Boxing is the only sport that can turn something simple into something painfully complicated. Four sanctioning bodies, dozens of belts, “champions in recess”, multiple “world champions” in a single division — and right in the middle of this chaos sit the interim champion boxing rules that nobody genuinely understands, including the people enforcing them.
I’ll start the way I always do when this topic comes up:
I’ve never been a fan of interim belts.
I’m not a fan now.
I won’t be a fan in the future.
But they exist.
And because they exist, boxing needs a clear, fair, universal way to handle them.
Right now, we’ve got the complete opposite — randomness dressed up as regulation.
If boxing wants legitimacy, this is an issue it simply cannot keep ignoring.
Interim Titles Were Meant to Solve Problems — Now They Create Them
Interim belts originally made sense. A champion gets injured? No problem — keep the division moving. But modern boxing has stretched that logic into absurdity.
Today interim titles appear when:
- A promoter needs a sellable headline
- A sanctioning body wants an extra fee
- A mandatory challenger is inconvenient
- A champion wants more time but nobody wants to wait
- A broadcaster wants the word “title” on a poster
We’ve already broken down the deeper issues in Boxing’s Belt Overload, but it’s worth repeating: interim titles no longer represent necessity. They represent opportunity — financial, political, and promotional.
And until that changes, confusion will continue to reign.
Elevation Should Be Earned, Not Handed Out
When Oleksandr Usyk vacated his WBO belt, the elevation that followed made sense. It was clean, logical, structured — and as I wrote in Usyk Vacates WBO Title: Why Wardley Deserved His Shot, the scenario was justified.
But that kind of clarity is the exception, not the rule.
Most of the time, elevation feels like:
- A workaround
- A shortcut
- Or a political decision made behind closed doors
Being a world champion should be earned in the ring, not granted because a governing body sent an email out on a Monday morning.
Yet the sport has normalised paper champions, upgraded champions, “administrative champions”, and “champions without a defining victory”.
It’s rotten logic and even worse governance.
If an Interim Champion Fights a Contender, It Must Be for the Vacant Belt
This is where boxing regularly contradicts itself.
Once a champion vacates or is stripped, the interim champion is often upgraded immediately. And then — incredibly — that newly elevated fighter is allowed to defend the full world title against someone who is nowhere near the No. 1 contender.
That is not how championship sport works.
That is not how credibility is built.
If an interim champion fights a contender, then the belt they are fighting for should be vacant, not defended.
Vacancy → Fight → Champion
That’s the only logical sequence.
Right now, we have:
Vacancy → Upgrade → Soft Defence
Which is how belts lose value.
And we’ve already discussed how flawed interim logic can be in The Interim Title Problem.
Why Boxing Will Never Scrap Belts — Even Though It Should
Here’s the uncomfortable truth:
Sanctioning bodies will never get rid of belts because belts are how they make their money.
Every belt — interim, regular, super, silver, gold — comes with sanctioning fees.
You fight for it in one corner? Fee.
You defend it? Fee.
Your opponent challenges for it? Another fee.
This is exactly why fighters like Terence Crawford vacate titles. It’s not because he doesn’t care about legacy — it’s because paying tens of thousands in fees for belts he doesn’t need is simply bad business.
If the sport eliminated excess belts tomorrow:
- The WBA, WBC, IBF & WBO would lose millions
- Promoters couldn’t plaster “World Championship Boxing” on every other show
- Broadcasters would lose their favourite marketing tool
Financially, the system is too lucrative to change.
That’s the truth.
One World, One Champion — The Ideal That Boxing Will Never Allow
I’ve always believed in one simple idea:
One World, One Champion per division.
The sport would be healthier overnight.
I’ve written about it in detail here:
It’s the perfect solution.
It would simplify everything.
It would make rankings meaningful again.
But it will never happen.
Boxing wouldn’t survive the financial hit.
If the sport had:
- One champion per division
- One belt
- One legitimate pathway
Then you wouldn’t see “world title fights” every weekend.
You’d get one or two per division per year.
That’s how the UFC operates.
One champion.
One belt.
One ruler of the division.
And look how clean their title picture is compared to ours.
But boxing? We’ve got 60 versions of world titles floating around.
Sixty.
Because the more belts there are, the more money is made.
And until that reality changes, confusion is guaranteed.
Sanctioning Bodies Are Inconsistent by Design
Compare how each one behaves:
- The WBC turns interim belts into mandatories — unless it doesn’t
- The WBA claims to be consolidating belts — while inventing new ones
- The WBO is the most consistent — but still bends under pressure
- The IBF avoids interim belts — except when it doesn’t
It’s no wonder fans can’t keep track.
The rules change depending on the promoter, the broadcaster, and the fighter involved.
Even the recent elevation of Jazza Dickens — which I agree made sense — shows how inconsistently the system operates. Full breakdown here: Jazza Dickens Elevated to World Champion.
The fighter isn’t the problem.
The sanctioning structure is.
The Simple Fix Boxing Refuses to Adopt
Boxing doesn’t need a new belt type.
It doesn’t need a new committee.
It doesn’t need a fifth sanctioning body.
It needs one universal rule:
If the full champion vacates or is stripped, the interim champion must fight the next highest-ranked contender for the vacant title.
No shortcuts.
No political upgrades.
No champion crowned without earning it.
This rule would:
- Bring clarity
- Protect rankings
- Respect mandatories
- Restore credibility
- End soft “first defences”
- Give fans an honest championship picture
But will boxing adopt it?
Probably not.
Because clarity doesn’t make money.
Confusion does.
Let’s Keep This Conversation Going
What do you think?
Should interim champions ever be upgraded automatically?
Is one champion per division the solution?
Or is boxing too far gone to fix?
Drop a comment, share your opinion, and keep the debate alive.
And for more honest boxing analysis — without the fluff or the politics — head over to CMBoxing for daily coverage and proper discussion.