The last of the 'undisputed' champions in each weight class

Thought this may be a useful addition to our new vault. We all bemoan the lack of 'proper' world champions these days, so I've done some tracking back so that we can all see when the last time each division had a fighter who could call themselves, beyond any doubt, the truly undisputed champion of it. For sanity as much as anything else, I've only included the WBC, WBA, IBF and WBO, generally seen as the four recognized belts. In the days before the WBO, it goes on who held all three of the WBC, WBA and IBF, and before the IBF, who held the WBC and WBA. Before the split, it...Well, you get the idea. Just a little reference point, either way.

Here is the last time a one hundred percent undisputed title was contested in each division.

HEAVYWEIGHT: February 25, 1989: Mike Tyson versus Frank Bruno

CRUISERWEIGHT: April 9, 1988: Evander Holyfield versus Carlos De Leon

LIGHT-HEAVYWEIGHT: June 6, 1985: Mike Spinks versus Jim MacDonald

SUPER-MIDDLEWEIGHT: July 26, 1987: Chang-Pal Park versus Emmanuel Otti

MIDDLEWEIGHT: July 16, 2005: Bernard Hopkins versus Jermain Taylor

LIGHT-MIDDLEWEIGHT: January 21, 1975: Koichi Wajima versus Oscar Albarado

WELTERWEIGHT: September 27, 1986: Lloyd Honeyghan versus Donald Curry

LIGHT-WELTERWEIGHT: November 16, 1967: Paul Fuji versus Willi Quator

LIGHTWEIGHT: January 21, 1978: Roberto Duran versus Esteban De Jesus

SUPER-FEATHERWEIGHT: October 6, 1968: Hiroshi Kobayashi versus Jaime Valladeres

FEATHERWEIGHT: October 14, 1967: Vicente Saldivar versus Howard Winstone

SUPER-BANTAMWEIGHT: July 11, 1977: Wilfredo Gomez versus Raul Tirado

BANTAMWEIGHT: July 30, 1972: Enrique Pinder versus Rafael Herrera

SUPER-FLYWEIGHT: July 29, 1981: Chul-Ho Kim versus Willie Jensen

FLYWEIGHT: April 23, 1965: Salvatore Burrini versus Pone Kingpetch

LIGHT-FLYWEIGHT: April 4, 1975: Franco Udella versus Valentin Martinez

STRAWWEIGHT: June 14, 1987: Kyung-Yun Lee versus Masaharu Kawakami

Sad, sad state of affairs, isn't it!

Interesting and slightly depressing stuff Chris, however does serve as a nice rebuttal to those that were arguing the other day the four belt situation is not too bad as it sets up juicy unification bouts, because as you have amply illustrated the occasions these happen in the purest sense of the word is far more infrequent than should be the case.

Tell me about it, Jeff. In fairness, the likes of Whitaker, Jones and Calzaghe have been more or less as good as undisputed at Lightweight, Light-Heavyweight and Super-Middleweight respectively, but even so, it's alarming how long it's been in some divisions since anyone had absolute one hundred percent command of it.

Suppose it just adds even more to Hopkins' credentials that he managed it in this day and age.

Depends on when you define the WBO as gaining full recognition

Holyfield against Lewis was fgr the undisputed title as the WBO title meant nothing in the heavyweight division at the time

Many of Jones' defences at 175lbs were undisputed as the other organisations failed to recognise the WBO

naz should have been on that list, didnt he have a unifaction fight only for one of the organisations to strip him or something?

eddyfightfan wrote:naz should have been on that list, didnt he have a unifaction fight only for one of the organisations to strip him or something?

He held all four belts at some stage, but never at the same time. He relinquished the IBF after adding it to his WBO, the WBA stripped Vasquez not long before Hamed beat him, and he was unable to keep the WBC for political reasons. Unlucky, but still not fitting for a place on the list, sadly.