Why do we recognize any champion who isn’t lineal?

[ShaneMosleySr]

People complain there are too many champions in boxing.

There’s actually only four if you recognize the man who beat the man instead of this alphabet nonsense.

Let’s boycott all the titles and never talk about them again. Lineal championships are all that matter and it makes boxing much easier to follow.

[The3]

Some divisions have not had a lineal champions for years because the current champions don't unify 3 or more belts

2008: Was the last time there was a lineal champion at 130
2005: last time 126 had one

[boliodogs]

Because lineal can be just as much or more nonsense. GGG had most of the belts a while back and damn near everybody thought of him as the real champ and the best middleweight in the world. The lineal middleweight champ was Martinez who refused to fight GGG. Then Cotto beat a washed up crippled Matinez at a catchweight of 159. Cotto also refused to fight GGG and did not fight anybody for a full year. Then Cotto defended his WBC and lineal title against Geale at a catchweight of 157 even though GGG had already KOed Geale in 4 rounds not long before Cotto fought Geale. Then Cotto defended his title against Canelo at yet another Catchweight of 155. Canelo beat Cotto but he too refused to fight GGG and fought Khan instead again at a catchweight of 155. Then the WBC striped Canelo of the title when he refused to fight GGG. So who was the real champ then? GGG who owned the WBC, IBF and WBA world titles and was trying to fight WBO champ Saanders or Canelo who was still the lineal middleweight champ but had no belts and had never fought above 155. For me it was a no brainer. GGG was the real champ not lineal champ Canelo. Then you have Fury who won the lineal heavyweight title but did not defend it for well over 3 years and lost all his world titles. Is Fury still champ? Not to me.

[thedarkdragon11]

Some divisions have not had a lineal champions for years because the current champions don't unify 3 or more belts

2008: Was the last time there was a lineal champion at 130
2005: last time 126 had one

And Lineal is usually decided by fans via certainty...

For example, many casuals still consider Fury as the reigning lineal champion at Heavyweight even after his 2-year inactivity and Twitter drama just because he returned while the championship is still vacant...

I wonder if all of a sudden, GrandPac decides to move down to 130 or 126 and then beat Davis or Santa Cruz... I doubt that the same people who view Fury as champion won't recognize him...

Some lineal champions aren't even recognized by casuals...

[aboutfkntime]

And Lineal is usually decided by fans via certainty...

For example, many casuals still consider Fury as the reigning lineal champion at Heavyweight even after his 2-year inactivity and Twitter drama just because he returned while the championship is still vacant...

I wonder if all of a sudden, GrandPac decides to move down to 130 or 126 and then beat Davis or Santa Cruz... I doubt that the same people who view Fury as champion won't recognize him...

Some lineal champions aren't even recognized by casuals...

some lineal champions aren't even recognized by hardcores, and barely even register with historians... because they are clearly not the best guy in the division

not sure which is more over-rated, lineal or P4P

[Toffee]

I don't recognise lineal ahead of belts or vice versa. Both produce absurdities.

You know when someone is the best, or even has a claim to be the best. They beat the other guys. Until then, I don't care what belts or titles you've won or been given.

[Citizen Koba]

People complain there are too many champions in boxing.

There’s actually only four if you recognize the man who beat the man instead of this alphabet nonsense.

Let’s boycott all the titles and never talk about them again. Lineal championships are all that matter and it makes boxing much easier to follow.

Lineal can be just as bad as the orgs on occasion, and besides lineages get broken all the time and there ain't one set of defining rules of how you start a new one. You could go with Ring's opinion of course, but you really want to leave it up to Ring? Besides, you end up with a situation where most of the time in most the divisions you're gonna have no champion, and I'm not sure that's a good situation either - people want to know who 'the man' is.

Why don't you throw your votes in on the 'Scene Championship poll, man. That's the closest we're gonna get to actually having a say - and one Champ per division - and the more votes it gets the more it'll legitimise it.

[brian___]

If they win a title they are titlists. If they win all the titles, they are the champion.

[moochi]

Professional Boxing is a business disguised as a sport.

They make money from casuals. The words "world champion" fool the majority of them!

[KillaCamNZ]

You have a better chance of successfully arguing that God is real, over Lineal being real.