Was Klitschko ever Lineal Champion?

After Lewis it kind of got confusing. For a certain period it looked like Vitali as lineal champ after his ko of Sanders.But then V retired not Long after so Wlad looked the most likely candidate for linear champ .Vitali of course did come back and remained undefeated till retiring again .But I would have to say personally ,i rated Wllad as lineal champ from his win over Povetkin .For all his fault's his record in world title fight s was 25 -4 ,which isn't something most heavy s will achieve .

 

at the end of his career, wlad was the closest thing to it, so i guess we go with that. Theres no point in not having one.

however its a fallacy to think byrd was number 2 hw nor vitali,not even that elad was a real number 1 - there were several who would have had this little man byrd and same with wlad...so that wasnt the point of establishing lineage.

 

On my criterion, after Lewis retired, the two best Heavyweights of the time did not step in the ring together until Wlad fought Pulev, that to me was the beginning of Wlad's reign.

I suggest this as Wlad/Povetkin (with hindsight a fight between the two best heavies of the time) happened when Vitali still had not officially given up (he would not do so until December 2013).

 

Yes unequivocally.

He was the #1 contender, and he beat the current #2, then he did it again for good measure.

That is how you make a new lineal champion when the old one retires.

 

Well, when a dominant consensus champion retires and the lineage gets broken, I guess the next guys 'becomes' the lineal champion, rather than 'win' that title outright. I think everyone would agree that Wladimir at some point eventually did become THE consensus champion, rather than just one of them or a mere titlist, and hence was the lineal champion. But as the responses so far show, we'll all have our own thoughts about when he'd ticked enough boxes to make that leap. Vitali's presence from 2008-12 really clouded the picture for a lot of people.

I think Wladimir first had a decent claim to being the proper champion from 2009 onwards after beating Chagaev. That's when the Ring declared him their champion which seemed reasonable given that he had two of the major belts and had just beaten the hitherto undefeated guy who, but for politics, would have given him a third. I think by the time he beat Haye to finally add that third belt in 2011 it would be harsh not to consider him the top man, even with Vitali still kicking around. Vitali's opposition was a clear notch below Wladimir's at this point. By 2011 I think Wladimir had cleaned out the division as much as he could reasonably be expected to, as a fight against Vitali was never going to happen for understandable reasons. And from then on he accommodated every contender he was mandated to for another four years until Fury beat him.

So yep, on reflection I'd personally have him as the 'lineal' (or closest thing possible to it) champion from 2011 onwards, but could see why someone might go back a little further than that. I know there are traditionalists out there, and also there's the Vitali issue, but I think any later than 2011 is a little harsh on Wlad.