A list of the best active fighters' resumes in Lineal title fights. Observations?

Below is a list of some of the most notable active fighters who are still at or near the top of the sport and who will make or have a worthy enough chance to make the Hall of Fame one day. Listed is each of their record in Lineal title fights throughout their career up until this point...

I have tried to use my best judgement as the case of a lineal champion is oddly debatable too frequently. Listed alphabetically with fights by division and then in order of occurrence...

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Timothy Bradley, 0-0

Miguel Cotto, 2-0 w/ 2 KO's, 160 champion
160: W RTD10 Sergio Martinez, W TKO4 Daniel Geale

Nonito Donaire, 2-1 w/ 2 KO's, 122 champion
122: W TKO9 Toshiaki Nishioka, W KO3 Jorge Arce, L UD12 Guillermo Rigondeaux

Carl Froch, 0-1
168: L UD12 Andre Ward

Roman Gonzalez, 4-0 w/ 4 KO's, 112 champion
112: W TKO9 Akira Yaegashi, W TKO6 Rocky Fuentes, W TKO2 Edgar Sosa, W TKO9 Roman Gonzalez

Bernard Hopkins, 10-4-1-1 w/ 4 KO's, 160 + 175 champion
160: W TKO12 Felix Trinidad, W RTD10 Carl Daniels, W RTD8 Morrade Hakkar, W UD12 William Joppy, W UD12 Robert Allen III, W KO9 Oscar de la Hoya, W UD12 Howard Eastman, L SD12 Jermain Taylor, L UD12 Jermain Taylor
175: W UD12 Antonio Tarver, W UD12 Winky Wright, L SD12 Joe Calzaghe, D12 Jean Pascal I, W UD12 Jean Pascal II, NC2 Chad Dawson I, L MD12 Chad Dawson II

Wladimir Klitschko, 12-0 w/ 8 KO's, Heavyweight champion
Heavyweight: W RTD9 Ruslan Chagaev, W KO12 Eddie Chambers, W KO10 Samuel Peter II, W UD12 David Haye, W KO4 Jean Marc Mormeck, W TKO6 Tony Thompson II, W UD12 Mariusz Wach, W TKO6 Francesco Pianeta, W UD12 Alexander Povetkin, W TKO5 Alex Leapai, W KO5 Kubrat Pulev, W UD12 Bryant Jennings

Juan Manuel Marquez, 4-1-1 w/ 3 KO's, 135 champion
126: D12 Manny Pacquiao I
130: L SD12 Manny Pacquiao II
135: W TKO11 Joel Casamayor, W TKO9 Juan Diaz, W UD12 Juan Diaz II, W TKO9 Michael Katsidis

Floyd Mayweather Jr, 16-0 w/ 8 KO's, 130 + 135 + 147 + 154 champion
130: W RTD8 Genaro Hernandez, W TKO2 Angel Manfredy, W UD12 Carlos Rios, W KO9 Justin Juuko, W RTD7 Carlos Gerena, W UD12 Gregorio Vargas, W TKO10 Diego Corrales, W UD12 Carlos Hernandez, W RTD9 Jesus Chavez
135: W UD12 Jose Luis Castillo II, W UD12 Victoriano Sosa, W TKO7 Phillip Ndou
147: W UD12 Carlos Baldomir, W TKO10 Ricky Hatton, W UD12 Manny Pacquiao
154: W MD12 Saul Alvarez

Manny Pacquiao, 6-2-1 w/ 5 KO's, 112 + 126 + 130 + 140 champion
112: W KO8 Chatchai Sasakul, W TKO4 Gabriel Mira, L TKO3 Medgoen Singsurat
126: W TKO11 Marco Antonio Barrera I, D12 Juan Manuel Marquez I, W TKO4 Fashan 3K Battery
130: W SD12 Juan Manuel Marquez II
140: W KO2 Ricky Hatton
147: L UD12 Floyd Mayweather

Guillermo Rigondeaux, 4-0 w/ 2 KO's, 122 champion
122: W UD12 Nonito Donaire, W UD12 Joseph Agbeko, W KO1 Sod Kokietgym, W RTD11 Hisashi Amagasa

Andre Ward, 3-0 w/ 1 KO, 168 champion
168: W UD12 Carl Froch, W TKO10 Chad Dawson, W UD12 Edwin Rodriguez

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What are your observations? How do you rank their resumes in lineal title fights?

 

Anyone???

 

And I think doing it your way dramatically distorts the records sometimes too.

I do agree with what you say to an extent, however. Of course this has nothing to do with which fighter is better and in the end a win and performance over Fighter X is just as good lineal title on the line or not. Just interesting to see how much or little some great fighters have competed in lineal bouts among their many years.

Rarely are lineal champions not recognized as the best in the division and that because of the principle of what the lineal title is. And never winning a lineal title from vacancy shows you were never the #1 or #2 in a single division facing the other, which is significant if it's done.

 

Scheduled:
5/16- Roman Gonzalez vs. Edgar Sosa
6/6- Miguel Cotto vs. Daniel Geale

 

It's always been this way, though. The lineal champ isn't always the #1 in the division and the lineal champ often times doesn't face the best possible contender. Nothing new.

Stevenson and Cotto clearly deserved it for beating "the man." Ward and Garcia legitimately filled vacancies.

I could go on a large rant about the BS dropping of Huck (despite a WBO title defense less than 6 months prior) to allow for YPH vs. Cunningham to be for the vacant title. Total BS, that one. I've never recognized him as lineal champion despite being the Ring champion. Similar to how I didn't recognize Garcia until after he beat Matthysse, not for beating Khan a year earlier like the Ring granted. The Ring title is totally watered down. A true lineal title (unfortunately also debatable) in my opinion is not. I tried to choose consensus lineages for this thread.

 

Nobody is saying that...

 

Are you aware that lineal titles have nothing to do with the other belts and become vacant upon retirement or long term moving up in weight?

So if a fighter drops their ABC belts, like Ricky Hatton did when he moved up to face Mayweather at 147, he still remains lineal champ champ when he moves back down for his next fight. Hatton never won another sanctioned title but still held and then handed off the 140 lineal title to Pacquiao when Pac put him to sleep.

At the start of 2010 there were only I believe 6 lineal champions across the 17 divisions.