Photo by Stephanie Trapp/Showtime
On the same night Deontay Wilder defended his WBC-recognized throne another heavyweight champion was crowned.
The relatively unknown and entirely untested Charles Martin claimed the IBF heavyweight title after “beating” Vyacheslav Glazkov on January 16. Glazkov, fortunate himself to be in a championship match, fell because of a knee injury in just the third round.
Such is the state of boxing that Martin, at 29 and unproven, is officially a “world champion.”
The sport of gloved arts is made up of 17 weight classes with, including “regular” and “super” champions, nearly 80 current titleholders.
The four most prominent sanctioning bodies handing out these trinkets are the IBF, WBC, WBA and the WBO.
The WBA is currently under the most heat after repeatedly promoting champions to “super champion” and crowning another (usually undeserving) boxer as their “regular champion.”
If the worst champions in the entire sport were ranked, the WBA could certainly offer many candidates.
What follows is that ranking. WBA regular champs have been included to provide some perspective to their lack of merit.
This list is based on defeating quality opposition (there wasn’t much of that) and most-recent performances as a belt holder. Boxer’s ages were considered as well. The younger the fighter, the little more leeway their thin resumes were given.
