Introduction

Welcome to Steve Dimitry's Heavyweight Boxing History Web Site: There's a lot of information here. Here's a little intro for you. World champions were generally recognized by the Police Gazette up until 1920 when the NBA and the NYSAC started to proclaim champions and sanction championship fights on the basis of rankings by each organization. The NBA and NYSAC were usually in agreement with each other’s champion, with a few noted exceptions. The NBA changed their name to the WBA in 1962. The NYSAC started to lose most of its power by the 1970’s. The WBC was formed in 1963 and from 1970 through 1983, the undisputed champion was the WBA/WBC champ. In 1983, the IBF was formed and their sanction was added (WBA/WBC/IBF) to the word ‘undisputed and unified champion’. The WBO was formed in 1989 and although not yet as powerful as the ‘Big Three’, is gaining world wide respect and soon the "Unified and Undisputed Champion" may have to wear four belts. By the mid 1990’s, many other fringe boxing organizations were forming and declaring ‘their’ champion.

Heavyweight Boxing Pages

 

World Heavyweight Champions and Title Change History

 

Other Boxing pages in this website:

Bare Knuckle and the Lineage History of the Bare Knuckle and Linear Championships	Major World Titles History of the NBA, NYSAC, WBA, WBC, IBF and WBO sanctions
Other World Titles History of the IBA, IBC, IBO, WBF, WBU and other sanctions	Other Titles History of the NABF, USBA and the major intercontinental titles