Guide me to the lineal heavyweight champion please.

The lineal champion is the man who beat the man, in a lineage that goes back to the first undisputed champion and representative of the boundary between modern boxing and bare-knuckle boxing, John L. Sullivan. No lineal champion lost a fight while a lineal champion, if that were the case, he would no longer be a lineal champion. When the lineal champion retires without losing his position, it is a consensus that the two most prominent fighters of the moment face each other to decide who will be the next lineal champion. This happened at the retirement of Jim Jeffries, Gene Tunney, Rocky Marciano and Lennox Lewis.

 

If a champ temporarily retires and then returns there are 2 lineal champs or more in the period before they all fight. This goes back to Corbett and Maher/Fitzsimmons and co. Thus both Usyk and Tyson Fury are lineal champs.

In the 21st century people have generally accepted the Ring Magazine title as the unofficial arbiter of the lineal belt. The Ring replacements for vacancies are generally accepted but stripping a lineal champ does not erase the "man beats the man" logic.

In the olden times there was an idea that a title could only change hands if certain conditions were met like a fighter getting a stoppage/the fight being planned for a certain number of rounds etc. This was more of an issue at LHW and below then it was at HW though.

I think the reason why people care so much more about the HWs was the 2nd largest weight class having such a low weight limit before Cruiserweight. It was 175. This concentrated all the bigger talents into HW. MMA has weight classes at 205,185 and 170 and that interest is more spread out. If Cruiserweight was around from the beginning in boxing it would be the same.

 

Regarding the current lineal champion, after 5 years of Lewis's retirement, the two most prominent and successful boxers finally faced each other (2009, Chagaev vs Klitschko) generating a new lineal champion. The winner of the two only lost a fight 6 years later, to Tyson Fury, the new (and current) lineal champion.

 

Usyk is not a linear champion.

 

In Chagaev fight.

 

Vitali was never a lineal champion

 

You need enough time to lose your lineal title after retirement, and retirement has to be permanent (or seems permanent). Understand, the champion is not decided in real time, but retrospectively.
In this way, Jeffries lost his lineal status when he retired, even though he returned 5 years later, unlike Muhammad Ali, Corbett or Fury,
who have not retired permanently or long enough.

 

Because Chagaev's fight in 2009 was considered high enough (due to the actors involved and the space in time in which it occurred) to be considered for the lineal championship.

 

I am sick and tired of this lineal stuff personally. IMO Usyk should be regarded as the lineal champion today. Fury retired and then came back. Joshua beat Wlad and IMO Usyks win over him should make him lineal.

 

yes, you are correct