By Cliff Rold
In a column yesterday, the abdication of the lineal flyweight crown by Roman Gonzalez, and the 41-plus year history of that line, was carefully examined. It is the end of the longest standing consecutive lineage in boxing.
Noted towards the end of the piece, that leaves the longest standing lineage in boxing today at middleweight. That line, established when Bernard Hopkins defeated Felix Trinidad in 2001, remains intact, however tenuously by Saul Alvarez, fifteen years later.
Also noted in the column yesterday, boxing history often comes with asterisks. A particular asterisk was saved for this follow up.
What if the oldest lineage existing right now is in fact five years older than the middleweight line?
What if the longest current lineage in boxing actually dates to November 23, 1996?
There is a case that it does.
The case feels convoluted, and is mostly disregarded, but it does exist in the light heavyweight division. It is brought up now because it is interesting fodder for debate with a notable fight on the horizon.
The lineal light heavyweight champion, unpopular as he is to some, is widely viewed as Adonis Stevenson. Ring has stopped recognizing him but TBRB and ESPN’s Dan Rafael still recognize that historical claim.
Given the lack of top contenders on his resume in recent fights, there are many fans that could care less about that historical claim.
As we head into the year’s most anticipated fight amongst hardcore boxing fans, there will be a loud chorus that views the winner of Sergey Kovalev-Andre Ward as the ‘real’ light heavyweight champion. The winner, with or without history, will be viewed as ‘the man’ at 175 lbs.
What if there is an argument that the winner there could actually lay claim to the lineage of the crown as well?
That’s what is examined here.
On 11/23/1996, rated #1 and #2 by Ring Magazine, Virgil Hill defeated Henry Maske in a bout that also unified the WBA and IBF belts. The WBC crown was still held then by Fabrice Tiozzo, whom Hill had successfully defended against before the Maske bout and before Tiozzo won his belt from Mike McCallum. For many historical types (if not Ring itself as it was not recognizing proper world champions at the time) this was the establishment of a true champion in class.
That line is and was recognized as legitimate here.
Hill would lose in his subsequent defense against WBO Dariusz Michalczewski. Michalczewski was shorn of the WBA and IBF belts later won, along with the WBC title, by Roy Jones. Boxing fans around at the time can certainly recall some spirited debates about Roy and the lineage at 175 lbs.
Michalczewski would eventually lose to Julio Gonzalez in 2003, who would lose to Zsolt Erdei in 2004. Erdei held the WBO, and lineal, titles for eleven defenses before vacating the WBO title in 2009 and moving up to capture a title at cruiserweight in November 2009. His last light heavyweight defense came in January 2009. He vacated before the move to cruiserweight.
In 2009, this author wrote a piece noting the end of that light heavyweight line.
Following his cruiserweight title win, Erdei would not fight again until November 2010. In the August 2010, the consensus #1 and #2 light heavyweights at the time, Chad Dawson and Jean Pascal, squared off. Pascal won a decision.
That new lineage has passed from Pascal to Bernard Hopkins to Dawson and finally to Stevenson.
Easy, right?
It depends on how you determine lineage.
This scribe falls into the camp that says Erdei’s abdication, after a blasé title reign, left a hole. However, if one views lineage as strictly about a straight line from the man who beat the man…
…well…
When Erdei returned to the ring in 2010, he did so at light heavyweight. He won, and did so again in 2011, before losing in 2013 to Denis Grachev. None of these bouts were billed as title contests, nor were they contested at the modern championship limit of twelve rounds. They were fought at 175 lbs. or below; they were fought at light heavyweight. Erdei having never lost his title in the ring, a purist might say the lineage passed to Grachev.
Grachev would lose in his next fight via first round knockout to Edwin Rodriguez. Both Grachev-Erdei and Rodriguez-Grachev were fought above super middleweight and inside the light heavyweight limit.
Rodriguez has never lost a fight inside the proper confines of today’s light heavyweight division (above 168 but no more than 175 lbs.). His defeat at the hands of Thomas Williams last April was contested above 175. So does that make Rodriguez the lineal champion?
Not for the sake of this argument.
Here’s where Ward-Kovalev comes into play.
There was a time when the tradition, not always followed of course because nothing is ‘always’ in boxing, was that one could consider the title on the line any time a fight was contested at or below a champion’s weight limit. Henry Armstrong once famously defended the welterweight title against Lew Feldman with Feldman coming in at the lightweight limit and Armstrong a pound under. Carlos Zarate and Alfonso Zamora came in just above the bantamweight limit for their famous clash, rendering their titles not on the line. Numerous examples in history exist of fighters protecting their title, but taking tough fights, by ensuring they stayed above their championship limit.
Prior to Dawson-Stevenson, Dawson moved down to 168 to challenge Andre Ward for his super middleweight titles. His light heavyweight titles were deemed not on the line. However, in the purest purist sense, the light heavyweight champion was fighting below 175 lbs. One could argue the lineage is up for grabs then regardless.
Ward stopped Dawson in ten.
In his very next defense at 168, Ward easily defeated Edwin Rodriguez over twelve rounds. Here’s the corker: Rodriguez missed weight, coming in at 170 lbs. He was a light heavyweight on the scale and in the ring. He was also entering immediately off the win over Grachev.
So whether one sees the current line at light heavyweight as starting at Hill-Maske or Dawson-Pascal, Ward is there with wins that came below 175 lbs. before anyone else.
Now here’s a strong counter: this isn’t the era of the so-called original eight weight divisions. There are those who would wish away many of boxing’s contemporary classes but they exist whether they want them to or not.
In an era before super middleweight, Ward would be a career light heavyweight and Dawson would have been able to come in as comfortable as he liked. The same is true for Rodriguez, even if he did come in at 170. Erdei didn’t fight for almost two years in the division and never fought for any sort of recognized ‘world’ title again; there is a reason even hardcore historians moved on from his claim.
Stevenson beat Dawson in the light heavyweight division as it is recognized now.
However, in terms strictly based on wins and losses in the ring, on the man who beat the man at 175 lbs. or below, Ward could say on the eve of challenging Kovalev for the WBA, IBF, and WBO belts that he’s the rightful lineal king at light heavyweight.
And he would have a case.
How strong a case is open to debate. Feel free to do so. That’s what this is here for.
As noted at the start, it all feels convoluted. The ultimate tonic is fights. For now, let’s stick with middleweight as the longest standing lineage in the sport. But…
…if the winner of Ward-Kovalev faces Stevenson in 2017, and anything is possible, the straight line to 1996 would be there.
It’s an asterisk.
But it’s a fun asterisk.
Cliff Rold is the Managing Editor of BoxingScene and a member of the Transnational Boxing Rankings Board and the Boxing Writers Association of America. He can be reached at roldboxing@hotmail.com
