Vitali Klitschko 2004-5 status in your eyes

Did you consider Vitali the legitimate lineal champion after he beat Sanders? I've been doing a little bit of research and it seems like he was universally recognized as the top dog. There are articles calling him the linear champion. Of course some disagreed because Byrd held a victory over him and was a title holder, but the minority of the observers still deny the lineal claim to Wlad, Fury or even Holmes for some strange reason. Seems to me like there was an agreement that Vitali was THE champ, but for some reason it was retconned out of boxing history. Perhaps because he only defended once and retired, unable to lay a solid claim.

How did you view Vitali's status at the time?

 

Do you consider Marvin Hart the lineal champion? Were Hart and Root number 1 and number 2 in the division at the time? Not quite, but he still was a consensus champion, therefore he restarted the lineage. Seems like there was a consensus around Vitali at the time.

To quote Dan Rafael from his piece on Wlad:

In his final bout, Lewis defeated Vitali Klitschko, the clear No. 1 contender, in a very competitive fight that Klitschko was winning on the scorecards until it was stopped because of his badly cut eye. Under the circumstances, it was only logical that Klitschko should be involved in the fight to re-establish the lineage.

Fighting for the alphabet belt that Lewis vacated upon his retirement, Klitschko eventually faced the late Corrie Sanders, a legitimate contender who was coming off an upset knockout win against titleholder Wladimir Klitschko, Vitali's younger brother.

Vitali Klitschko stopped Sanders in the eighth round in April 2004 in an excellent fight. Besides winning a vacant alphabet belt, Klitschko was also awarded the vacant Ring magazine title, which had been created to clearly identify the legitimate champion in each division (before the magazine's championship policy had been radically altered and muddled).

There are many who view Vitali's victory over Sanders as his having re-established the lineage following Lewis' retirement. Others aren't so sure.

Regardless, after Klitschko defeated Danny Williams in his next fight, he retired for nearly four years because of various injuries. That broke the lineage again (or, depending on your view, left it unrepaired post-Lewis).

Byrd was clear number 2 to be fair and he held a victory over Vitali, so it kind of make Vitali's claim weaker. But if you look at it another way: Vitali won the WBC belt and had the lineage of the WBO belt as Corrie never lost it in the ring. Sanders also beat Wlad who beat Byrd. Vitali was clear number 1, but was it enough to say he re-established the lineage.