No roaring cheers. No hand raised aloft. No dramatic chorus of ‘And the new!’For a growing contingent of world champions, the realisation of a lifelong dream now arrives in silence, via an email from one of boxing’s four major sanctioning bodies. Fabio Wardley was crowned the interim WBO champion when he defeated Joseph Parker last October and was later upgraded when Oleksandr Usyk vacated the full versionGettyThe anticlimactic coronation most commonly occurs when an interim title holder is elevated to full world championship status by a Championship Committee.This can happen for various reasons, all of which involve the champion giving up their belt, either voluntarily or by decree. It has become a particularly common trend on British shores, where we have had four so-called ’email world champions’ in the last two years.In June 2024, Daniel Dubois was upgraded to full IBF titlist when Oleksandr Usyk pursued a contracted rematch with Tyson Fury, thus breaching the terms of his mandatory obligation to ‘Triple D’.Then came Fabio Wardley in November 2025, who was elevated to WBO champion after Usyk, once again, opted to go another route.The WBA followed the same playbook with Jazza Dickens one month later, when Lamont Roach vacated the super featherweight strap to move up to lightweight.Denzel Bentley’s controversial caseBritish boxing’s most recent, and undoubtedly most hard-done-by, ’email world champion’, Denzel Bentley, was crowned in July.When Bentley picked up the WBO interim middleweight title in April by stopping Endry Saavedra of Venezuela, there was a black cloud hanging over the bout. That is because the interim title fight had been made while full champion Janibek Alimkhanuly was serving a ban for a failed drug test.Alimkhanuly returned adverse findings for the banned metabolic modulator, meldonium, days before he was due to collide with Erislandy Lara in a WBA, IBF and WBO unification clash last December.Bentley says he was ‘robbed of his moment’ when the WBO sanctioned an interim title fight while the full champion was serving a doping suspensionGettyBentley’s eventual promotion wasn’t triggered by Alimkhanuly’s failed test, but by the Kazakh’s decision to jump up to super middleweight, where he was installed as the division’s No.1 contender.The whole situation left a bitter taste in Bentley’s mouth and he called into question an often-flawed interim title system that has become an increasingly hot topic among boxing fans.“It’s very frustrating,” Bentley told talkSPORT.com. “If Janibek had decided to stay at middleweight, he would still be a world champion.“But either way, I saw myself as winning a world title that night, even though in reality, it wasn’t one.“I wouldn’t get that recognition until later, which is very annoying.“It’s a bad look for the governing bodies, with how this played out. They aren’t doing themselves any favours.Alimkhanuly returned adverse findings for the banned metabolic modulator, melodium, but was allowed to keep his WBO beltGetty“They want to go around and say that belts matter, but they aren’t making it easy for us to side with them…“I didn’t fight for a full world title. I fought for an interim world title.“So you’ve taken my moment away from me, but I still have to pay my sanctioning fees. “That’s not fair. I’m not the full champion, but I’m paying the same percentage as the real champion.“Meanwhile, you guys aren’t following your own rules by not stripping a drug cheat. You’re finding loopholes.“When I got that email saying I was a world champion, it had got to the point where I didn’t care anymore. Bentley felt underwhelmed when he was eventually elevated by emailGetty“My manager was emailing the WBO, and they kept coming back with whatever excuse or reason as to why they couldn’t or wouldn’t elevate me.“So I had moved on. I was thinking about my next fight and who it would be against. If Janibek comes back, I have to fight Janibek; it is what it is.“Then, I was driving home, and my manager called me, and he was like, ‘Have you checked your emails?’.“And I was like, ‘Nah, I’m driving’, and so he read the email over the phone to me that said I was a world champion, and I was happy for a bit, maybe more relieved. “But then I got home, and it all felt a bit underwhelming. “Like, ‘Oh, you know what?’ That was a bit of a s*** way to do it. But I’m the champion, and now I can capitalise on it and move forward with my career.'”For Bentley, that next step appears to be a unification fight with IBF champion Aaron McKenna.Both parties are in advanced negotiations for a bout at the back end of the year, according to Ring Magazine.Watch Boxing on DAZN*If you click a link in this boxout, we will earn affiliate revenueSign up to DAZN to access the definitive subscription for boxing fans.Upgrade to DAZN Ultimate from just £24.99/month, guaranteeing access to 185+ fights annually, a minimum of 12 pay-per-views at no extra cost, as well as every Lega Serie A match and other elite football access.Alternatively, DAZN Standard is just £15.99/month, with the caveat you will have to pay for pay-per-view events.Click here to sign up.