Would you say Floyd Mayweather Junior is the CURRENT linear welterweight champion?

According to The Ring they were (they fought in July)

http://boxrec.com/media/index.php/The_Ring_Magazine's_Annual_Ratings:_2008

March 2009

Title Vacant
Antonio Margarito
Miguel Angel Cotto
Shane Mosley
Joshua Clottey
Manny Pacquiao
Carlos Quintana
Zab Judah
Luis Collazo
Andre Berto
Isaac Hlatshwayo

 

Can't be right. Cotto was definitely number 1 i'm sure of it.

 

Yea it doesn't actually look right now you mention that, neither does Williams not being there, although he had just lost to Quintana, still.....it is The Ring hardly infallible. I also think allot of boxing writers are in certain promoters pockets

 

Seems more like than rankings after marg beat cotto maybe?

Williams wasn't a highly ranked ww for a significant period of time in reality: he moved up almost immediately after beating quintana in the rematch and the only ww he made an offer to was mosley.

 

Maybe but Boxrec lists it March '09 Before Marg's Cintron/Cotto wins

 

By beating Baldmior he became linear champion. A tittle he never lost in the ring. He reestalibished his claim by beating Mosley.

 

Tito never lost the title in the ring so if he comes back at ww can we call him the lineal champ?

 

I dunno why linearity is talked about so much on here. It's boring, irrelevant and meaningless these days. Was Carlos Baldomir the true ww champ when he held a belt in the same division as Mosley, Cotto, Margarito, Williams and Mayweather? Who cares about linearity, it's over.

 

good point-but he gave it up via "moving up in weight"..much different than retiring and coming back.

 

yea...unfortunately it is not-it is a term, still used by media, fans, and writers-a term that still exists in today's boxing as well.

 

Irrelevant and meaningless yes but certainly not boring.

It's fun to debate the path the lineage takes at certainly junctures.

Baldomir is maybe one of the worst skilled champions out there but in beating judah he outperformed every other ww of that timeframe.

Maybe marg would have beaten judah given the chance, with hindsight it looks a certainty infact, but margo never got the marquee fights until the cintron rematch.

 

Power Puncher is ****ing **** up again..

Cotto was #1, Marg was #4. If they were #1 and #2..Marg would have claimed the Ring Welterweight Belt.


Cotto entered the fight as

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magazine's #1 ranked boxer in the welterweight division and #6 in their

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rankings. Margarito entered the match as The Ring magazine's #4 ranked welterweight. Press conferences were held in [ame="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mexico"]

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[/ame], [ame="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Los_Angeles"]

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[/ame], New York City, and [ame="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Puerto_Rico"]

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[/ame] to promote the world title bout

The rankings from Ring's April 2008 Ring issue. Just 2 months prior the fight.

1.

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2.

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5.

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Cotto #1
Marg #4

The fight was not for the Ring Belt...

 

In which ways is it much different?

So if lewis came back would you recognise him as the champion?

 

In all seriousness, Mayweather lost his claim when he retired. He did not win it back from Mosley.

Regarding Mosley/Marg....

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did not recognize this bout for its vacant [ame="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Welterweight"]

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[/ame] championship despite the fact it pitted

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#1 ranked welterweight, Antonio Margarito vs.

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#3 ranked welterweight, Shane Mosley. Coming in the bout, Margarito had just TKO'd the previous

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#1 ranked welterweight and current

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#2 ranked welterweight, [ame="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miguel_Cotto"]

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[/ame].

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Obviously, Mosley was #1 but Mayweather was not #2..Pac was after beating Cotto. Pac reclaimed the #1 spot after Mayweather was stripped of his rankings for inactivity.

The top dogs in the division are now #1 Pac and #2 Floyd. They must fight to crown a new Ring Champion. Or at the very least, Pac must beat #3 Ortiz to have any kind of claim.