Lineage in today's climate

Only if those "top 2 contenders" are clear cut and universally recognized as being established as the top 2.
Preferably they would have recently eliminated the rest of the field, ie. the group who make up places 3-6 or so in any reasonable rankings.

 

You are unlikely to see clarity in the sport, because not least nothing or no one is neutral. Everyone and everything is boxing has an agenda, that warps their viewpoint.

 

Yes, it always was the case.
When a champion retired there was usually a load of 'claimants' and only when one of them cleaned up by beating all the others was he considered to have established a new lineage.
Sometimes a promoter or group of promoters would agree an elimination tournament of 4 or 8 contenders to establish the new champ.

 

You're mistaken.
The early days of lineage (long before the ABC organizations and their multi belts) are full of eras where rival claimants had to establish themselves by eliminating rivals.
And who decided who was "number 1 and number 2" back in the old days anyway ?

Some boxing historians have retroactively tried to impose clarity on some championships in eras of confusion but even they have periods that can't pretend had proper lineage.

 

A lot of people didn't take Jeffries' selection of Hart and Root too seriously. I guess many expected Jeffries to come back some time anyway.
Tommy Burns struggled to be accepted as a world champion. He travelled to England, Ireland, France and Australia in an effort to prove himself and establish himself as the real champion, and eventually broke the color line too.

I'm not following you when you say "maybe it was just coincidence", because most often the vacant title was contested by either the 2 men who had eliminated the other contenders, OR was contested by 2 men who were simply promoted as so by the promoters (with help from press and magazines) who control the sport.
There's no coincidence.

 

Often, yes.
Sometimes it's the other way around, or it is synergistic. The press builds someone up, the promoters build someone up, the rankings reflect the potential interest in the fights. etc.
Hey, that's how professional boxing game works.

 

I think the lineage is fine.. The current lineal champion may not be desirable or impressive but that's life.. We saw fragmented titles in the 70's, 80's, 90's and 2000's. Unifications only really mean something if the one guy holding the odd belt is worth anything.. Who really wants to see Tyson Fury fight Lucas Browne or Charles Martin? Wilder vs Fury would be good and I think we'll see that soon.

 

My point about Donaire and Nishioka was : "Is the lineage of the 122 pound division at all important ?"

As I understand it the division 'world championship' was invented in 1976 by the WBC, one of the organizations responisble for proliferation of titles, at precisely the time when proliferation of titles and splintered titles were starting to discredit the sport.

Rigoberto Riasco beat Waruinge Nakayama for the inaugural title.

I tend to think of lineage worth preserving or establishing in divisions with have a more prestigious history. That's all.