Linear vs Lineal

with all this talk of Fury's titles this past week its got me thinking which is the most prestigious of the two oldest titles in boxing - the linear heavyweight title and the lineal heavyweight title. some would say the two go hand in hand but do they?

 

I think there seems to be some confusion over the terms, whereby some people work under the assumption that the two terms (lineal and linear) are interchangable, or have the same meaning - they do not. The correct usage for boxing titles should be lineal, for what it's worth.

 

I was unaware Fury held any title other than former world heavyweight champion

 

He doesn't currently hold a belt but he's still the undefeated, lineal champion

 

I’m pretty sure when you publicly retire 3 or 4 times you pretty much lose all rights to call yourself the lineal champion. Fury’s retired more times than Lennox did...

 

Getting busted for roids doesn't help his claim to being the lineal champ either.

 

Fury also the Lineal PED Champion

 

How long is a fighter able to stay inactive (2 1/2 years in Fury's case) and still lay claim to the lineal title?

I never read much into lineal titles anyway. A couple of years ago we had that farce at MW where shot to pieces Martinez was fighting Cotto at a catchweight for the lineal title, Cotto defended against Geale at a different catchweight, and then fought Canelo at ANOTHER different catchweight, who then dumped his WBC title (but not the lineal???) rather than fight Golovkin, before finally fighting Golovkin some time later.

 

Good responses so far lot of talk about lineal, anyone care to share their views on the linear side of things?

 

Fury is the lineal champion. He's active and is the man who beat the man, who beat the man, who beat the man.

Anyone disagreeing is a Matchroom fan boy.

 

Lineal: direct in line of descent or ancestry

Linear: arranged in a straight line

Linear shouldn't be used in boxing, doesn't really make sense. Only lineal should. And even that should only mean something in clear cut cases.

I'm a Fury fan but this lineal stuff is getting embarrassing now.

 

Take a day off gentlemen. Why would you be bothered by Fury being called lineal champion? He's the man who beat the man. End of story. If you've issues with how his career went before now, take note that he's back and fighting the most dangerous man in the division away from home. How can you not respect that? Afterwards he'll either cement his status as lineal champion or lose it.

 

Right, so who was 'the man' who Wlad beat to become 'the man'?

 

Lennox Lewis retired as 'The Man', leaving the division open for a new one to emerge. Wladimir did so. What part of this is complicated?

 

Solid post sir, thanks.