The Linear Heavyweight title: What next?

If Haye beats Vit then I'd crown the winner of him or Wlad linear. If Vit beats Haye then we're back to square one because Vit vs. Wlad will never happen.

 

We need David Haye to win for the good of boxing.

I agree entirely with the sentiments of Gaz, if Haye beats Vitali a fight between himself and Wlad would determine the new lineal Champion at HW.

If Vitali and Wlad went at it right now it would determine this....but they never will.

Therefore, we need Haye to defeat Vitali to set up this mega fight with Wlad!

Support David Haye for the good of boxing damn it!

 

It's weird, The Ring Heavyweight strap has been vacant for a while, and will probably remain so while Wlad & Vitali are 1 & 2

They should throw it in the mix for ether Wlad-Arreola or Vitali-Haye

I'd definitely say the winner of the latter is the linear Heavyweght Champ, but it won't be as clear-cut as it should be.

 

There was an argument for that at the time...and people forget that. However, I personally felt that guys like Byrd and Ruiz had achieved too much not to be factored into the reckoning and that Vitali had to go through them first to fully gain recognition.

Things are different now of course, with Wlad now having two of the belts and Vitali having another.

If Haye and Wlad fight, 3 of the belts are suddenly held by one guy...the claim becomes too strong, they would be the legitimate 'man' in the division.

 

'Linear title' doesn't mean anything if it's just a case of everyone picking their own champion based on subjective opinions.

Unifying the three major belts should be the objective test for establishing a new lineage.

 

Yep, you could make that case but I don't think at the time the winner of the Wlad/ Sanders/ Vit series had a solid enough claim. Looking back at how results have panned out since it would have made sense but you don't have the benefit of that at the time.

 

The irony is that he probably had a more sturdy claim than Marvin Hart did.

The heavyweight lineage as it is generaly acepted is ridled with inconsistencies.

 

I think that the Klitschko brothers are so far ahead of the rest of the field that if they fought the winner would have to be recognised as the lineal champion. Unfortunately they will never do this.

I think that Wladamir Klitschko leads the field so clearly that anybody who beat him would have a fair claim.

What I have learned from boxing history is that lineage depends on public acceptance more than anyting else. There is no consistency to how lineage has been reestablished historicaly. Whenever the champion retires there are always a number of title claims put forward by diferent contenders and most sink without trace. If the public buys it then it makes it into the history books.

 

This part is an example of how the linear title is devalued if not subject to an objective test.

Holmes beat Norton before Ali retired, for a title that Spinks had held and vacated to fight Ali.

 

But Holmes beat the returning Ali as well.

 

That was more than two years later.