Who was an American boxer who was dubbed the "Uncrowned Champion of the Lightweights" who was never given the chance to fight for a large, extravagantly designed belt used primarily in combat sports such as boxing, mixed martial arts, and professional wrestling to signify the champions of the promotion or company ?
56f282fe0b63733ba9e2b3cb8d1af1e4
Wesley Ramey Wesley "Wes" Ramey (September 17, 1909 – March 10, 1997) was an American boxer who was dubbed the "Uncrowned Champion of the Lightweights". Although he was ranked as a top-10 lightweight contender for 10 consecutive years, he was never given a chance to fight for a world title. Over the course of his career he defeated Hall of Famers Tony Canzoneri, Benny Bass, Lew Jenkins and Cocoa Kid. He also faced the likes of Sammy Angott and Pedro Montanez in defeat.
7ee41c058d092e9dc11b7cb2fc55b10c
Championship belt A championship belt is a large, extravagantly designed belt used primarily in combat sports such as boxing, mixed martial arts, and professional wrestling to signify the champions of the promotion or company, much like a cup or trophy in other sports. There are several companies in the business of constructing championship belts.
2dd020d959cfa279451d1a36c365deb3
NWA World Welterweight Championship The NWA World Welterweight Championship (Spanish: "Campeonato Mundial Welter de NWA" ) is a professional wrestling championship governed by the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) and currently promoted by NWA Mexico. The championship was originally created by the Mexican promotion Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL) in 1946. The promotion had control of the championship from 1946 until 1996 and again from 2007 until 2010. From 1996 until 2007 the championship was promoted mainly in Japan, first as one of eight championships that made up the New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW) J-Crown Championship. After the J-Crown was discontinued the title remained in Japan being promoted by the Toryumon promotion up until 2007 when it returned to Mexico and CMLL. CMLL was a member of the National Wrestling Alliance up until the late 1980s but chose to keep the championship and the NWA prefix after leaving the NWA. As it is a professional wrestling championship, its holders are determined by promoters or promotions, not by athletic competition. The official definition of the welterweight weight limit in Mexico is 70 kg to 78 kg , but promotions have ignored the weight limit at times and crowned champions both heavier and lighter than the rules defined.
436904eef11c23f2e6f63735d06b825c
Boxing in the 1980s Boxing in the 1980s was filled with important fights, events and personalities that shaped the sport. Boxing in the 1980s was shaped by many different situations, such as the continuous corporate battles between the different world sanctioning organizations, the void left by Muhammad Ali as the sport's ambassador and consequent search for a new boxing hero, the continuous presence of Don King as the sport's most famous promoter, the surge of rival promoters as Bob Arum, Butch Lewis and Murad Muhammad, and major rule changes. In 1986, Mike Tyson emerged as a fresh new face in the heavyweight division, which had seen a decline in champion quality level (particularly in the WBA side) after Ali's retirement and, later on, after longtime WBC ruler Larry Holmes' prime. In addition, the IBF and WBO began operating.
d4c555915f508605d53b07d362878563
Charles Sieger Charles Sieger was an Italian-American boxer who fought in the early 1900s. Fighting out of Hoboken, New Jersey, he was not particularly known for his fighting skills, but had tremendous strength and was able to withstand brutal punishment in the ring, which earned him the nickname "The Iron Man." On November 14, 1902 he fought Joe Gans for the World Lightweight Championship in Baltimore, but lost by TKO in the 14th round. One month later on December 31 he fought Gans again in Boston, this time with the match ending in a pre-arranged draw. In 1915, Sieger ran for mayor of Hoboken, but lost the election.
7f88d9bb5e6aee38abafc28818f3c1f2
Midget Wolgast Joseph Robert Loscalzo (July 18, 1910 – October 19, 1955), known professionally as Midget Wolgast, was a world flyweight boxing champion. Wolgast turned pro in 1925 and was considered one of the fastest boxers of his time. In 1930, he defeated Black Bill for the vacant New York State Athletic Commission world flyweight title. "The Ring Magazine" founder Nat Fleischer, Statistical boxing website BoxRec, and the International Boxing Research Organization all rate Wolgast as the 8th greatest flyweight of all-time. He has been elected to the International Boxing Hall of Fame and the Helms Boxing Hall of Fame.
89874789f0776ba57894f4c887b8bb3e
Bud Taylor Charles Bernard "Bud" Taylor (July 22, 1903 - March 6, 1962) was an American boxer from Terre Haute, Indiana. Nicknamed the ""Blonde Terror of Terre Haute"", he held the NBA World Bantamweight Championship during his career in 1927. "The Ring Magazine" founder Nat Fleischer rated him as the #5 best bantamweight of all-time. Taylor was inducted into the Ring Magazine Hall of Fame in 1986 and the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 2005. Taylor was trained for much of his career by former Black lightweight boxer, Jack Blackburn.
7a81dc19e7ae17869a0b71281c6d27af
Fred Apostoli Alfredo "Fred" Apostoli (February 2, 1913 – November 29, 1973) was a rugged, accomplished body punching middleweight, who was recognized as the world champion when he defeated Marcel Thil on September 23, 1937. Statistical boxing website BoxRec lists Apostoli as the #8 ranked middleweight of all time. He was inducted into the Ring Magazine Hall of Fame in 1978, the World Boxing Hall of Fame in 1988, and the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 2003.
e6d91d187199132aebe50b7cfb020537
Billy Miske Billy Miske, alias "The Saint Paul Thunderbolt" (April 12, 1894 – January 1, 1924), was a professional boxer from Saint Paul, Minnesota. During his tenure as a pugilist he had multiple-bout series with a plethora of all-time greats including Harry Greb, Jack Dempsey, Jack Dillon, Tommy Gibbons, Bill Brennan and Battling Levinsky, among others. Despite a career shortened by illness and an early death, statistical website BoxRec still lists Miske as the No. 26 ranked heavyweight of all-time.
8b564e7306269fbcad3eb128ed6635af
Louis Salica Louis ("Lou") Salica (November 16, 1912 – January 30, 2002) was an American boxer, who captured the National Boxing Association World Bantamweight Title twice in his career, in 1935 and 1940. His managers were Hymie Kaplan and Willie Ketchum. Some sources list a different birth date for Salica, July 26, 1913.
62413848feee436a2b16566b0d812134
Tommy Loughran Thomas Patrick Loughran (November 29, 1902 – July 7, 1982) was an American professional boxer and the former World Light Heavyweight Champion. Statistical boxing website BoxRec lists Loughran as the #7 ranked light heavyweight of all time, while "The Ring Magazine" founder Nat Fleischer placed him at #4. The International Boxing Research Organization rates Loughran as the 6th best light heavyweight ever. Loughran was named the "Ring Magazine"'s Fighter of the Year twice, first in 1929 and again 1931. He was inducted into the Ring Magazine Hall of Fame in 1956 and the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 1991.
60b859e438ecabb5fe69663112840c4a
Pound for pound Pound for pound is a ranking used in combat sports, such as boxing or mixed martial arts, of who the better fighters are relative to their weight (i.e., adjusted to compensate for weight class). As these fighters do not compete directly, judging the best fighter pound for pound is subjective, and ratings vary. They may be based on a range of criteria including "quality of opposition", factors such as how exciting the fighter is or how famous they are, or be an attempt to determine who would win if all those ranked were the same size. In boxing, the term was historically associated with fighters such as Benny Leonard and Sugar Ray Robinson who were widely considered to be the most skilled fighters of their day, to distinguish them from the generally more popular (and better compensated) heavyweight champions. Since 1990, "The Ring" magazine has maintained a pound for pound rank of fighters. ESPN.com has a list for mixed martial artists. In December 2013, Ronda Rousey became the first woman to appear on the top 10 of a mixed-gender major publication.
8d60d261fab263a8feeee795e0e9287a
UWA World Featherweight Championship The UWA World Featherweight Championship ("Campeonato Mundial peso Pluma de UWA" in Spanish) was a professional wrestling championship promoted by the Mexican wrestling promotion Universal Wrestling Association (UWA) from 1983 until the promotion closed in 1995. Being a professional wrestling championship it is not won legitimately; it is instead won via a scripted ending to a match or awarded to a wrestler because of a storyline. The official definition of the Featherweight weight class in Mexico is between 57 kg and 63 kg , but is not always strictly enforced. the UWA World Featherweight Championship was not among the UWA titles that were kept active even after the UWA closed, like the UWA World Heavyweight Championship, but was abandoned when the UWA closed down.
4c7f1efece0b10489231bf2f315f3b5f
Harry Forbes Harry Forbes (May 12, 1879 – December 19, 1946) was an American boxer who took the World Bantamweight Title on November 11, 1901 when he defeated Danny Dougherty in a second-round knockout in Saint Louis, Missouri. He lost the title three years later, on August 13, 1903 to Frankie Neil in a second-round knockout at the Mechanics Pavilion in San Francisco, California.
1dff2a3750ca2ec0fea2d4a8550f604a
List of Strikeforce champions Strikeforce was an American mixed martial arts organization. It crowned male champions in the lightweight, welterweight, middleweight, light heavyweight and heavyweight divisions, and female champions in featherweight and bantamweight.
6f4bcf55901210e351e40ee4457437bd
Don King (boxing promoter) Donald King (born August 20, 1931) is an American boxing promoter known for his involvement in historic boxing matchups. He has been a controversial figure, partly due to a manslaughter conviction (and later pardon), and civil cases against him.
e639787fef43c4fe801adaf59952dd96
Foxy boxing Foxy boxing is a form of sports entertainment which involves two or more women boxing (or pretending to do so) in a sexualized context as a form of erotic entertainment. The participants are typically dressed in revealing clothing such as bikinis or skintight leotards, while the actual fight usually focuses on the beauty of the combatants rather than fighting skills. Foxy boxing is unusual in that the audience generally does not care who wins. It is believed to have its roots in "singles' bars in southern California" after the interest in women's boxing began to decline in the late 1980s.
1d69410736e388b203eaf664766438e2
Bare Knuckle Boxing Hall of Fame The Bare Knuckle Boxing Hall of Fame is a museum and hall of fame in Belfast, New York, dedicated to the sport of bare-knuckle boxing. It is housed in barns that were once owned by the Greco-Roman wrestling champion and physical culture pioneer William Muldoon. The heavyweight boxing champion John L. Sullivan, who fought in both bare-knuckled and gloved boxing contests, trained in these barns under Muldoon's guidance for his championship bout against Jake Kilrain in 1889. The barns were originally across Main Street from their current location, on the grounds of the Belfast United Methodist Church. They were bought, moved, and restored by Scott Burt when the church became no longer interested in maintaining them. Burt opened the Hall of Fame in 2009, when it had its first induction class.
fdc49bebf2b5e1f2724223b916528ba5
Buster Douglas James "Buster" Douglas (born April 7, 1960) is an American former professional boxer who competed from 1981 to 1990, and 1996 to 1999. He is best known for his stunning upset of Mike Tyson on February 11, 1990 in Tokyo to win the undisputed heavyweight title. At the time Tyson was undefeated and considered to be the best boxer in the world, as well as one of the most feared heavyweight champions in history due to his domination of the division over the previous three years. The only casino to make odds for the fight (all others declining to do so as they considered the fight such a foregone conclusion) had Douglas as a 42-to-1 underdog for the fight, making his victory, in commentator Jim Lampley's words, "The biggest upset in the history of heavyweight championship fights." Douglas held the title for eight months and two weeks, losing on October 25, 1990 to Evander Holyfield via third-round knockout, in his only title defense.
c1c65208b17a8e57bff5d3a4822d1fc0
CMLL World Lightweight Championship The CMLL World Lightweight Championship (Spanish: "Campeonato Mundial de Peso Ligero del CMLL" ) is a professional wrestling world championship promoted by the Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL), a Mexican "Lucha Libre" wrestling promotion (franchise). Originally CMLL promoted the "Super Lightweight" division as part of their expansion into Japan in 1999 and 2000 and later reintroduced the division in 2003, at the same time they were running a CMLL World Super Lightweight Championship in Mexico. During Máscara Dorada's reign between 2009 and 2011, the name was changed to the CMLL Lightweight Championship, adjusting the weight limit.
19907c3f8de4e75e28d12ed71e19941d
Floyd Mayweather Jr. Floyd Joy Mayweather Jr. (born Floyd Joy Sinclair; February 24, 1977) is an American professional boxing promoter and former professional boxer. He competed from 1996 to 2007 and 2009 to 2015, and made a one-fight comeback in 2017. During his career, he held 15 world titles in five weight classes and the lineal championship in four different weight classes (twice at welterweight), and retired with an undefeated record of 50–0, surpassing Rocky Marciano's record of 49–0. As an amateur, Mayweather won a bronze medal in the featherweight division at the 1996 Olympics, three U.S. Golden Gloves championships (at light flyweight, flyweight, and featherweight), and the U.S. national championship at featherweight.
6bd9e6a963dd82ef351c4f3c7a31206f
Mike Tyson vs. Michael Spinks Mike Tyson vs. Michael Spinks was a boxing match which took place on Monday June 27, 1988. Both men were undefeated and each had a claim to being the legitimate heavyweight champion. At the time, Tyson held the belts of all three of the major sanctioning organizations (World Boxing Council, World Boxing Association, and International Boxing Federation) while Spinks was the "Ring" champion and was considered the lineal champion.