* The big part of this article was translated by using ChatGPT. Please note that there may be some awkward wordings.
In March 2020, the governor of New York State announced mandatory work and school closures to prevent the spread of COVID-19. People were required to stay at home and prohibited to go to offices and schools.
In New York City, people died from the illness, leading to chaos in managing the deceased. Many bodies were buried on islands near the city, or left in vans near funeral homes due to the overwhelming situation. Some of my friends work in the medical field in the city, and their stories revealed the immense tragedy they witnessed, with not only patients but also colleagues succumbing to the virus.
Living in the suburbs, I experienced a stark contrast to the city. Though my work significantly reduced, the closure of most restaurants and their shift to take-out and delivery only meant that I spent less money on outings, even though my income decreased.
Last Friday was September 11th, marking 19 years since that day. At that time, almost everyone living in this region knew someone who lost family or friends, even if they were personally unaffected. The current situation with the pandemic is somewhat reminiscent of that. Thinking of those who lost their lives and their families brings a heavy heart.
Regarding this blog, it’s not that I lacked topics or that I couldn’t find the motivation to write during the lockdown. It’s not like that at all. With more free time available, I planned this new project about two to three years ago. However, I never really devoted myself to it fully until now. So, I decided to invest my time into the things I hadn’t been able to focus on before.
It’s been 25 years since I started the prototype of Wrestling-Titles.com. During this time, several similar websites emerged, but none of them lasted long. Among them was a site called TitleHistories.com, which covered even the small independent promotions in the US and Europe, possibly surpassing my own website in terms of the overall number of championships featured.
Then, about 10 years ago, I noticed that this site had shut down. As I had previously been in contact with the owner of the domain, I made an inquiry, hoping they might sell it to me at a reasonable price. Surprisingly, they agreed, saying, “I believe you will use it responsibly.” I registered the domain under my name and immediately set up an automatic redirect from that domain to Wrestling-Titles.com.
However, in recent years, I started feeling that limiting this valuable domain to just professional wrestling was a waste. Initially, I contemplated starting a website to research ownership histories of vehicles and boats, based on the term “title” used in the context of ownership documents. However, I realized that there were already popular sites dedicated to vehicles, and expanding to cover other items would involve legal complications, so I abandoned the idea.
Eventually, I came up with the idea of including the title histories of other sports. Although I don’t love other combat sports as much as professional wrestling, I still watch them occasionally on TV, so I do have some interest.
Mixed martial arts (MMA) is relatively new and popular among the internet generation, with fewer weight classes compared to other sports, making information gathering relatively easy.
On the other hand, boxing and kickboxing are entirely different stories. The number of weight classes in boxing exceeds even that of MMA, and there are gaps in information, especially regarding the pre-World War I data and minor championships, which are not listed even on the officially recognized boxing record site, BoxRec.
As for kickboxing, there are considerable records for matches held in Japan, but in English-speaking countries, where it’s not as popular as pro wrestling, even if fight advertisements appear in newspapers, the results are often not listed. In some cases, events that are supposed to be “world championships” have no newspaper articles or any mention at the local level.
As for Muay Thai, attempting to research without understanding the Thai language might be unrealistic. I have the names of many fighters only by their names written in Japanese but not in Thai script. That makes it very difficult to verify the information I’m collecting
During my childhood when I read manga series such as “Ashita no Joe” and “Ganbare Genki,” there were only two major organizations that sanctioned world boxing championships, WBA and WBC. Later, IBF emerged, and eventually, WBO joined, making it the “Big Four” world boxing organizations. At times, IBO was also counted as the fifth major organization, and there were even more minor organizations that recognized world titles.
Furthermore, these major organizations not only have world championships but also various other titles such as International or Intercontinental championships, which may seem excessive to those who poke fun at professional wrestling. They also have interim and honorary titles. The WBA, for example, even has a “Super” world title that is awarded when a fighter holds world titles from other major organizations simultaneously, leading to nearly 50 world championships within the same organization. Adding the aforementioned quasi-world titles, the number of titles can easily triple or quadruple. Also, unlike WBC-affiliated organizations such as EBU (European) or OPBF (Oriental and Pacific Boxing Federation), the WBA has a branding system with names like WBA Asia or WBA Oceania for its numerous affiliated organizations. This results in hundreds of championships, including regional titles, and depending on future developments, it might even exceed a thousand.
For kickboxing, there are even more weight classes than boxing, and in addition to that, there are different organizations recognizing champions in Full Contact, Freestyle, Muay Thai, and K-1, each with its own set of rules. The current largest sanctioning body for kickboxing, the ISKA, has five rule sets, and when combining male and female competitions, there are at least 150 world championships in total (although many of them are vacant for a long time). Established organizations like ISKA, WKA, and WAKO also recognize international championships, similar to what we see in professional wrestling.
Around three years ago, I had a somewhat foolish idea—why not delve into the history of championships in sports other than professional wrestling? It was slow progress, but about two years ago, I began gathering information and launched a website under the domain TitleHistories.com last March. Finally, this March, I began promoting the site on various platforms.
Given the vast number of championships in various sports, this period of self-isolation presented a good opportunity to concentrate on research. However, the sheer number of titles made the task endless. Thus, I decided to focus on world championships and a few regional titles while disregarding interim or “inter-whatever” championships.
As I researched other sports, I found myself drawn to watching their matches, even though I know little about them compared to professional wrestling. Boxing and kickboxing matches were particularly enjoyable. Occasionally, when WWE or AEW broadcasts seemed uninteresting, I’d watch recorded boxing or events from organizations like Enfusion and Glory. YouTube became a source of nostalgia, especially for K-1 matches during their peak popularity. I also discovered that legendary names in Japanese professional wrestling, like Mark Costello, Don Nakaya Nielsen, and Tony Palmore, who lost to Sting in the “’95 Tokyo Dome BATTLE7” of New Japan Pro-Wrestling, were, in fact, former world champions in PKA and WAKO, facts that might not be widely known among non-kickboxing fans.
Although I have no intention of researching sports as extensively as I have done with professional wrestling, I plan to continue slowly studying and adding to the history of kickboxing and Muay Thai championships.
During this period, I have not drifted far from professional wrestling. It’s been more like a little “infidelity” as I’ve been researching and adding to the website, which took quite a bit of time.
Other researchers in professional wrestling history have also had extra time on their hands, and many have provided a wealth of wrestling-related information for the site. It will take time to incorporate all that data.
This blog isn’t running out of topics, but there are still many drafts and ideas waiting to be explored, and I hope to resume regular updates as before.
