The winner of the re-fight of the Ukrainian and the British can become the lineal champion and receive the title of The Ring
Another and, apparently, truthful statement by Tyson Fury, who has been “promoting” the fight with Derek Chisora for a couple of weeks, about retirement added additional intrigue to the rematch scheduled for August 20 in Jeddah between Alexander Usik and Anthony Joshua. The Ring magazine announced the vacant world heavyweight title. The unofficial, but important and honorary title of the “linear” champion, which the Gypsy King has held since 2015, has also become “free”. And it is possible that the winner of the second fight between Usyk and Joshua will receive both titles.
Why is “linear” honorable?
Firstly, because at the moment, with the advent of four main versions, it is quite difficult to figure out who is really the real or “main” champion. Secondly, it is the title of “linear” champion that reflects the sports part of professional boxing.
“The man who beat the man” (the man who beat the man) – this is the definition of “linear champion”. Simply put, he is considered to be the one who took the title from the linear, and therefore the currently universally recognized world champion. For example, even years of inactivity, as well as the presence of only one title out of four, did not prevent Tyson Fury from being considered the lineal heavyweight champion of the world. All due to the fact that the Gypsy King took away this title in 2015 from Wladimir Klitschko, defeating him in a full-time duel.
Why the title of the lineal champion will be given to the winner of the Usyk-Joshua fight
Where did Wladimir Klitschko get the status of “linear” champion? Everything is very simple. According to the rules of the non-profit organization LinealBoxingChampion, created specifically to determine the status of lineal champions, if the “linearity” was interrupted – the champion changed the weight category, ended his career – the new title holder was determined in the duel of the first and second numbers in the division ratings.
This is exactly what happened with Wladimir Klitschko: the Ukrainian, who occupied the first line of the rating after the retirement of Lennox Lewis, who left the title vacant, defeated Ruslan Chagaev, who occupied the third position (the second was with Vitali Klitschko, but here they took into account the fact that the Klitschko brothers never would not go into the ring against each other). The fight between Vladimir Klitschko and Alexander Povetkin in 2013, which ended in a convincing victory for Klitschko Jr., only confirmed the Ukrainian in the status of a “linear” champion.
Now we have a similar situation. Tyson Fury has retired from sports. Oleksandr Usyk occupies the first line of the division rating, Anthony Joshua – the second. Four titles are at stake in the duel (the factor is by no means the main one, but also deserving attention), the champion status according to the latest significant version is vacant. So there is every reason to believe that it is the winner of the rematch between Usyk and Joshua who will receive the title of “linear” champion.
From what year is the record of “linear” champions kept?
Since the advent of the first universally recognized world champion. In heavyweight, that was John Sullivan. The second lineal champion was James Corbet, who took away the championship title from Sullivan.
Over the years, the title of “linear” heavyweight champion was owned by Jack Dempsey, Max Schmeling, Primo Carnera (yes, even him), Rocky Marciano, Floyd Paterson, Muhammad Ali, Joe Frazier, George Foreman, Mike Tyson, Everder Holyfield , Lennox Lewis and even Shannon Briggs with Hasim Rahaman. Moreover, Ali owned this title three times, receiving and returning this title.
In total, 40 different boxers held the title of “linear” heavyweight champion. We hope that Oleksandr Usyk will be 41st.
Pavel Livertovsky
Source: Sportarena
I’m Todderic Kirkman, a journalist and author for athletistic. I specialize in covering all news related to sports, ranging from basketball to football and everything in between. With over 10 years of experience in the industry, I have become an invaluable asset to my team. My ambition is to bring the most up-to-date information on sports topics around the world.
