By Alex Fesl: A weak champion is a bit of a misnomer. Rarely do boxing fans consider fighters to be weak, especially champions. After all, it takes tremendous heart and determination to even step into the squared circle.
Yet, given the current predicament with the WBC, WBA, WBO, and IBF organizations claiming their own version of champion status, we have seen more and more champions that may not even represent the best talent at their respective weight class. Often called paper champions, these fighters may not even be worthy of a top ten rating in their division. They seemingly rise in the rankings for one organization or the other and then find themselves in a position to fight for a world title. It’s an interesting phenomenon where fans are stuck questioning the legitimacy of a fighter’s accomplishments.
At the same time, this isn’t an entirely new trend. Some boxers from the past that are viewed as weak champions include Primo Carnera, Leon Spinks, and Jess Willard, to name a few. It’s important to note that in the past, boxing generally would have one champion per weight class. So while there may have been perceived weak champions from time to time, they were perhaps more deserving of the opportunity to become champion compared to today’s four-belt era. To put it simply, it was much more difficult to even be in a position to fight for a title back then compared to now. Below I describe some of the perceived weak champions / paper champions of recent.
Rolando “Rolly” Romero: Rolly is an interesting character, to say the least. His outside-the-ring antics and beefs with other fighters have led to him being a popular figure in the boxing world. Inexplicably, Rolly is now regarded as a two-time champion, having previously held the WBA lightweight title and currently the WBA Super Lightweight title.
In the WBA lightweight title fight, Rolly took on Jackson Marinez. Although Rolly won the fight by scores 118–110, 116–112, and 115–113, many felt that Marinez outboxed the unorthodox Rolly quite easily. Punch stats showed Marinez out-landed Rolly by almost 20 punches. To be honest, the 118-110 would have made more sense for Marinez.
Most recently, Rolly found himself fighting against Ismael Barroso for the vacant WBA Super Lightweight title. In the fight before that, Rolly was knocked out by Tank Davis. It’s a very rare sight for a fighter to get knocked out and then get a title fight in the next fight. Against Barroso, Rolly was once again being outboxed when all of a sudden, the referee stepped in and stopped the fight in favor of Rolly. Barroso was ahead on the scorecards and not hurt at all. Very strange circumstances in that fight.
Charles Martin: Martin is the embodiment of a paper champion. After he got his record to 22-0-1 after defeating various no-hopers and journeymen, Martin found himself in a match vs Vyacheslav Glazkov for the vacant IBF Heavyweight world title. Glazkov would end up injuring his knee in the 3rd round, and Martin would be awarded the victory. The boxing gods definitely blessed Martin that evening. Several months later, Martin would get steamrolled by Anthony Joshua. A very short reign as champion for Martin.
Bermane Stiverne: Leading up to his eventual fight for the WBC Heavyweight title, Stiverne had defeated a 28-5-4 Ray Austin for the WBC Heavyweight title eliminator. Austin was never a top heavyweight and should never have been approved to fight for an eliminator. He had been KO’d several times beforehand and looked absolutely dreadful in his previous eliminator vs. Odlanier Solis, in which he was disqualified for throwing a punch almost 30 seconds after the bell.
Stiverne would then easily defeat Austin for his shot at the WBC Heavyweight title. For some reason, Stiverne would then fight Chris Areola twice, first for the WBC Silver Heavyweight belt (whatever that is) and then again for the vacant WBC Heavyweight belt after Vitali Klitschko had retired and vacated the belt. Wonder how Stiverne would have fared against Vitali? Nevertheless, Stiverne would then go on to lose by a wide margin to Deontay Wilder in his first defense of the title.
Jeff Horn: Horn started off his career feasting mostly on domestic-level Aussie fighters. After a few years, he would then pick up decent victories over faded contenders Randall Bailey and Ali Funeka. Given that, Horn would rise enough in the rankings to be eligible to challenge boxing legend Manny Pacquiao for the WBO Welterweight title. The fight itself would take place in Horn’s home country Australia.
Pacquiao appeared to dominate the fight, hurting Horn round after round. Although Horn was very aggressive in the affair, he failed to land many meaningful punches. Post-fight stats showed Pacman landing almost double the amount of punches compared to Horn. In the end, Horn would win on the scorecards, most likely due to hometown cooking from the judges. Horn would then go on to be KO’d by Terence Crawford less than a year after the Pacquiao fight.
Let me know in the comments what you think of these fighters. Am I being unfair in my criticism, or were these fighters legit champs? Who else should be on this list? Comment below.
