Who do you consider as the lineal champion in light heavyweight?

The discussion about Wladimir Klitschko and when he became the lineal champion in the heavyweight devision reminded me that it's far more difficult to tell the lineal champion at light heavyweight.

Who do you consider as the lineal champion there?


A: Adonis Stevenson

Stevenson is named the lineal champion ... for example by HBO.
Stevenson got that title from Chad Dawson who he beat in 2013. Here, it doesn't matter that Dawson was beaten in his fight before by Andre Ward.

Dawson got that title from Hopkins in 2012.
Hopkins got it from Pascal in 2011. And Hopkins and Pascal where #1 and #2 by that time.
Pascal is also considered a former lineal champion by HBO as he beat Dawson in 2010.

Dawson had wins over Johnson and Tarver and beat Adamek in 2007 for the WBC title.
I don't know whether HBO consider Dawson as lineal champion prior to his fight with Pascal ... but i guess they have to, because somehow Pascal became a lineal champion in the view of HBO etc.

Even if you don't see Pascal as a former lineal champion, it's possible to think Stevenson is it.
This could be if you see Roy Jones as a former lineal champion in the light heavyweight devision. Jones unified some titles and some saw him as "the man" in light heavyweight.

So
Jones < Tarver < Johnson < Tarver < Hopkins < Calzaghe
lineage broken with Calzaghe to retire
new lineage in 2010 as #1 Hopkins and #2 Pascal fought each other


B: Sergey Kovalev

Why not Kovalev? With 3 titles and the more or less worthless WBC diamond belt, Kovalev is consired often as the number 1 in light heavyweight due to his dominant wins over Hopkins and Pascal.
Maybe you see Kovalev as the lineal champion since last years november as he unified three world titles, what hasn't been done in this devision for a long long time.

How is this possible? Simple. See Edwin Rodriguez as lineal champion in 2013 (see "C"), who changed the devision and lost to Andre Ward. Lineage broken, no lineal champion.
Stevenson fought lesser opposition in 2014 while Kovalev, Hopkins and Shumenov unified their 3 belts. This might start a new lineage.


C: Andre Ward

Ward? The semi-retired super middleweight guy? Well ... somehow yes ... it's possible to think that Ward is the lineal light heavyweight champion. But why?

First, he knocked out Dawson before Stevenson did. Sure he forced Dawson to come down to 168 ... but still Dawson was the light heavyweight champ and they weighted in below 175.
Well, they could have fought for both WBC belts (like Mayweather in 2014 and Leonard in 1988 ).

But there is another streak which makes Ward the lineal champion.

In 1995, Virgil Hill was the #1 in light heavyweight.
The other guys in the Top5 where:
Henry Maske (IBF), Fabrice Tiozzo (WBC), Dariusz Michalczewski (WBO) ... and maybe Montell Griffin (cus he beat Toney).

Mike McCallum (who lost the WBC belt to Tiozzo) fought against Roy Jones (who moved up from super middleweight) for the WBC interim title. Tiozzo later moved up to cruiserweight, so Jones got the "full" title.

But just a few hours after Jones-McCallum, #1 Hill and Maske (may be considered as #2) unified their titles.
A half year later, Hill lost in a unification fight with Michalczewski.

Hill-Michalczewski was postponed for two months. They fought in June but a court ruling demanded that William Guthrie must get a IBF title shot by July 19.

Michalczewsksi's promoter (Klaus-Peter Kohl) didn't want to have something to do with Don King (Guthrie's promoter). This made an agreement impossible and as i know, there was no purse bid.
So the IBF title became vacant.
The WBA didn't recognize the WBO as a major sanctioning body. By that time, you can only be the WBA "super champion" if you held a belt of another major sanctioning body (WBC or IBF), too. So, the WBA stripped Michalczewski of their title.
Guthrie and Lou Del Valle became WBA and IBF world champions and Roy Jones collected those belts.
But Michalczewski was still considered the lineal champion.

In 2003 Michalczewski lost to Julio Cesar Gonzales and retired before trying a comeback against Tiozzo.
Gonzales lost in his first title defense against Zsolt Erdei.

Although Tarver knocked out the #1 of the devision (Roy Jones), it was still Erdei who was often named the lineal champion (for example by HBO).

Erdei fought lesser opposition. Some planned fights didn't materialize.
- Tiozzo (back injury, wasn't able to make 175 again)
- Green (retired, came back as cruiserweight)
- Roy Jones (in 2007/2008 ... but Don King digged up Felix Trinidad and waved to Jones with some money).

In 2009, Erdei's promoter (Universum Box Promotion) deported Erdei into cruiserweight to get a german world champion (Brähmer) without having him to fight a world champion.
Erdei gained just little weight as he wanted to move back to light heavyweight to defend his title. But the WBO already stripped him on request of his promoter.

Erdei left Universum Box Promotion and signed with DiBella.
UBP was later sold and then faced bankruptcy.

Was Erdei still the lineal champion or did he lost this status, when he fought against Fragomeni for his cruiserweight title?
If Erdei "vacated" the lineal championship with his single cruiserweight bout, a new lineage would be created with #1 Hopkins fighting #2 Pascal.

But in 2011, you can still see Erdei as lineal champ, as he never intended to stay permanently at cruiserweight.

Erdei was scheduled to fight Chilemba in 2012 on HBO, but suffered a rip injury.
In 2013, Erdei lost a close decision to Denis Grachev. This was a part of an tournament with Rodriguez and Maderna.
Grachev lost the following bout to Edwin Rodriguez.
Now ... was Rodriguez the lineal light heavyweight champion? Maybe...

The point is, that Rodriguez moved down to super middleweight, where he challenged Andre Ward and lost.

Ward > Rodriguez > Grachev > Erdei > Gonzales > Michalczewski > Hill

Whether you consider Dawson or Rodriguez as a former lineal light heavyweight champion ... Ward beat them both ... but with 168lb, althought Rodriguez didn't make the super middleweight limit.

But could you really lose the lineal championship of a weight class, if you lose to a guy in a lower weight devision?
If so, who was the lineal champion after Michael Spinks?
Marvin Johnson with the win over Leslie Stewart?

Then:
Calzaghe > ...... > Roy Jones > Toney > Barkley > Hearns > Hill > Stewart > Johnson





Well ... hard to tell.
But i was wondering why HBO called Pascal the former lineal light heavyweight champion during the Kovalev-fight, because he beat Chad Dawson in 2010.
Why was Dawson (for HBO) the lineal champion? They (especially Kellermann) called Erdei the lineal champion until he moved to cruiserweight and got promoter issues.

 

This may also depend on who you see as #1 and #2 contender.
Povetkin? Wilder? Fury? Pulev?

Not everyone ranks Povetkin and Wilder above Fury...

But in this case, i wouild say that Szpilka is the lineal champion as Wladimir wouldn't bee inactive/retired for more than a year.