Who do you view as the "real" LHW champion after November 8?

I don't see Stevenson as the real LHW champ anyway, he ducked kovalev and heard he didnt want to fight hopkins.

 

Winner of Hopkins/Kovalev, which if Hopkins doesn't get knocked out, I see him winning this match.

 

Stevenson remains the #1 fighter in the division till he's beaten for obvious reasons.

 

Well, Stevenson will still be the "Lineal" champ right?

 

He will most definitely fight the winner of the Hopkins vs Kovalev fight.

 

Lineal loses luster when a fighter refuses to fight the absolute best challengers.
In 1997 when Foreman was "lineal" HW champ, and Briggs won an unpopular decision was there anyone that really considered Briggs having a real dispute with Lewis at the time? Let alone being the real champ on a technicality of having being handed a gift decision over Foreman.
Foreman did cherry pick after the Moorer fight, and who could blame him? He was in his mid to late forties, and was not exactly a Hopkins type technician.
IMO by cherry picking until retirement he lost the right to be called lineal champ, and Lewis was without any doubt the man at that time.
Yes he was lineal but defending against Lou Saverese is not the same as Lennox Lewis.

I don't know how much time is reasonable, but I do believe that if you don't defend your lineal title in a reasonable time against the people most likely to beat you, then it should be forfeited to the fighters who are.

In a nut shell Stevenson better get on the ball, and sign to fight the winner before his moment in this game passes.

 

Same. :good According to rumors, he's fighting Pascal next which is an excellent fight.

 

Ha, I guess you beat me to it.
Shannon Briggs Lineal champ, and by May 98 Ring mag #7 in the world (generous), and still below no.6 Foreman who lost the gift decision to Briggs.

 

the winner of kovalev vs Hopkins is true lhw champion they would have 3 of the four belts.stevenson of course ducked kovalev and knew he would lose that he ran all the way to showtime.hopkins would beat stevenson anyway who all he has is that left hand hopkins would take that away.also stevenson has bad stamina hopkins would see that and be all over him.

 

Remember when Casamayor had the ring but Diaz unified the belts

Similar scenario I guess it's how you value the ring title or if you think a series of unification is more significant

Is Stevenson lineal though? Lineal and ring aren't always synonymous

Dariuz m had the lineage lost to Gonzalez who lost to Erdei who lost to Grachev who lost to Rodriguez

The ring title has had the more legit claimants but not necessarily the lineage

Truth be told when looking for universal recognition no one at the weight is champion in that sense

I applaud Bernard and Sergey for making the fight despite recent boxing roadblocks like tv and promoters

 

It's a curious situation. Unlike @ MW where there's a strong consenus that GGG beats everyone but ain't yet the lineal champ and only holds one belt, no-one's quite as sure who beats who in the 175 stakes, but the Hopkins - Kovalev winner would hold 3 of the belts whereas Adonis would only hold one.

TBH despite myself believing that the Kovalev/ Hopkins winner should be considered top-dog I think Stevenson's still too dangerous to be overlooked and his Lineal title was gained and held in such a way that the 'real' top guy will remain undecided until a final unification.

Let's offer a little prayer to the gods of boxing that this **** is allowed to happen .. and may the best guy win.

 

No doubt the winner, which I expect to be Hopkins because bhop constantly ducks for defence and kovalev never throws an uppercut...