Shannon Briggs - The Champion

According to the lineal theory, the lineal champion is the rightful champion of the division. So Shannon Briggs defeating George Foreman became the king of heavyweights when he beat the man who beat the man.

The lineal champion is also called "the people's champion" as he is crowned by the boxing public. How can you be the people's champion if 99% of the boxing observers don't even know you are the champion? How can you place Shannon Briggs over Evander and Lennox in 1997? They had alphabet titles with no claims to the lineage, but yet, they reigns (especially Holyfield's) seem way more legitimate.

Let's make a historical analogy. When we look at it, boxing is kind of like an elective/hereditary monarchy. The new "dynasty" is elected when the new champion emerges and if he's beaten, he's passing his hereditary rights to the throne. That's the lineage. But, if the boxing public crowns champions, it can also dethrone them right? Just like monarchs were sometimes dethroned by the estates of the realm. We had a lot of monarchs with hereditary rights to some thrones, but the throne was occupied by another person. So they weren't kings. At least at the time.

George Foreman was dethroned when he refused to fight his mandatory, got a gift with Schulz and then got stripped off of last alphabet belt, for not wanting to rematch him. How can he be the king with no physical manifestation of his status? Ali had the hereditary rights to the throne, but during his absence Joe Frazier was "elected" the new king. Ali could claim he was still the champion. But why anyone had to respect this claim? Even Nat Fleischer, the big proponent of the lineal motto "championship can only be won and lost in the ring", withdrew his championship acclaim from Ali, when he opted to walk away for some time in Feb 1970. How can Fury be the king of the division if nobody viewed him as such from at least Feb 2018 to Feb 2020? Some people didn't even know he was the champion.

If we accept that public crowns the lineal champion, shouldn't we accept the fact that the public can also dethrone them? Whether we like it or not, alphabet bodies are part of the public. If the champion doesn't hold any real title (and remember, not every boxing historian accepts the concept of the lineage), can he be called the champion, let alone the king? The public clearly withdrew their support for Foreman and Fury, so can they still be the people's champs?

Isn't the best manouver out of this just to accept the belt holder with lineal claim as the rightful champion? So the next rightful champion after Foreman would be Lewis. He had a physical manifestation of the championship (WBC belt) and added the lineal claim when he beat Shannon Briggs. Tyson Fury would be the champion until Feb 2018 (when The Ring stripped him) and then from Feb 2020 to May 2024 after being beaten by Usyk.

 

Hence the question - how can you be the champion if 99% of the public doesn't even know you are one.

 

The fight between Foreman and Briggs was to determine Lewis' next opponent. It wasn't billed as a championship fight. It was promoted as a "heavyweight clash" and Foreman was being portrayed as "2 time heavyweight champion". His lineal title wasn't mentioned until the decision, where Briggs was announced "new linear champion". Funnily enough, nobody mentioned it when Briggs was facing Lewis. He was viewed as a contender and Lewis was viewed as the champion. It was viewed as Lewis giving him the title shot, his first championship fight. If the lineal champion is the real king, it should be another way around, right?

 

I don't care if Foreman was robbed or not. Briggs officially won the fight. So the lineage went to him. Just like Schulz officially lost it, but should have gotten the nod.

My point was, Briggs was inheriting a very weak claim. To the point, that he was viewed as a contender to Lewis, not the superior champ, which the lineal champion should be. Which shows the lineal title is nothing without any physical manifestation of it. Situation would be of course different, if The Ring crowned champions in the 90's. But the thing is - they didn't. So the lineal title was more subjective.