Undisputed champion recognised a different champion. The disputes were usually short-lived as a lucrative fight would be organised between the rival champions. The longest split was ten years, of the middleweight title, between Mickey Walker's move up to heavyweight in 1931 and NBA champion Tony Zale's defeat of NYSAC contender Georgie Abrams in 1941. An early use of "undisputed" appears in a "New York Times" preview of the 1941 fight. The growing popularity of boxing outside of the USA led to creation of various boxing organizations, each strengthening their influence (most notably BBBofC) and having their own champion. This resulted in a
World boxing championship records and statistics World boxing championship records and statistics Since at least John L. Sullivan, in the late 19th century, there have been world champions in professional boxing. At the very beginnings, before any sanctioning body was established, many boxers proclaimed themselves as legitimate champions. Eventually, champions were recognized through public acclamation, succesively establishing a lineage. Important sets of weight classes were those specified in 1909 by the National Sporting Club of London, and those contained in the 1920 Walker Law which established the New York State Athletic Commission (NYSAC). NYSAC recognized champions from its foundation in 1920. The National Boxing Association (NBA)