You can't just vacate a lineal championship, can you?

Cotto can vacate the WBC title..but he will still be Ring/Lineal champ Larryx the Ring title doesnt mean you are the lineal Champ! Most of the the time the lineal Champ also hold the ring belt but the 2 dont correlate!

be more specific: WBC awards the WBC champ belt, while The Ring Magazine awards the "lineal champion" belt... If WBC strips Cotto, he may still keep his lineal belt... And so on. You are wrong. First the WBC has jack **** to do with the lineage of a division. Second the ring magazine is not the lineal of a division even though most of the time the lineal champ is also the ring champ. Third the lineal champ has no belt, its just a distinction(The man who beat the man) So Cotto can drop his WBC and Ring belts and still be champ, if he schedules atleast one fight every 18 months at MW.

When the lineal champion vacates, the winner of a fight between the #1 and #2 fighters in the division becomes the new lineal champ. For example, when Marciano retired, the championship was vacated. Then, Floyd Patterson and Archie Moore fought for the vacant title. Patterson won, thus establishing a new lineage.

be more specific: WBC awards the WBC champ belt, while The Ring Magazine awards the "lineal champion" belt... If WBC strips Cotto, he may still keep his lineal belt... And so on. The RING title and lineal champions have no correlation anymore either. Just to make it a bit more confusing

Cotto can vacate the WBC title..but he will still be Ring/Lineal champ

At any rate, I imagine Cotto is vacating the WBC belt. That would take some luster away from a potential Cotto vs Canelo fight (though obviously, it'd still happen, and it'd still sell like hotcakes). Sulaiman Jr has that covered. "Miguel Cotto has an authorised major fight for May 2015, with the winner of that fighting against the winner of Golovkin versus Rubio," Sulaiman told Wold Boxing News without revealing who cotto will face in nine months time. http://www.world boxingnews.net/news/2014/08/24/sulaiman-major-fight-for-cotto-in-may-2015-then-golovkin-v-rubio-winner.html

He has to lose, move up or down and never return..or retire

Cotto was never MW champ, he beat an old injured man at a pointless catchweight and has never and will never fight at MW Cotto's career for the past several years consists of fighting injured and mediocre opponents like Yuri Foreman until he paper-titles himself into a big payday, then getting dominated, then repeating He makes Floyd look like an honest brave warrior Cotto = Poop Who cares? If Cotto won't defend against the best MW but still fights at MW, his lineal title can be as fake as any alphabet belt. If he moves back down, he relinquishes the lineal title and this is a non-issue. I don't see what the issue is. Martinez fought JMW Dzinzruk after Pavlik, then Barker and Macklin (ok contenders) and clearly showed no intention of going after other champions. (although I recall him being forced into Dzin fight by HBO or something) Even Hopkins himself fought whats-his-name Hakkar and a blown up DLH for a payday. Makes me wonder if it had been anyone else who beat Martinez on june, would they have been given credit. Also, someone posted the rules earlier, its not just about moving down, its about not fighting at MW for 18 months, then its vacant. To be honest, I don't think Cotto will face any legit middleweight threats. All I'm saying is, until he makes his next move, let's cut the guy some slack. He just won the title in a huge upset and hasn't even scheduled his next fight. Let's at least wait until we know what he does next before people start running their mouths.

Who cares? If Cotto won't defend against the best MW but still fights at MW, his lineal title can be as fake as any alphabet belt. If he moves back down, he relinquishes the lineal title and this is a non-issue.

I said it here: B-Hop had no reasons to fight Kovalev -- other than paving the GBP-HBO reconciliation and (in a certain extent) being stripped of his belt... I never expected that Hopkins will act chiefly as a "ruthless promoter" while putting his own neck at stake... He has two belts.

.................................................................. http://www.boxingscene.com/forums/showthread.php?p=14722146#post14722146 I said it here: B-Hop had no reasons to fight Kovalev -- other than paving the GBP-HBO reconciliation and (in a certain extent) being stripped of his belt... I never expected that Hopkins will act chiefly as a "ruthless promoter" while putting his own neck at stake...

Well... I don't vote against B-Hop in any poll here. It's common sense to show a special respect to living legend of the sport. I rate Hopkins above Ward -- which is also common sense. ... But I don't see the point in B-Hop's choice to fight the actual killer in the division. Ok, he's got some "business reasons", but I still think that this step is far too risky for his age... .................................................................. B-Hop doesn't need to be defended -- he's a great legend of the sport... As about the Kovalev fight: this will never happen... You know this, all fans know this. Hopkins calling out Kovalev isn't something to be taken ad litteram... Calling out people doesn't necessarily materialize into an actual fight... I put a bet here that B-Hop will never fight Kovalev -- the bet still stands. (I can't see a serious reason for what an old legend like B-Hop has to fight the Russian killer). http://www.boxingscene.com/forums/showthread.php?p=14722146#post14722146

there you go, MD cleared it up , he knows his boxing.........except when it comes to bhop... Well... I don't vote against B-Hop in any poll here. It's common sense to show a special respect to living legend of the sport. I rate Hopkins above Ward -- which is also common sense. ... But I don't see the point in B-Hop's choice to fight the actual killer in the division. Ok, he's got some "business reasons", but I still think that this step is far too risky for his age...

be more specific: WBC awards the WBC champ belt, while The Ring Magazine awards the "lineal champion" belt... If WBC strips Cotto, he may still keep his lineal belt... And so on. there you go, MD cleared it up , he knows his boxing.........except when it comes to bhop...

and the wbc belt is not the lineal title - the 2 have no correlation be more specific: WBC awards the WBC champ belt, while The Ring Magazine awards the "lineal champion" belt... If WBC strips Cotto, he may still keep his lineal belt... And so on.

and the wbc belt is not the lineal title - the 2 have no correlation

You sure can if you retire and move weight class and then number one And two contenders fight for the lineal title

Please enlighten me. Word is WBC is somehow making GGG vs Rubio some bullcrap unification fight (WBA world and WBC interim), and then making Cotto fight the winner, even though that would make the winner unranked by WBC. At any rate, I imagine Cotto is vacating the WBC belt. That would take some luster away from a potential Cotto vs Canelo fight (though obviously, it'd still happen, and it'd still sell like hotcakes). On top of that, I'm sure Cotto is eying a Floyd rematch. Losing that belt would take away the only bait he had to lure Floyd in. Even if he's stripped/vacates, those fights could still happen for the lineal championship, right? Didn't Martinez remain lineal champ even after they gave Chavez the WBC belt? Don't bother caring about the "lineal championship". It's obsolete BS.

Tbh, I'm just being an optimistic Cotto fan when it comes to him fighting GGG. He's too small for legit mw fighters but has to eventually fight him since he's the champion. Cotto should move down to 154. He's the current Middleweight champion but if he decides to fight at 154 from now on, he will eventually be stripped of his Ring belt.

honestly the lineage at middleweight is a joke at this point. its not worth anything. just like when spinks, judah, baldomir, and floyd were playing ignore the margarito.