Current Lineal Champs

It's interesting that since Pacquiao signed with Top Rank, Arum used his power with the media to make his lineal titles with Ring Magazine recognized. Do you notice that Lampley, in talking about the 140-lbs. picture before the fight, only called Bradley, Kotelnik, and Urango BELTHOLDERS? He did not say CHAMPION and even went so far as to omit the names of the alphabet organizations whose belts the three fighters held.

I think this is great for boxing, even if DLH technically owns the ring. By HBO taking ESPN's stance and refusing to recognize paper champs, they in essence legitimize the sport in presenting the fans only one true champion per weight class, which not only is less confusing to the fans, but lessens the power of the ABC boys.

Here's a list of lineage of the most recent TRUE world champions per weight class (last 7 champions). The current members of the Ring P4P Top 10 are in bold.

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1. Kyung-Yun Lee (1987-1988, first champion)
2. Hiroka Ioka (1988}
3. Napa Kiatwanchai (1988-1989)
4. Jum Hwan Choi (1989-1990)
5. Hideyuki Ohashi (1990)
6. Ricardo Lopez (1990-1999, vacates)

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1. Michael Carbajal (1993-1994)
2. Humberto Gonzalez (1994-1995)
3. Saman Sorjataurong (1995-1999)
4. Yo-Sam Choi (1999-2002)
5. Jorge Arce (2002-2005, vacates)
6. Hugo Cazares (2006-2007)

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1. Yuri Arbachakov (1992-1997)
2. Chatchai Sasakul (1997-1998}

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4. Medgoen 3K-Battery (1999-2000)
5. Malcolm Tunacao (2000-2001)
6. Pongsaklek Wongkongjam (2001-2007)
7. Daisuke Naito (2007-present)

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1. Hiroshi Kawashima (1994-1997)
2. Gerry Penalosa (1997-2000)
3. In-Joo Cho (1998-2000)
4. Masamori Tokuyama (2000-2004)
5. Katsushige Kawashima (2004-2005)
6. Masamori Tokuyama (2005-2006, retires)

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1. Alfonso Zamora (1975-1977)
2. Jorge Lujan (1977-1980)
3. Julian Solis (1980)
4. Jeff Chandler (1980-1984)
5. Richard Sandoval (1984-1986)
6. Gaby Canizales (1986)
7. Bernardo Piñango (1986-1987, vacates)

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1. Jack "Kid" Wolfe (1922-1923)
2. Carl Duane (1923, then division was no longer recognized)
3. Rigoberto Riasco (1976, division reinstated)
4. Kazuo Kobayashi (1976)
5. Dong-Kyun Yum (1976-1977)
6. Wilfredo Gomez (1977-1981, vacates)

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1. Antonio Esparragoza (1987-1991)
2. Yong-Kyun Park (1991-1993)
3. Eloy Rojas (1993-1996)
4. Wilfredo Vazquez (1996-1998}
5. Naseem Hamed (1998-2001)
6. Marco Antonio Barrera (2001-2003)

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1. Wilfredo Gomez (1985-1986)
2. Alfredo Layne (1986)
3. Brian Mitchell (1986-1991, retires)
4. Azumah Nelson (1996)
5. Genaro Hernandez (1997-1998}

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1. Alexis Arguello (1981-1982)
2. Julio Cesar Chavez (1987-1989)
3. Pernell Whitaker (1992, vacates)

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5. Diego Corrales (2005-2006)
6. Joel Casamayor (2006-2008}

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1. Julio Cesar Chavez (1990-1994)
2. Frankie Randall (1994)
3. Julio Cesar Chavez (1994-1996)
4. Oscar De La Hoya (1996-1997, vacates)
5. Kostya Tszyu (2001-2005)

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2. Vernon Forrest (2002-2003)
3. Ricardo Mayorga (2003)
4. Cory Spinks (2003-2005)
5. Zab Judah (2005-2006)
6. Carlos Baldomir (2006)

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1. Thomas Hearns (1984-1986, vacates)
2. Terry Norris (1995-1997)
3. Keith Mullings (1997-1999)
4. Javier Castillejo (1999-2001)
5. Oscar De La Hoya (2001-2003)

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7. Ronald "Winky" Wright (2004-2005, vacates)

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1. Marvin Hagler (1980-1987)
2. Sugar Ray Leonard (1987, vacates)
3. Michael Nunn (1989-1991)
4. James Toney (1991-1993, vacates)

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6. Jermain Taylor (2005-2007)
7. Kelly Pavlik (2007-present)

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1. Victor Cordoba (1991-1992)
2. Michael Nunn (1992-1994)
3. Steve Little (1994)
4. Frankie Liles (1994-1999)
5. Byron Mitchell (1999-2000)
6. Bruno Girard (2000-2001, vacates)
7. Joe Calzaghe (2006-2008, retires)

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1. Michael Spinks (1983-1985)
2. Virgil Hill (1996-1997)
3a. Dariusz Michalczewski (1997-2003)
4a. Julio Cesar Gonzalez (2003-2004)
5a. Zsolt Erdei (2004-present)

3b. Roy Jones, Jr. (1999-2004)
4b. Antonio Tarver (2004)
5b. Glencoffe Johnson (2004-2005)
6b. Antonio Tarver (2005-2006)

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8b. Joe Calzaghe (2008, retires)

*Dariusz Michalczewski and Roy Jones, Jr. have claims to this title, as DM beat Hill, and Jones unified the WBC/WBA/IBF at 175. I have decided to include both lineages. Hopefully if Erdei retires or his conqueror unifies with the current champion of the Jones lineage, we can close the loop on this one.

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1. Carlos DeLeon (1986-1988}
2. Evander Holyfield (1988, vacates)
3. Jean-Marc Mormeck (2005-2006)
4. O'Neil Bell (2006-2007)
5. Jean Marc Mormeck (2007)
6. David Haye (2007-2008, vacates)
7. Tomasz Adamek (2008}

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1. Evander Holyfield (1993-1994)
2. Michael Moorer (1994)
3. George Foreman (1994-1997)
4. Shannon Briggs (1997-1998}
5. Lennox Lewis (1998-2001)
6. Hasim Rahman (2001)
7. Lennox Lewis (2001-2004, retires)

 

Read my notes above.

 

I looked it up and you are right. Corrected.

 

No. After Lewis retired, Vitali (#1 contender) defeated Corrie Sanders, who was the #3 contender by virtue of upsetting Wladimir. He won the WBC but not the linear title.

Wlad has come the closest since, earning the #1 spot, but since he and his brother are #1 and #2, and have refused to ever fight, you won't see a linear champ for awhile.

 

I don't because Margarito lost to Williams. Williams had a good claim for the #1 spot, especially since he avenged his loss to Quintana, and Mosley had lost to Cotto. Mosley was not the #2 pre-fight, and Margarito still had the loss to PW hanging over his head.

 

Uh, it does. Where does it say it doesn't up there?

 

True. As classy a pair of champions the brothers have been, they're bad for the sport because they won't clear up the picture. As classless as Haye has been, him sweeping the brothers would finally give the fans a true heavyweight champion.

But I think Wlad is gonna KO Haye.