Has wlad done enough such that he's began a new universally accepted lineage?

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He surrendered a belt, yes. But is it enough to strip him of the belt? I think people largely jump at the opportunity to disinherit Erdei as champion because he's been a very poor one, and for so very long. But I think he has a legitimate claim still. The other side of the coin is he hasn't made a credible title defense since 2009, and is far removed from the elite of the division for mine. However, even then, one finds history littered with similar precedents. Hopkins might have been merely an uncrowned king on the outside, looking in, if this had happened in an earlier era. Thoughts?

 

Lufcrazy anwered the question more or less the same way I would.

If a fighter vacates the belt or retires or a legitimate authority determines that he abandoned (what I'm calling) the throne, then it becomes empty. If Clemenza had a gun to Erdei's head and forced him to vacate, then that's another thing. Mere pressure isn't enough.

 

From a strictly sporting point of view, the brothers should fight to determine the best. It's that simple.

They won't, so, based on his superior record, Vitali should be considered the top dog.

However, on his own parallel path, Wlad has, for practical purposes, unified the heavyweight belts and proven his own hegemony.

His lineage is legit, and that is the best that can be made of a pretty lousy situation.

 

Overall, yes:

Unlike the thrice-thrashed Wlad, only Lennox Lewis has truly beaten Vitali, who has never tasted the canvas and has a higher KO percentage.

Head-to-head, I'll take Vitali: the Sanders fights would seem to confirm this.

Props to Wlad for his consistency since his last loss, but Vitali would also steamroll this same assortment of victims.

 

Vitali's "record" as prime puts it, I think is a very separate argument, in terms of the results he's gotten, counting not having the same negatives as Volo, and the context of his career. Resume of victories should be put in another discussion. Who has the better record/results/is a better fighter, is a matter of some debate, I'd say. Reasonable debate. Volo has these nice accomplishments on paper of the unification/long standing record in unified world title fights of some mix or another. Vitali has his outstanding longevity, a classic match with an ATG in Lewis, even in defeat, two very different kinds of losses to Volo's three, and ones that simply reflect better on him as a total package than Volo. Blah, blah, blach.

But, resume of victories? Not close, for me. Volo's got that by a long stretch, and understandably, having significantly more fights, and significantly more on the world level, and virtually his pick of the litter for years, since Vitali's departure and also his return. Volo has the best single win, clearly, for me, and a much deeper list of good names. Neither have ever beaten an unarguably great heavyweight but Volo's got a much longer list of good to very good names. Much deeper resume. Perhaps the futures of Solis and Arreola will make that look different...though I've seriously doubt that and the Solis win can't even carry the same weight as Byrd's win over Vitali, all things considered, no matter what he accomplishes anyway.

 

He ditched the WBO title; that's different from formally relinquishing the throne at light heavyweight, in my opinion. Rarely do we hear a fighter make reference to the lineal title these days because of its very nature. Erdei, to my knowledge, never gave up the honor. He had a one-fight gig at cruiserweight to seize a belt there, but he didn't rule out a return to his long-time weight division, as far as I know. In fact, he likely expected it based on his weight for the fight.

I for one only consider the championship vacated when there is a palpable likelihood that the incumbent holder will never again compete, that is, defend against challengers to the crown at the weight. Jeffries in 1904, Louis in 1948, Ali 1967 are past examples. I had Mayweather installed as the welterweight king going into his fight with Ortiz even though he was a 'beltless' fighter (this, by virtue of his victory over Mosley, who had beaten the WBA and lineal champion in Margarito).