Undisputed champion he was still described as "undisputed champion" by some reports. After Joe Calzaghe's super middleweight victory over Mikkel Kessler in November 2007, he was frequently described as "undisputed champion". Others disputed this, because although he held the WBA, WBC, and WBO belts, he vacated his IBF title in November 2006 rather than face a mandatory challenger, and immediately vacated other titles as well. The unified champion is defined as a boxer that holds at least two world championships of major sanctioning bodies (WBA, WBC, WBO or IBF) in their respective division. Around 2004, the World Boxing Association recognized three different
IWA Undisputed World Heavyweight Championship scheluded defense due to a storyline injury, which resulted in the title being stripped from him. The interim General Manager went on to proclaim himself champion, issuing an open challenge which was accepted by EWO's first contender, a masked wrestler known only as "Bonecrusher", who won it Ina squash match. The confrontations between Cotto and Pérez continued in two of IWA's events expanding to include EWO's CEO, Richard Rondón, as well. On February 25, 2012, following more intervention from the IWA, Cotto issued a challenge to end the conflict, an unification match for the EWO Championship and IWA Undisputed World