The WBC has received official confirmation from bridgerwieght champion Lawrence Okolie that he has decided to relinquish his world title in order to pursue his dream of becoming heavyweight champion. Consequently interim champion Kevin Lerena is hereby confirmed as WBC world bridgerwieght champion.
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Lol @ the WBC already having an ‘interim’ titleholder on standby in this fake division.
Another email/paper champ.
Sure would be nice to see a boxer actually ‘fight’ for a world title. These type of champs only reduce the significance of winning/fighting for a a world title. If everyone won the title it in the ring, like you’d think a tough sport like boxing would do, the titles would have more meaning to the boxer and public. This repeated action of ‘handing’ out a title is weakening the spirit of boxing and champions. Not to mention, the Bridgerweight division is somewhat of a joke as well, much like the act of handing out a title. A paper champ, in a paper division.
Walker, you are 100000000 pct correct!!!!!!!!!
In Lerena’s defense, he did have to beat Ryad Merhy to get in that position and he can’t do anything about it if Okolie is leaving the division.
Ok, but he beat Merhy for a ranking position, not the title. Since that fight he is 1-1-0. I understand the Interim position, but things need to change. I would just like to see boxers get in the ring and decide who to call champ, like a sport called boxing should do. Have boxers throw punches in the ring for the title, not managers/promoters/sanctioning orgs throwing words at each other to decide.
Lerena beat Merhy in an eliminator. He won another fight, against Gashi, for the interim title. They didn’t just pick him as the #1 ranked guy and gave him the interim belt. And he did lose a fight, but that was at heavyweight.
Dubois, for example, won an interim title against Hrgovic. Usyk then vacated and Dubois got elevated to regular champion. I don’t think anyone has ever been pulled out of the blue and just declared interim champion (although I wouldn’t be shocked if the WBA did it once). They have to get in there and compete against SOMEONE in order to get the interim title.
Four belts per weight class and ‘interim’ and secondary versions of those mean this nonsense is inevitable. Even during most of the three belt era things weren’t anywhere near as bad due to the absence of ‘interim’ titles. We need to move on from these corrupt organisations.
The “bridgerweight” division is not a bad idea. Heavyweights keep getting bigger. Big George Foreman weighed in at 217 lbs. when he beat Frazier for the title in 1973, now he’d be considered a small heavyweight. So, the bridgerweight division is probably a good idea in the current landscape where a 230 lb man is considered a “small” heavyweight. Just drop the clunkey name!
Well Usyk when this title was created would qualify as a Bridgerweight champion. I think even in his last fight against Fury he was 223. Of my top 8 heavyweights of all time, I have only Lenox Lewis who would not be a bridgerweight.
the Bridgerweight name was in honor of some small child who saved I believe his little sister from a dangerous dog. that was the WBC invention. the childs last name was Bridger.
Well done champ on winning the title! Was it a tough title fight?!
Thanks! No, I did not have a fight, they gave me the title…
…F@#%g fake BS this!
They’re really having a hard time getting this division going. Oscar Rivas was the first champion and he ended up having to fight Rozicki who was a replacement for Bryant Jennings; then Rivas never defended and ultimately had to retire (I guess) with a detached retina. They get a new champion, a year and a half later, he both wins and loses his title on first round ko’s and now the guy who beat him is vacating. The WBA also jumped on and their first champion got stripped for failing a drug test.
I think that all of the organizations that have this new division will have to agree on a clear undisputed champion and a pool of contenders to consider. This weight class looks to be a pass through for fighters at this point. I think it may be too hard to start a new division with multiple champs.
Is an interesting idea. You’d wonder, just because it’s only two of them invested at this point, if they could maybe use bridgerweight as an experiment to see how two orgs could agree with ranking and sanctioning a single title in one division….
of course that would never happen, but it is fascinating to think about.
Oh no not his bridgerweight title!
I have never boxed but I would gladly lose 40lbs and pay Suleiman $100K to be named “Interim birdgerweight” Champ I think I can beat Alen Babic LOL
I think -why does he even bother vacating the title. Why not just not defend it, and let the WBC strip him? But then they probably fine him and charge him fees and shit for not defending. These alphabet organizations are like credit card companies. They charge their champions up the ass for everything!