Is Lennox right?

[stujones]

He lost to Soto, who then lost to Hamed

My mistake - I thought Espinosa was stripped - I stand corrected.

[orbtastic]

It was a fight I wanted to see, I think Hamed would have won but it would have been interesting. Naturally, had Hamed won I'm sure people would have said he was old/chinny/useless.

[Terry Dooley]

Regarding Neilson - I do not believe he was stripped in 1999, so he was still carrying the belt as a champion in 1999 the year Lewis fought Holyfield. Much like Lewis was still carrying the belts in the first 4 months in 2004 despite never fighting in 2004. His record will always say world champion 1999-2004 (with Rahman sandwich).

The vacant IBO title was added to the mix when Lewis beat Holyfield at the end of the year, so unless Nielsen was IBO Champion Emeritus in Bacon Sarnies he didn't have a claim to the top spot. Also, most of the major publications, the NY Times etc., didn't reference either the WBO or IBO belts when running the story of the unification. As someone mentioned earlier, it was all outlined in full at the time. Showtime are just trying to pull a fast one, and will continue to do so.

Holyfield-Lewis II established the IBO belt as a makeweight title, once unified the Champion could then jettison the other belts and defend the IBO or any one of them while retaining the top spot in the division. It is the sole claim to fame that they have apart from their stupid "impartial" ratings system. And, no, the fact it has been held by successive champions doesn't legitimise it.

[TheGman]

He lost to Soto, who then lost to Hamed

Was just going to say this,naz body slammed him if i remember,what a boring fight that was

[TheGman]

Hmmm.
I think it doesn’t matter how you lose it, if you aren’t the champion then you aren’t the champion, in the ring or out.
If a child has a balloon and a bully takes it, does that child still have a balloon?

Hahaha nope the bully has the balloon ha

[bennie]

He lost to Soto, who then lost to Hamed

Was just going to say this,naz body slammed him if i remember,what a boring fight that was

Naz threw Soto over his shoulder which was a trick used by Bomber Graham in his heyday. He did it several times.

[Counter-puncher]

He lost to Soto, who then lost to Hamed

Was just going to say this,naz body slammed him if i remember,what a boring fight that was

Naz threw Soto over his shoulder which was a trick used by Bomber Graham in his heyday. He did it several times.

yeah, he was useful with the old Judo, was Graham. he even chucked McCallum about a bit, despite McCallum looking to be the 'bigger' stronger man

[bennie]

Was just going to say this,naz body slammed him if i remember,what a boring fight that was

Naz threw Soto over his shoulder which was a trick used by Bomber Graham in his heyday. He did it several times.

yeah, he was useful with the old Judo, was Graham. he even chucked McCallum about a bit, despite McCallum looking to be the 'bigger' stronger man

I was ringside for McCallum-Graham, right next to Hedgemon Lewis in McCallum's corner and a ridiculously overdressed Trevor Berbick. The referee eventually got fed up with Bomber's wrestling in a physically bruising encounter (if not the prettiest) and deducted a point which cost Bomber the title.

[Counter-puncher]

Naz threw Soto over his shoulder which was a trick used by Bomber Graham in his heyday. He did it several times.

yeah, he was useful with the old Judo, was Graham. he even chucked McCallum about a bit, despite McCallum looking to be the 'bigger' stronger man

I was ringside for McCallum-Graham, right next to Hedgemon Lewis in McCallum's corner and a ridiculously overdressed Trevor Berbick. The referee eventually got fed up with Bomber's wrestling in a physically bruising encounter (if not the prettiest) and deducted a point which cost Bomber the title.

i thought that was fair enough, and Graham was probably lucky he didn't get pinged with a couple more point deductions over the years- he couldn't fight on the inside really and used his grappling to make up for it by nullifying anything the other fella tried to do on the inside- not to mention they can't have been helped by getting their shoulder joints/etc twisted around.

[banjo]

While Lewis never held the WBO belt he did beat Akinwande who held it at the time.

He did but i think akinwande had to relinquish it to challenge for the major straps at the time.

Its like naz fought the wba champ but it wasnt for the belt,naz beat every champion at that time a feit no one had done at that time i think

Depends on how leanient you are...Michael Moorer was a former WBO champion who never lost it in the ring...Bowe never lost his WBC, ibf and wba titles in the ring till he lost to holyfield...so you could say Holyfield fought the real wbc wba and ibf belt holder and them fought the real WBO belt holder.

Re Naz it works both ways regarding the politics...yes Vasquez was the Wba champ going into the fight....but luisito espinosa was the long reigning wbc champ who never lost his title in the ring.

Espinosa lost to Soto