The Klitschko-Chagaev Clash Won’t Re-establish Lineage

[joe strong]

So did Evander Holyfield. So did Buster Douglas. Rid**** Bowe was undisputed heavyweight champion as well.

those guys beat the unified champ but Tyson & lewis actually consolidated the titles.maybe I wasn't clear what I meant.Tyson beat all 3 champions(WBC/WBA/ibf) & lewis had a belt & beat Holyfield to get the other 2.the guys you listed beat the already undisputed champ.I just meant those 2 actually went out & beat other belt holders but when they lost they already had all the titles.then the bodies started stripping titles for not defending vs #1contenders.

[warp1432]

This dude continues to make the worst articles on the scene.

I'd consider Wlad lineal champ over Chagaev imo.

[BattlingNelson]

This dude continues to make the worst articles on the scene.

I'd consider Wlad lineal champ over Chagaev imo.

I haven't noticed him before, but this article was badly researched and the editors made a poor job here (sorry BPP but you guys ****** here).

[edgarg]

By Brent Matteo Alderson - The heavyweight championship lineage has only been broken three times in heavyweight history. The first time was when Gene Tunney retired in 1928, the second time was when Rocky Marciano retired in 1956 and then the third time was when Lennox Lewis retired in 2003. [details]

I think that Brent Matteo is confused, and is also trying to confuse the readers. Lennox Lewis, as far as I can recall was the undisputed champ only for a matter of months, when he held all the relevant titles. During the vast majority of his tenure, he didn't fight any of the other belt holders, and, in fact, as I recall, got one of hois belts in a "box-off" when it was literally thrown away by Rid**** Bowe.

He seems to be hovering around the point of "****ing his head against a stone wall, with his silly complaints about #'s 1 and 3 fighting instead of 1 and 2. It's a fact of life, the brothers are by far the best heavyweights in the world today, and one of them should naturally be regarded as the linea"L" Champion, since all the top fighters are in the lists of the 4 top belts.

And please....PLEASE...if you are writing knowledgeably on boxing, there is a HUGE difference between "linrar" and "lineal", in fact the really, in boxing terms mean the opposite of each other.

I don't agree that Manny Steward has made Wladimir a better boxer, a better survivor yes, and controls his space and ernergy better, but pre Steward he was a better boxer. Just my opinion.

[warp1432]

I haven't noticed him before, but this article was badly researched and the editors made a poor job here (sorry BPP but you guys ****** here).

He's the dude who wrote 'Is Manny Pacquiao ducking black fighters?" and some other trash articles.

[Mikhnienko]

I don't agree that Manny Steward has made Wladimir a better boxer, a better survivor yes, and controls his space and ernergy better, but pre Steward he was a better boxer. Just my opinion.

agree on this, he's reduced the chances he takes and improved his chances by doing so but pre manny Vlad was a ***in destroyer

[Dave Rado]

What the author perhaps fail to understand is that there's a difference between being The Ring Champion and the linear champion. Ring Magazine has its rules and by their rules this fight is for the Ring title.

It's not the first time that Ring Magazine recognizes a champion without that champion being linear. They did it also when the made Roy Jones the LHW champion who was not the linear champ. This means that today Ring Magazine has an LHW champ who's not the linear holder (who happens to be Zsolt Erdei).

We can get the same situation if Lennox makes an (ill-advised) come-back.

It is what it is.

I don't think the author is saying that The Ring doesn't have the right to recognise Wlad as its new champion if he beats Chagaev. I think he's just saying that whereas the rest of the boxing fraternity almost always accepts a new Ring's champion as being the new lineal champion when a fight is made for a vacant Ring title, he doesn't personally feel that this would be justified in this case.

Personally I do think it's justified to declare the winner as the new lineal champion, although I accept there would be question marks about whether he's really better than his brother. After all, there often are question marks, even when the lineal champion is universally recognised. For example, Kelly Pavlik is The Ring and lineal Middleweight champion, but there will still be a question mark about whether he's really "the man" at the weight until he fights Abraham.

Regarding your Roy Jones example, that was an anomaly created when The Ring relaunched its championship policy. Despite declaring that its policy was for its champion to be the lineal champion whenever there is one, they ignored the fact that Michalczewski was clearly the lineal champion, and announced that their inaugural Light Heavyweight champion under their new policy was Jones. It's true that Jones was accepted by almost everyone as "the man" at that time, but their recognition of him as their champion was against their own policy. By contrast, their recognition of the Wlad-Chagaev winner is not against their own policy, and Wlad would be nearly universally recognised as "the man" if he wins, albeit not by the author of the article, and with question marks remaining over whether he is really better than his brother.

[GJC]

I guess in your eyes Larry Holmes was never the man then.

Interesting point though I wouldn't count the shell Holmes beat as "the man".

[Lacrimosa]

...and his stamina isn’t as good.

After this i have finished reading the article... Somebody has to open his eyes...

The only single aspect in which Vitali is better than Wlad is chin, and that`sit... Wladimir`s poor stamina is a myth...

[Dave Rado]

After this i have finished reading the article... Somebody has to open his eyes...

The only single aspect in which Vitali is better than Wlad is chin, and that`sit... Wladimir`s poor stamina is a myth...

I can understand you saying that his stamina has improved dramatically and is no longer a problem for him, but to say it's a myth implies he has never had any stamina problems, and I don't see how you can say that, given what happened against Brewster in their first fight (and against Puritty, although that was a much longer time ago, and was also much more a result of naive tactics than lack of stamina as such).

Also, Wlad says "although I'm the better technical boxer, Vitali is the stronger of the two". Of course, the stronger fighter doesn't always win, but it's still another thing in Vitali's favour, apart from his chin. Also, he's more of a fighter than Wlad is, and more willing to go into the trenches and dig deep in order to win; and Froch-Taylor showed how the better fighter can sometimes beat the better boxer. (Marciano against almost everyone he fought, also).