I'm thrilled we're getting the first undisputed champion in the 4-belt era, but I feel the lineage could have been re-established long before now. It's been restarted for less in other divisions. Israel Contreras should have been unified champion, albeit with the lowly-regarded WBO in the 90's. Not a strong claim by any stretch, but his successors legitimize this, somewhat. That line would have ended with Paulie Ayala as champion, if I'm not mistaken. Hasegawa, having ten defenses, could have been granted the honor by default any time during his 5-year reign. Those who followed him, Montiel and Donaire, were unified champions, as well (but only after the WBO pulled a switcheroo on Penalosa). Donaire, as a pound-for-pound entrant, is as strong a candidate you could find before Inoue. And Inoue, himself, already has 3 out of the 4 belts. I think it's a bit silly for him to have to defeat Donaire again before being fully recognized.
Lineal in this case, like in many cases, is; ├─────┼─────┼─────┼─────┼─────┤ This content is protected ├─────┤ and then there's the ones that are branching, because people disagree who the "lineal" champion actually is and if or or when a new one actually started.
