Title defenses..should only lineal defenses matter?

[Derranged]

Too many belts, mayne.....

[boliodogs]

Lineal doesn't mean a damn thing to me anymore. Martinez, then Cotto and then Canelo all tied up the lineal middleweight championship for about 3 or 4 years playing keep away from GGG. GGG was clearly the best middleweight in the world and their number 1 challenger but they all refused to fight him. Ring magazine still has Canelo as the middleweight champion of the world even though he owns no middleweight belt and is challenging for a 154 pound title. What a ***ing joke. Spinks was the lineal heavyweight champ for years when everybody knew Tyson was the real heavyweight champ. Tyson proved that in less than a minute when he finally got Spinks in the ring. The lineal title only means something if the lineal champion is the best or maybe the best fighter in that weight class. Sometimes the lineal champ is not even close to being the best fighter in the weight class. Cotto was a perfect example. He was the "lineal" middleweight champ when GGG, Canelo, Jacobs and Saunders and probably a few other middleweights and Jr. middleweights could beat him.

[Larry the boss]

Lineal doesn't mean a damn thing to me anymore. Martinez, then Cotto and then Canelo all tied up the lineal middleweight championship for about 3 or 4 years playing keep away from GGG. GGG was clearly the best middleweight in the world and their number 1 challenger but they all refused to fight him. Ring magazine still has Canelo as the middleweight champion of the world even though he owns no middleweight belt and is challenging for a 154 pound title. What a ***ing joke. Spinks was the lineal heavyweight champ for years when everybody knew Tyson was the real heavyweight champ. Tyson proved that in less than a minute when he finally got Spinks in the ring. The lineal title only means something if the lineal champion is the best or maybe the best fighter in that weight class. Sometimes the lineal champ is not even close to being the best fighter in the weight class. Cotto was a perfect example. He was the "lineal" middleweight champ when GGG, Canelo, Jacobs and Saunders and probably a few other middleweights and Jr. middleweights could beat him.

Please dont make this a GGG thread

[The D3vil]

In an ideal world? Yes.

In a world where Canelo is still the middleweight champ in spite of not fighting at middlweight and is ducking the guy that most people believe is the rightful champ at 160? No.

[boliodogs]

The WBA, WBC, IBF , WBO and lineal titles are all not very important anymore. They mean something but not that much. The standard of what constitutes an acceptable title defense has gone so far downhill it's pathetic. Champions used to be expected to fight top 10 or higher ranked contenders. Now Wilder can defend against a number 42nd ranked guy, Crawford can defend against a number 75th ranked guy and Lara can defend against a number 41st ranked guy and it's OK and accepted.

[boliodogs]

Please dont make this a GGG thread

I'm not trying to make it a GGG thread but he was a perfect example of why lineal doesn't mean ****. Tyson was ducked by the lineal champ as I explained so just think of it as me making it a Mike Tyson thread if that makes you feel better. The point is if the lineal champ isn't the best fighter then beating him doesn't mean much. In the case of Fury beating Wlad, Wlad was proven the best so beating him did mean something. If you want to believe the lineal title always means all that much then go ahead and kid yourself.

[Boxfan83]

The WBA, WBC, IBF , WBO and lineal titles are all not very important anymore. They mean something but not that much. The standard of what constitutes an acceptable title defense has gone so far downhill it's pathetic. Champions used to be expected to fight top 10 or higher ranked contenders. Now Wilder can defend against a number 42nd ranked guy, Crawford can defend against a number 75th ranked guy and Lara can defend against a number 41st ranked guy and it's OK and accepted.

When did Crawford defend it against the 75th ranked guy? I dont think he was considered lineal until he beat Postol but I could be wrong.

[Larry the boss]

When did Crawford defend it against the 75th ranked guy? I dont think he was considered lineal until he beat Postol but I could be wrong.

You are spot on..Crawford-Postal was for the lineal title

[boliodogs]

Monzon had a big advantage over Hopkins as far as the lineal BS goes. Monzon was lineal champ from the day he won the title. He didn't have to get 3 other belt holders to fight him to become lineal champ. Hopkins was always the best middleweight of his time but it took him years to get all the other belt holders to fight him. I give Hopkins full credit for all of his middleweight title defenses, lineal or not. Hopkins, and not Monzon, holds the record for successful middleweight world title defenses.

[BKM-]

Making you "linear champion" isn't the end all be all either, there's been plenty of examples of the linear champ not exactly being the best fighter around. I say count everything as long as it's an official world title it counts.