If Lennox Lewis came back, would he still be the Lineal world champion? Jefferies retired and came back and he was still the Lineal world champ.
No. when marciano retired the last guy he fought was in the vacent title fight.Archie Moore. Same with Joe Louis, walcott was in the vacent title fight. if the guy who retired the champ (even if the guy lost) the linage should go to the winner of the fight between him and the next best contender. That way the chain is not broken, its the next best thing.This is why Vitaly is the real champ in my book. He retired Lewis then beat the next best contender. If Lewis came back he would not be the champ anymore than say marciano would have been if he came back when ingo was champ.
Vitali is the number 1 heavyweight, always has been. ok thanks I was just looking for some clarification.
Actually, Wlad is...and has been since before Vitali's comeback. By the above logic the guy who initially "retired" Vitali in a loss (Danny Williams) should have then been able to claim the vacant lineage when he fought Audley Harrison. :blood Why is it that Vitali is able to have his lineal championship preserved after retiring and coming back, but Lewis wouldn't be?
As far as I am concerned, if you announced your retirement, vacate your titles, and don't fight for four years, you're retired.
If you announce your retirement and don't fight for four years, you're no longer number one, as far as I am concerned, unless you did something after your retirement that would catapult you to number one. Case in point, if Lewis came back, and lost to Seth Mitchell in his first fight, would Mitchell be the new champ, the number one, the lineal heavyweight champion? Of course not!!!! After Vitali retired, in 2006 Wlad became the number one active heavyweight due to his victories over Peter the previous year and the current number one, Byrd, a position that he maintained throughout. Now, in 2008 Vitali came back, and defeated the number 2, Samuel Peter. Does that by itself, enough to erase the four years of Wlad's work, and leapfrog him over his brother? No. Wlad already defeated Peter in 2005, albeit with more difficulty. To be number one, the following should happen. 1. Vitali defeats Wlad in a fight. That didn't happen. 2. Wlad loses a fight while Vitali continues to win. That didn't happen. 3. Vitali beats better opposition than Wlad. That didn't happen. Wlad generally beats the better ranked opponents than Vitali and has easily the better resume. 4. Wlad announces his retirement. That didn't happen. In fact, it is more likely in the near future, especially with his political ambitions and his age, that Vitali would retire, leaving Wlad solely at the top. 5. Vitali would hold more belts than Wlad. That didn't happen. So at best, Vitali is jointly, in a junior role, number one heavyweight, or he is clearly number two. Wlad to many people the heavyweight champion, the lineal one, the premier heavyweight, at best, or at worst, a joint number one with Vitali. Case in point. Many people called this era the Klitschko brothers era. Other calls it the Wladimir Klitschko era, but none that I know of, calls this the era of Vitali Klitschko. Well that is what I think.