Editing World Boxing Council (section)

===Championship===
The WBC's green championship belt portrays the flags of all of the 161 member countries of the organization. All WBC world title belts look identical regardless of weight class; however, there are minor variations on the design for secondary and regionally themed titles within the same weight class.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Walker |first1=David |title=WBC belt history |url=https://www.wbcme.co.uk/ringside/wbc-belt-history/ |website=wbcme.co.uk |access-date=5 September 2022 |date=13 September 2010}}</ref>

The WBC has nine regional governing bodies affiliated with it, such as the [[North American Boxing Federation]], the [[Oriental and Pacific Boxing Federation]], the European Boxing Union, and the [[African Boxing Union]].<ref>{{cite web |last1=Eastham |first1=Cliff |title=Alphabet Soup: Getting Lost In The Boxing Organizations |url=https://bleacherreport.com/articles/365684-alphabet-soup-getting-lost-in-the-boxing-organiztions |website=bleacherreport.com |access-date=5 September 2022 |date=19 March 2010}}</ref>

Although rivals, the WBC's relationship with other sanctioning bodies has improved over time and there have even been talks of unification with the WBA. Unification bouts between WBC and other organizations' champions are becoming more common in recent years. Throughout its history, the WBC has allowed some of its organization's champions to fight unification fights with champions of other organizations, although there were times it stepped in to prevent such fights. For many years, it also prevented its champions from holding the WBO belt. When a WBO-recognized champion wished to fight for a WBC championship, he had to abandon his WBO title first, without any special considerations. This, however, is no longer the case.

In 1983, following the death of [[Kim Duk-koo]] from injuries sustained in a 14-round fight against [[Ray Mancini]], the WBC took the unprecedented step of reducing the distance of its world championship bouts, from 15 rounds to 12—a move other organizations soon followed (for boxers' safety).<ref>{{cite web |last1=Phillips |first1=Angus |title=WBC Limits Title Fights to 12 Rounds |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/sports/1982/12/10/wbc-limits-title-fights-to-12-rounds/370e0dff-01bb-446a-a9e9-c98a1e9bcb27/ |website=washingtonpost.com |access-date=5 September 2022 |date=10 December 1982}}</ref>

Among those to have been recognized by the WBC as world champions are the undefeated and undisputed champions [[Terence Crawford]], [[Errol Spence Jr.]], [[Joe Calzaghe]], [[Floyd Mayweather Jr.]], [[Roy Jones Jr.]], [[Wilfred Benítez]], [[Wilfredo Gómez]], [[Julio César Chávez]], [[Muhammad Ali]], [[Joe Frazier]], [[Larry Holmes]], [[Sugar Ray Leonard]], [[Thomas Hearns]], [[Mike Tyson]], [[Salvador Sánchez]], [[Héctor Camacho]], [[Marvin Hagler]], [[Carlos Monzón]], [[Rodrigo Valdez]], [[Roberto Durán]], [[Juan Laporte]], [[Félix Trinidad]], [[Edwin Rosario]], [[Bernard Hopkins]], [[Alexis Argüello]], [[Nigel Benn]], [[Lennox Lewis]], [[Vitali Klitschko]], [[Érik Morales]], [[Miguel Cotto]], [[Manny Pacquiao]], [[Naoya Inoue]], [[Canelo Álvarez]], [[Tony Bellew]], [[Mairis Briedis]], and [[Grigory Drozd]].

At its discretion, the WBC may designate and recognize, upon a [[supermajority|two-thirds majority]] vote of its Board of Governors, one or more emeritus world champions in each weight class. Such a recognition is for life and is only bestowed upon present or past WBC world champions. The following boxers have earned the "Emeritus Championship" appellation throughout their careers: Lennox Lewis, Vitali Klitschko, Roy Jones Jr., Bernard Hopkins (Honorary Champion), [[Mikkel Kessler]], [[Sergio Martínez (boxer)|Sergio Martínez]], Floyd Mayweather Jr., [[Kostya Tszyu]], Manny Pacquiao, [[Danny Garcia (boxer)|Danny García]], Érik Morales, [[Toshiaki Nishioka]], [[Vic Darchinyan]], [[Edgar Sosa (boxer)|Édgar Sosa]] and [[Tony Bellew]]. This allows the fighters, should they return to competition, to take part in a title bout in the division they have been crowned emeritus champion. During the WBC's 51st Convention in [[Bangkok]], Thailand, Floyd Mayweather Jr. was named "Supreme Champion", a designation that nobody before him has ever achieved.<ref>{{cite web |title=Floyd Mayweather Is Named "Supreme Champion" |url=https://tss.ib.tv/boxing/boxing-articles-and-news-videos-results-rankings-and-history/17555-floyd-mayweather-is-named-qsupreme-championq |website=tss.ib.tv |date=12 November 2013 |access-date=5 September 2022}}</ref>

 
The WBC bolstered the legitimacy of women's boxing by recognizing fighters such as [[Christy Martin (boxer)|Christy Martin]] and [[Lucia Rijker]] as contenders for female world titles in 16 weight divisions. The first WBC World Female Champion (on 30 May 2005) was the [[super bantamweight]] [[Jackie Nava]] from Mexico. With her former-champion father at ringside, [[Laila Ali]] won the [[super middleweight]] title on 11 June 2005.