Byron Rojas squares off with CP Freshmart on June 29 in a strawweight unification match. Is the winner the lineal champion? The top of the division comes down to Rojas, Freshmart, Budler and Wanheng. Hekkie Budler was the clear No. 1 in the division following Takayama's upset loss to Jose Argumedo. But subsequently lost to Rojas in a tight contest in the biggest upset of the year until Hernandez-Arif and Smith-Fonfara. Considering Rojas has nothing else to boast on his ledger, here's where things get interesting: You can't rank Budler ahead of Rojas. But does Rojas' one standout win eclipse Freshmart's two wins over the wunderkind Carlos Buitrago? Do Budler's trio of wins over Joyi, Xiong and MAYBE Florante Condes still outrank Freshmart? Furthermore, a lot of outlets like to rank Wanheng Menayothin No. 1 for his long winning streak—42 wins and counting. But only impressive win he has is a stoppage of Oswaldo Novoa and an old Condes—but it was before even Budler's win over the Pinoy. Hard making sense of such a shallow division.
Not really. But you do make a good argument for it though, and that's where the problem lies. Some people say the lineal title is the purest in boxing, but it clearly isn't. If the line was never broken, then it was of course, even with the "does the most deserving guy actually gets the chance?" problem. But it gets broken and often, which then makes it a debate with multiple possible outcomes, and different ranking orgs coming up with their own lineages. TBRB had Pac as their lineal WW champ after Bradley II, while others did not. It's all speculation, and not nearly as pure as someone snatching all the belts without getting the lineal for instance.
I think Wanheng was rated ahead of Buddler prior to the Hexecutioner's fight with Rojas. TBRB and Ring rated him as number one @105 in any event. I think they rated him ahead of Takayama, though I personally would have rated the latter as number one prior to his loss to Argumendo. That said, if Freshmart gains full WBA recognition, I'd say he should be considered the divisional number one on the basis of wins over higher ranked opponents than the ones that Wanheng (who I really like) has faced. If Rojas wins, he probably deserves the number one ranking, too. So, no...not for the lineal title, but the winner still the number one in the division and the guy the second leading contender would have to fight in order to become lineal.
