Two questions about the lineage of the WBA Heavyweight championship.?

Question

If you go on www.wikipedia.org and type "List of WBA world champions", you will see a list of WBA Heavyweight champions there. There Jack Sharkey is listed as the first 2 time champion. His first reign began on 9/26/1929, his second began on 6/21/1932. I had always thought Patterson was the first to regain the belt. Secondly, according to that site, Muhammad Ali's
reign #1 2/25/1964 from Sonny Liston
reign #2 2/06/1967 from Ernie Terrell
reign #3 1/22/1974 from George Foreman
reign #4 9/15/1978 from Leon Spinks.
But again, I always thought Evander Holyfield was to fist to win a version of the title 4 times. I am confused here, someone please explain this to me if you could.

Answer 1

Checking Sharkey's Wikipedia link, it shows that the first "reign" listed was for the United States heavyweight title--not the world title. So Patterson really was the first. (This is why so many people say Wikipedia sucks.)

As far as Ali's reigns, it's the second one listed here that's somewhat dubitable. Terrell only became champion by beating Eddie Machen after Ali was stripped of the title (for agreeing to a rematch with Sonny Liston). Pretty much nobody recognized Terrell as a legitimate world champion and Ali was still the linear champion when he regained that title, so it's counted by most as a single title reign. That leaves just three. :)

Answer 2

The both of you are correct, I mean, Wiki-wiki-wiki is correct in some regards, but, you are also correct. What you commonly hear during fights especially Holyfield fights is exactly what you inquired about. Evander Holyfield in this day and age won titles and was recognized as a champion, or, the champion. Regarding Sharkey, he was only the NBA champion during one of his reigns as champeen. Regarding Ali, largely due to politics and B.S. didn't lose his title to a contender, but, was stripped, or, atleast not Recognized by the WBA becuase he decided to honor a rematch with Liston, rather than fight the "next guy on the list". So really Ali was the champ, however, that word RECOGNITION is a mutha' when it comes to the sweet science. Hope this helps.

Answer 3

Ok here's where I think the error is. Muhammed Ali had never lost the belt after beating Liston until Frazier beat him in 1971 so when he fought Ernie Terrell it was still under his first reign. He lost again to Ken Norton in 1973 before beating Froeman in 1974 for his second reign. Then he lost to Leon Spinks in 1978 regaining it later that year for his third reign. His last two fights were losses to Larry Holmes and Trevor Berbick. The only thing I can think of is maybe Ernie Terrell had another belt and it was a unification fight or wikipedia just made a mistake. Evander was indeed the first 4 time heavyweight champion.

You can check Ali's fights from his personal site here to check my facts
http://www.ali.com/article.cfm?id=40

PS I reported the first answerer