox Lewis.

Below is a list of just 10 of the most recognised boxers in history who reigned as undisputed during their careers.

Modern Undisputed Champions

There have been hundreds of undisputed champions in history, with just a small sample of these mentioned above, but the distinguished dozen below are the very few that have achieved this illustrious status within a four-belt era.