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By Jake Donovan - Not since Lennox Lewis' official retirement in early 2004 has any heavyweight been able to lay claim to its linear crown. Lewis' second reign as undisputed ruler of boxing's boys represented a lineage dating back to 1956, when Floyd Patterson knocked out Archie Moore to earn the title vacated a year prior by Rocky Marciano.
In that 48 year span, seventeen different heavyweights sat atop boxing's most storied division, including Lewis and Patterson both enjoying two reigns apiece as linear king. In 48 years, the linear title changed hands in the ring 22 times, but there was always someone at the top.
In four years, the linear heavyweight title has changed hands zero times.
In four years, there have been zero claimants to the linear heavyweight crown.
In five years, there have been zero heavyweight unification matches or unified titlists.
The first two will still ring true for the immediate future, but the five-year drought of unification matches coming to an end this weekend.
Wladimir Klitschko, generally regarded as the best heavyweight in the world but not its outright leader, participates in his first alphabet unification match when he faces unbeaten southpaw Sultan Ibragimov at Madison Square Garden (Saturday, HBO 9:30PM ET).
The debate rages on as to just how many unification matches it will take for the heavyweight division to finally crown a single king. Some insist the argument ends with the last man standing after a round robin between this weekend's winner, the winner of the March 8 Oleg Maskaev-Samuel Peter bout, and unbeaten Ruslan Chagaev. Such a series would involved all four major alphabet titles. [details]
In that 48 year span, seventeen different heavyweights sat atop boxing's most storied division, including Lewis and Patterson both enjoying two reigns apiece as linear king. In 48 years, the linear title changed hands in the ring 22 times, but there was always someone at the top.
In four years, the linear heavyweight title has changed hands zero times.
In four years, there have been zero claimants to the linear heavyweight crown.
In five years, there have been zero heavyweight unification matches or unified titlists.
The first two will still ring true for the immediate future, but the five-year drought of unification matches coming to an end this weekend.
Wladimir Klitschko, generally regarded as the best heavyweight in the world but not its outright leader, participates in his first alphabet unification match when he faces unbeaten southpaw Sultan Ibragimov at Madison Square Garden (Saturday, HBO 9:30PM ET).
The debate rages on as to just how many unification matches it will take for the heavyweight division to finally crown a single king. Some insist the argument ends with the last man standing after a round robin between this weekend's winner, the winner of the March 8 Oleg Maskaev-Samuel Peter bout, and unbeaten Ruslan Chagaev. Such a series would involved all four major alphabet titles. [details]
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