One of the big differences between boxing in the last twenty to thirty years, and the years before them, is how much less we really know before fighters arrive at the title level.

It wasn’t always the case to be sure, but more often boxing fans developed their interest in new faces by seeing them on the way up against recognizable, established contenders. It was less common to see a fighter get their first title shot without a single win against a consensus top ten opponent. 

Today, it feels pretty common. 

There are still great fighters who build excellent resumes. How many of them got their first or second serious win in a title fight? In a lot of cases, we see young talents with star potential get belts in absurd matches, veritably rendering those first belts the boxing equivalent of starter homes. The current pound-for-pound king, Saul Alvarez, has built a hall of fame ledger.

His time in the title scene didn’t start that way.

Alvarez’s first belt at Jr. middleweight came against a career welterweight, Matthew Hatton, whose strongest credential appeared to be his being Ricky Hatton’s brother.    

The structure of the sport, with at least four belts often around, makes variations of this approach an obvious, sensible path. It gets fans used to the idea of a fighter as a champion while they continue to develop. Play the sanctioning body game, get a ranking, get a title shot, and then start upping the competition. Instead of appearing to earn title shots, the modern model is about earning the right to be more than just another belt winner once that critical step is reached.

It’s not necessarily a bad thing as long as we ultimately still get good fights and, in April 2022, boxing fans don’t have much to complain about. We are in the midst of as loaded a month as one could ask for. 

It doesn’t mean there aren’t occasions where the old ways don’t rise to the surface.

This Saturday on Showtime (10 PM EST), 26-year old Erickson Lubin (24-1, 17 KO) faces 24-year old Sebastian Fundora (18-0-1, 12 KO). To be clear, this fight is happening in the modern construct. The winner will be the WBC’s interim beltholder, part of the sanctioning body system. 

It’s also happening because scarcity demands it. 

There are less options for titles right now at Jr. middleweight than in most weight classes, and for boxing and boxing fans it turns out to be a good thing. 31-year old Jermell Charlo (34-1-1, 18 KO) has three of the most significant pieces of hardware (WBC, WBA, IBF) in the class. 32-year old Brian Castano (17-0-2, 12 KO, WBO) has the other. 

Charlo and Castano squared off last July in an excellent contest. The judges saw a draw and boxing fans saw the two men who had earned the right to be called the best at 154 lbs. They resume hostilities on May 14. It’s meant mandatories in wait and boxing is better for it.

Let them wait.

The point of sports is to find out who the best is and get compensated for it. Those two things can get out of balance in boxing, to its detriment. Jr. middleweight is in the midst of a years-long run where the balance has been fan friendly. Barring another draw, Charlo-Castano II will give us a best. That shouldn’t create a logjam. It should create competition to get to the winner faster.

This weekend, it can be argued that’s exactly what’s happening. If there were four loose belts around, it would be easy to envision two hungry young guys like Lubin and Fundora positioning themselves for potentially less risky routes to get to a strap. Instead, they are staring at a landscape where if the winner of Charlo-Castano II elects to keep defending all the belts, the most direct route to the winner is through each other.

Lubin tried it the other way, working through manageable opposition and challenging Charlo in 2017 before he might have been ready for it. It was a disastrous first round loss that didn’t turn out to be a disaster. The experience he’s gained since, facing former titlist Jeison Rosario, Olympian Terrell Gausha, and now Fundora has added a seasoning he simply didn’t have in his first drive toward a title shot. 

Fundora has gradually improved his opposition and moves from veteran Sergio Garcia in his last outing to the most experienced foe of his career. The winner won’t just be in line for a shot at the undisputed crown.

They will have the chops to say they earned it the old fashioned way. Both men are legitimate top ten talents and they’re not just waiting. As more belts get unified in more divisions, and there is a lot of unification going on in the first half of 2022, we may see more fights like Fundora-Lubin. 

Let’s hope so.

Single champions are a good thing. Challengers who have built a body of evidence that marks them a challenger on merit, and not just sanctioning body flexibility, gives us more to look forward to.            

Cliff Rold is the Managing Editor of BoxingScene, a founding member of the Transnational Boxing Rankings Board, a member of the International Boxing Research Organization, and a member of the Boxing Writers Association of America.