What really is a "lineal" champion???

Unity ALL major titles
Tyson had all the titles

 

back then there were only 3. WBA/WBC/IBF with the WBO being a minor belt.

 

thus the problem with lineal. tyson destroys every version of spinks and holmes, on the same day.

 

Briggs was the lineal champion too after he "beat" Foreman.

It's just a BS title.

 

As simple a concept as it is, many fans are just too stupid to understand it.

 

It's not an official thing so is hard to trace because people have different interpretations.

But basically it works on the premise of one champion who cannot be stripped under any circumstance (apart from a LMW once).

When a champion vacated his belt it is filled with a 1v2 match.

It's not an exact science though.

For instance when Vitali retired there was no 1v2 match so when he came back I think he keeps the lineage.

 

"Fully unified" would be a phrase synonymous with Undisputed. :good

 

The Legitimate champion. Not a paper one.

 

Old thread but something I was thinking about creating a thread on myself until I saw this one.

Lineal champ is usually the man who beat the man who beat the man (hence the notion of "lineage"). But what at what point is the lineage broken and do we start again?

Four examples I can think of, all at heavyweight and all with slightly different circumstances, that give more or less weight to the idea of the lineal champion:

1. Ali and Frazier dual claim to heavyweight title: Ali was stripped of his undisputed and lineal title (which he had one from Sonny Liston in 1964) in 1967 and banned from boxing. Frazier won the vacant titles (only two back then - WBC and WBA) to unify the championship in 1970. As Ali was effectively retired, Frazier could have been recognized as the undisputed champion but was not by many because he hadn't beaten Ali (even though he couldn't fight him at the time because Ali wasn't allowed a license, even though he was fit to fight) and the expectation was that Ali would return. So Frazier was unified champ but Ali was the lineal champ (having beaten Liston and remained undefeated). Frazier only became universally undisputed and lineal champ once he beat Ali in 1971.
Verdict: Ali was forced out of boxing against his will and never the lost his undisputed title in the ring. Frazier had to beat Ali to be considered undisputed and lineal champ.

2. Spinks and Tyson dual claim:
Spinks beat Larry Holmes to become lineal champ in 1985 (Holmes had already established himself as the lineal heavyweight champion when he beat Ali in 1980). Spinks then fought sporadically for the next two years, beating Holmes in the return (again by a close, disputed decision and an uninspiring win over Gerry Cooney in 1987) and was stripped of his IBF title through inactivity. Tyson meanwhile unified the three versions of the title between 1986 and 1988 to become the unified (WBC, WBA and IBF) champion. According to the Ring magazine, Spinks was still the lineal champion but to most people Tyson had the greater claim. Tyson then crushed Spinks anyway to end any tenuous argument.
Verdict: Tyson didn't need to beat Spinks to be considered lineal champion because Spinks' claim had already been weakened by his inactivity and losing the titles through not facing the best oppostion, including Mike Tyson.

3. George Foreman's lineal claim:
In 1994, Foreman beat Moorer who had beaten Holyfield who had beaten Bowe who had beaten Holyfield who had beaten Buster Douglas who had beaten Tyson, who was the undisputed, lineal champ. Foreman's claim then waned once he ignored challenges from his closest rivals Bowe, Holyfield and Lewis and chose to fight non entities and was stripped of his titles. The lineage begun again when the world title was unified between the two best heavyweights in 1999 with Lennox Lewis becoming the new undisputed champion having beaten Evander Holyfield.
Verdict: Foreman's avoidance of the top fighters in the division and being stripped of the titles meant he had weakened his lineal claim to the point that the Lewis v Holyfield fight established a new lineage.

4. Tyson Fury: Fury beat Vladimir Klitschko to win the unified title against the dominant heavyweight in the world. Fury was then stripped of his titles and was refused a license (almost like Ali - but Fury was considered unfit to fight). Now, if Anthony Joshua were to win the WBO and WBC versions of the title he would hold all four major belts and could be considered undisputed champion. But if Fury is granted a license to return, would Joshua have to beat Fury to be considered undisputed, lineal champion or is the lineage reset at the point that Joshua unifies all the belts?
Verdict: If Joshua unifies all the belts by beating the best opposition, he would supersede Fury's claim to be lineal champion. Fury would have yo beat Joshua to reclaim lineal status.