The new linear lt heavy champ and his #1 contender

[Mikhnienko]

How is he linear???

He beat who? Gonzalez?

Roy was undisputed he lost to Tarver who lost to Glencoffee who lost to Tarver and both lost to Dawson who lost to Pascal.....

Not sure how the ol' Zsolt fits into the linear category.

lol

He beat Gonzalez. Who beat Michalszewski. Who Beat Hill. Who beat Maske for the vacant title. Hill and Maske was no 1 and 2. The title was vacated by Spinks.

Pascal is the Ring champion. NOT linear. Erdei is.

Thank you sir.

If Erdei fights at LHW again he's Linear. Americans had no problem anointing Dawson #1 when he vacated belts and avoided mandatories while beating up old grandfathers.

[crold1]

Well Micheal Spinks was considered linear champ when he fought Tyson even though he had something like a year of inactivity.

Not the same. Spinks was forced to give up the IBF belt but continued to bill himself as the 'real' champ (and he was historically speaking). Zsolt Erdei outright vacated (and the WBO was the only link he had to the lineeage in his garbage title reign) and moved up to win another title. He left the division. He said he's coming back. Maybe he will. He can try to land a fight with Pascal, the new Light Heavyweight champion.

Joe Gans had to regain the title when he did the same thing; Floyd needed to beat Shane when he came back after vacating. Same thing here.

And countless champions has had non-title fights at different weights.

Of course...they didn't vacate their titles when they took them. Erdei wasn't in a position where he had to choose or had a mando looming to take Frago. He vacated and changed his mind later. Good on him. He still vacated and left the class. Lineage dead at that point. He can regain it via Pascal.

[GRANDSLAM]

Erdei is the champ, but should retire so Pascal can re-start the lineage

Froch is a bum.

[crold1]

Erdei is the champ

Nope. See above.

[lparm]

Erdei is the champ, but should retire so Pascal can re-start the lineage

Froch is a bum.

The haters always have excuses. Funny how you say he's a bum when he's arguably the best 168 lb'er and 1 fight away from becoming the new 175 champ after he dominates Pascal again. Haters gonna be hatin'

[Sweet Jesus]

Erdei is not the lineal champ anymore. He vacated the lineal claim when he ascended weight divisions. Just like Mayweather vacated his lineal claim to the WW title when he retired.

[BattlingNelson]

Not the same. Spinks was forced to give up the IBF belt but continued to bill himself as the 'real' champ (and he was historically speaking). Zsolt Erdei outright vacated (and the WBO was the only link he had to the lineeage in his garbage title reign) and moved up to win another title. He left the division. He said he's coming back. Maybe he will. He can try to land a fight with Pascal, the new Light Heavyweight champion.

Joe Gans had to regain the title when he did the same thing; Floyd needed to beat Shane when he came back after vacating. Same thing here.



Of course...they didn't vacate their titles when they took them. Erdei wasn't in a position where he had to choose or had a mando looming to take Frago. He vacated and changed his mind later. Good on him. He still vacated and left the class. Lineage dead at that point. He can regain it via Pascal.

So Spinks being stripped of his papertitle because he failed to box a mandatory and Erdei who vacates his papertitle but continues to campaign at the weight is different? I mean both held papertitles and Erdei's CW campaign was never meant to be more than one fight. I think you're being pretty hard on him.

And the reason why Erdei isn't fighting is because of Universums problems with television BTW.

[crold1]

So Spinks being stripped of his papertitle because he failed to box a mandatory and Erdei who vacates his papertitle but continues to campaign at the weight is different? I mean both held papertitles and Erdei's CW campaign was never meant to be more than one fight. I think you're being pretty hard on him.

And the reason why Erdei isn't fighting is because of Universums problems with television BTW.

There was no reason to vacate even that paper title. He could have moved up and made a decision later. He didn't and that paper title was the most tangible cue there was to his claim on the title. And he has not continued to campaign. I don't care why. He's not active at any weight and will soon hit two years without a fight at 175.

If the act of vacancy is a good enough standard for Joe Gans who only briefly went to Welterweight (before returning to unseat your pseudonym inspiration), it's good enough for Zsolt freaking Erdei.

[flyest1]

Who has Erdie fought besides Gonzalez. Atleast Dariuz Michaleski fought good fighters. I have to consider Pascal the man at 175

[crold1]

BNelson:

I wrote on this at the time of vacancy: http://www.boxingscene.com/?m=show&id=23459

Erdei Vacates: Ding-Dong, the Lineage Argument is Dead
Posted by: Cliff Rold on 11-14-2009.

It was the world title history which few cared about. Those who did just shook their head waiting for it to end.

And now it has according to various news reports. It ends with a fitting whimper.

In preparation for his challenge of WBC Cruiserweight titlist Giacobbe Fragomeni next Saturday, WBO Light Heavyweight champion Zsolt Erdei (30-0, 17 KO) has vacated that belt. In doing so, he has also vacated the last link to a debate about the lineage of the World Light Heavyweight championship which extends over much of the last thirteen years.

It was a debate which mattered once upon a time. During the height of his WBO title reign, Dariusz Michalczewski was regarded by most as the second best in class in comparison to American superstar Roy Jones Jr.

What made Michalczewski worth paying attention to while he and Jones stood atop the division from 1997-2003 was an action style, an undefeated record, and a claim to the lineal championship at 175 lbs.

Michalczewski defeated Virgil Hill by decision in June 1997, adding Hill’s IBF and WBA belts to a WBO belt he’d held since 1994. Hill was one year removed from defeating Henry Maske, adding Maske’s IBF belt to his own. During his second WBA title reign, Hill has successfully defended against a Fabrice Tiozzo who would, prior to Hill-Maske, win the WBC belt.

All roads led to Hill. Then they passed to Dariusz. Michalczewski was forced out of/stripped of the WBA and IBF belts for nonsense reasons; they ended up with Jones who also captured the WBC belt when Tiozzo vacated. Dariusz vs. Roy was never much more than banter between hard core followers, but it was a merit debate and fun in its time, at least until Michalczewski began to visibly slip around 2001.

When Michalczewski lost in October 2003, at age 35, to a Julio Gonzalez who hadn’t really won a round against Jones in July 2001, the lineage argument lost some steam. When Gonzalez lost in his first title defense to undefeated former Olympian Zsolt Erdei, it was a moment of wait and see.

Maybe Erdei could make some hay with the lineage.

But he didn’t.

As BoxingScene’s Jake Donovan stated in a piece on October 22 of this year, a real champion is a man who takes on “all comers” in his class and

For champions such as Zsolt Erdei…such interest has proven to be all but non-existent.
Erdei’s embarrassment of a light heavyweight title reign could potentially come to an end next month, if only by default. On tap is a foray to the cruiserweight division, where he will challenge alphabet titlist Giacobe Fragomeni.

The scheduled fight represents a stiffer challenge than anything he’s attempted in more than five years as lineal light heavyweight king, where he feasted on the division’s bottom feeders far more than he’s attempted to face any semblance of respectable contenders.

All of this probably wasn’t Erdei’s fault. His promoter, Klaus Peter Kohl, has always been a savvy and sometimes careful match maker. Results are results though, and Erdei did not have them.

For historical purity purposes, Erdei couldn’t be denied his place in the lineage. Early in his WBO reign, he had some interesting wins against real contenders like Hugo Garay, Mehdi Sahnoune, and Thomas Ulrich. But as his reign wore on and the mid-level challengers gave way to no-level of challenge at all, the Ring Magazine title passed between Jones, Antonio Tarver, Glen Johnson, Bernard Hopkins, and Joe Calzaghe.

Erdei became proof that while the concept of a champion needing to lose a title in the ring is solid, the practice is sometimes highly flawed.

And now it’s over.

BoxingScene rates Chad Dawson and WBC titlist Jean Pascal as the top two fighters at 175 lbs., Dawson largely regarded as the top dog right now. They may square off next year. Former Ring Magazine titlist Bernard Hopkins is still rated number two by Ring Magazine; they would recognize a Dawson-Hopkins winner as the new ‘real’ World Champion. Somewhere, IBF titlist Tavoris Cloud (20-0, 18 KO), who Dawson gave up the IBF belt to avoid when Cloud was a mandatory, will have his say as well.

One of them will emerge as the new king. Whoever that is, they will matter in the role. Erdei, as the lineal king if nothing else, never really did.