Who was the most recent "LINEAL" Heavyweight Champion of the World?

Lineal is supposed to be the man who beat the man, but retirement has made that difficult in most cases. The Lineal now ascends into that position by being Globally recognized #1 and Dominance. MO

 

Most will say Wladimir Klitschko is the Current Lineal Champion

 

Lennox. After him there are none. There are only paper champions in the post lewis hw era, regardless of what ring magazine says

 

Lineal strictly means the man who beat the man, passed down by a violent lineage.

Lennox Lewis retirement ruined this, so I feel whoever becomes Undisputed is the man of the era, so if Wladimir adds the WBC he starts a new LINEAGE

If nobody becomes Undisputed...if Wladimir vacates some belts afterwards...he remains "The Man" until beaten...

Good example is Sergio Martinez, he remains Lineal until he loses (hopefully to GGG although I am a Sergio Martinez fan...but passing down legacy is best by losing to new up and comers)

 

The last was Lewis because he beat "the man" in Holyfield. Lewis obviously retired which makes Wladimir "the man" to beat today since he collected all the belts.

 

Wrong.

Lennox Lewis won the lineal heavyweight championship from Shannon Briggs

 

Vitali WBC
Vacant WBC

Wladimir reign is disputed, until he gets the WBC. That will establish a new lineage

 

It's Wlad now and has been even when his brother was still fighting. Lewis retired as Lineal titlist he is not the first to do so, Jeffries, Tunney, Marciano etc all retired and broke the lineage, it descends to the current recognized best heavyweight by the experts and publications.

 

Wladimir.

He either got it from Chagaev, Haye, or Povetkin. Povetkin at the latest, but Povetkin clearly qualifies as he was the pretty clear #3 behind both Klitschko's for a while and Vitali hadn't fought in over one year when Wladimir/Povetkin went down.

 

Wlad Klitschko, who else.

 

If that is the case, then the last real lineal champion was Gene Tunney, as he was the first HW champion to retire. Nobody ever beat him to continue the lineage.

 

He retired and someone else took his place, which makes the new champion the man in the division.

 

Yes.

Well then why do you say this:

You're saying Lennox retired and the lineage ended with him. Well then how did it not end with Tunney? You must be then claiming that a title can be properly filled through vacancy. In which case I ask you who ranked #1 and 2 at HW other than Wladimir and Povetkin heading into their showdown? The answer is nobody as Vitali had been inactive for a year and thus out of the rankings. And as much as I like Pulev I don't think there is an argument for he over Povetkin before Povetkin got 12-0'd.

 

I never said the lineage ended with him, his reign ended with his retirement but the division obviously moves on. The fighter that replaces him as the unified champion is the lineal champion which means Wladimir IS the current lineal champion. When he retires he will be the last lineal champion till someone replaces him by unifying.