The problem with not fighting the 2nd best fighter of your era:Klitschkos and others.

[Skittlez]

Originally Posted by Jel

Wlad was never the lineal champ.

You become the lineal champ by beating the man who beat the man.

Klittards and Fat Dan will like you to falsely believe it was restored. But it never was.

1956-1959 - Floyd Paterson
1959-1960 - Ingemar Johansson
1960-1962 - Floyd Paterson
1962-1964 - Sonny Liston
1964-1971 - Muhammad Ali
1971-1973 - Joe Frazier
1973-1974 - George Foreman
1974-1978 - Muhammad Ali
1978-1978 - Leon Spinks
1978-1978 - Muhammad Ali



1978-1985 - Larry Holmes
1985-1988 - Michael Spinks
1988-1990 - Mike Tyson
1990-1990 - Buster Douglas
1990-1992 - Evander Holyfield
1992-1993 - Riddick Bowe
1993-1994 - Evander Holyfield
1994-1994 - Michael Moorer
1994-1997 - George Foreman
1997-1998 - Shannon Briggs
1998-2001 - Lennox Lewis
2001-2001 - Hasim Rahman
2001-2003 - Lennox Lewis




Vitali retired and supposedly broke the linage.
But that would only work if he stayed retired or if he came back shot and irrelevant.

Vitali came back and was clearly the 'other top heavyweight' of his era.
This messes up the Linage because you actually no longer know who was the man of his era.

Not to mention, Vitali beat the #2 Sanders. Wladimir lost to Sanders. Wladimir never beat Sanders. Which messes up the linage in itself as well with no direct correlations.


Linage is very important. Because boxing historians will look back and say 'Wladimir was never the Lineal champ, he was never the true 'man' of the division'.

Beautiful.....

[ROSS CALIFORNIA]

Originally Posted by Jel

If Vitali was not related to Wladimir, they would have fought 2-3 times already. Vitali would have at least been a 50-50 if not outright favorite against Wladimir. This really does distorts his title defense numbers and his reign of dominance. He shared his reign with a fighter who is his equal or nearly so. He shared his dominance with a fighter who have a very real chance of beating him and ending his title defense streak. This is troubling because there are a number of ATG'S who would have had better reigns, better records and better defenses than they had, if they never fought the clear #1 challenger to their throne.

Wow, that is a good point. I never thought about it like that and that goes for both brothers.