So Cotto is a lineal champ at middleweight?

This. Until somebody beats him at 160, he's ranked #1 and the Lineal Champ.

 

Well since he looked so good and his fans are so impressed by his win over crippled Martinez he has no excuse not to fight GGG or the other Middleweight contenders out there and at the Division limit not some ridiculous 'catchweight'. Roach loves catch weight fights though.

 

Damn, is that true, automatic #1 ranking? I never knew that the lineal had real significance...wow.

 

Cotto is THE MW champion..

But it isn't always the case that it means you are the best fighter in the division.

 

lol, why you need to bring up your alt. just because you have question?...some funny sh*t though. From what I understand the lineal champ comes from a time when there was only one champ per division. If you wanted the belt you had to go through him. When they started coming up with other belts people felt those belts were diluted.

They kept track of only original true belt and called that belt the lineal belt since it came from the lineage of the what they considered the only real and true champ, hence, the most respected belt. And no you don't need all of them, but it's in most peoples eyes it's like having them all as they see it as trumping any other, hope that helps.

 

Yes, no question he is the lineal champ.

 

Sadly it doesn't matter yet again. I don't care what anyone thinks he will do against other 160lbers, at the moment he's officially #1 for beating the #1 fighter in the division regardless of circumstances and what "we believe". This is how the system works, you beat the man you become the man, even if the #4 or #3 ranked is far superior in the eyes of the general public.

Going slightly off-topic here, Stevenson IS the man at Light Heavyweight for beating the man in the division. Sure many people pick Kovalev to demolish him but that doesn't change the fact that Stevenson remains #1 whether that fight happens or not.

 

Hopkins won all 4 title belts - Taylor beat Hopkins - Pavlik - Martinez - Cotto.

A long the weigh the belts where either stripped or given up but the lineage of the true champ goes back to Hopkins.

Almost impossible to unify all the belts as they don't always work together.

I mean Martinez won the WBC + WBO titles against Pavlik yet was told to chose one or he would be stripped he decided to keep the WBC and Pirog and Jacobs fought over his WBO belt.

 

And Buster Douglas beat Mike Tyson to become the 'lineal' heavyweight champ.. . . .

 

yes

 

Cotto is the lineal middleweight champ.

The sky is blue.

 

Most people hate catch weights and since Cotto fought for the MW title it wouldn't make any sense to fight at a catch weight. Unlike many, I predict Cotto will be honorable and give GGG a shot.

 

Not sure why this is even a question, the sky is blue?

 

Get your own material, bub! :cus

 

Regarding the catch weight...

On the Cotto/Martinez Face Off, Sergio himself says that his camp offered 159 to lure Cotto in, and he accepted. Sergio went off that Cotto could have asked for a lot more and he would have agreed.

The catch weight was the idea of Team Martinez. Quit trying to downplay Cotto and Roach for that.