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If AJ beats Wlad, here is the easy route to unify the division;
1, Set up a fight with Ortiz- shouldn't be too hard now Eddie has him signed up, then after Wilder puts Stiverne to rest, AJ will become mandatory challenger. No hiding from that
2, Fury- offer him a big pay cheque with a heavy penalty for pulling out, then that places AJ as no#1 contender for Parker's belt.
3, Wilder either retires or fights AJ
4, Parker Vs AJ

Any thoughts?
I can't see it happening any other way.
Wilder isn't interested in fighting the best, otherwise he would have by now, and Parker will be protected by Kevin Barry as his number one cash cow now that Brazeale beat his number 2 HW prospect.
I can see Wilder being the only real challenge in this plan.

Are you sure that champs so readily get made #1/mandatory for other organizations' titles?

I don't think ranking orgs ever rate champions of other orgs let alone making them mandatory.

Unifying the titles isn't really necessary if you view the landscape for what it is.

The winner of Anthony Joshua vs Wladimir will definitely be the face of Heavyweight Boxing after that fight. Fury will still be lineal Champion in the eyes of some until he's beaten. So AJ or Wlad vs Fury would decide the Champ

Parker, Wilder and the Oquendo/Briggs winner are just contenders with belts. Their belts don't mean sh*t really. Cracker Jack box titles.

Hell in the case of Oquendo and Briggs the winner of that fight still won't even be a Top 20 contender in the real world, but in the WBA's bullsh*t realm the winner of that will be a "Champion"

I agree that if AJ beats WK he will be recognised as the No1 HW.
But if he wants the belts, my plan might be the best approach. Given that Hearn could make 1&2 happen. It's about being the number one mandatory contender and getting rid of all the calling out and fake challenges.

KiwiRider wrote:I agree that if AJ beats WK he will be recognised as the No1 HW.
But if he wants the belts, my plan might be the best approach. Given that Hearn could make 1&2 happen. It's about being the number one mandatory contender and getting rid of all the calling out and fake challenges.

Even if you get all the belts one of the organizations will strip you of their title for failing to fight a mandatory or failing to pay sanctioning fees or some other BS.

Ask Lennox Lewis and several other Undisputed Champions who have been stripped of titles for stupid reasons.

Boxing is truly a sport where the Champion makes the title, The title doesn't make the Champion.

KiwiRider wrote:I agree that if AJ beats WK he will be recognised as the No1 HW.
But if he wants the belts, my plan might be the best approach. Given that Hearn could make 1&2 happen. It's about being the number one mandatory contender and getting rid of all the calling out and fake challenges.

Just curious, when was the last time that the WBO, for example, made a WBC, WBA, or IBF champ a mandatory?

Some people might not be familiar with all the Political BS that accompanies making fights in this sport. Took me a while to get used to it when I first started following the sport.

crusader wrote:

KiwiRider wrote:I agree that if AJ beats WK he will be recognised as the No1 HW.
But if he wants the belts, my plan might be the best approach. Given that Hearn could make 1&2 happen. It's about being the number one mandatory contender and getting rid of all the calling out and fake challenges.

Just curious, when was the last time that the WBO, for example, made a WBC, WBA, or IBF champ a mandatory?

Hence 1&2, make AJ become the no 1 contender within the ABC's. All the ABC belts have mandatory challenge rules, usually within 1 year

It's very rare for a champ of one major organization to be ranked as a contender by the other major organizations. Unifications almost never happen because one champion became mandatory challenger to another, although the WBC has tried it before.

You forget about Briggs, who could beat Wilder for example, if Briggs doesn't have intentions in fighting Wladimir any more.


Either way, I still think Povetkin deserves a shot.

Another way that you can solve the unification problem faster is to stop caring about the belts.

AJ/Klitschko should determine lineal imo. The rest of the landscape is pretty bleak. Only other real guys in the division are Povetkin, Pulev, and Ortiz; although, Ortiz is losing a lot of ground with his lackluster performance against Malik Scott. You get a tournament between Povetkin/Pulev/Ortiz/Klitschko/AJ, and you have yourself a legit, real deal lineal champion.

Wilder is a joke and Parker arguably lost to Ruiz.

Even if all these fights happen, there are still 3 more "little" ifs: Joshua needs to beat Wlad, Fury and Wilder.

KiwiRider wrote:If AJ beats Wlad, here is the easy route to unify the division;
1, Set up a fight with Ortiz- shouldn't be too hard now Eddie has him signed up, then after Wilder puts Stiverne to rest, AJ will become mandatory challenger. No hiding from that
2, Fury- offer him a big pay cheque with a heavy penalty for pulling out, then that places AJ as no#1 contender for Parker's belt.
3, Wilder either retires or fights AJ
4, Parker Vs AJ

Any thoughts?
I can't see it happening any other way.
Wilder isn't interested in fighting the best, otherwise he would have by now, and Parker will be protected by Kevin Barry as his number one cash cow now that Brazeale beat his number 2 HW prospect.
I can see Wilder being the only real challenge in this plan.

Yeah, too easy.

KiwiRider wrote:1, Set up a fight with Ortiz- shouldn't be too hard now Eddie has him signed up

No he doesn't. Ortiz is with Haymon.

then after Wilder puts Stiverne to rest, AJ will become mandatory challenger.

No he won't. The organizations do not rank the champions of the other organizations.

2, Fury- offer him a big pay cheque with a heavy penalty for pulling out, then that places AJ as no#1 contender for Parker's belt.

If Fury fights Joshua, he loses his mandatory position with the WBO and another mandatory will be named in his place.

3, Wilder either retires or fights AJ

Why would he be retiring? He's 31 and hasn't even hit his peak yet. He started at a late age and has taken little to no damage. Wilder will be a major force in the division for years to come.

4, Parker Vs AJ

Wilder vs Parker is far more likely. That is the fight Haymon is trying to make to delay the Stiverne mandatory that nobody wants to see.

to name the steps is always easy, to
make fights with record-polishers
like wilder is hard.

That'd likely take years to happen.