Lineal championship

John L. Sullivan, the first lineal champion, came to welcome his successor, Jack Johnson. Ever since, it has been a tradition for champions of the past to attend title fights of recent champions, thus to "pass the torch" and legitimize their reign.

The concept of a lineal champion was developed by boxing fans dissatisfied by the tendency of each of the various sanctioning bodies (WBC, WBA, IBF, etc.) to recognize different champions, and in particular to strip a champion of his title for refusing to fight its top-ranked contender. Prior to the 1970s, this rarely happened; the National Boxing Association (NBA) and the New York State Athletic Commission (NYSAC) sometimes recognized different champions, but there was usually only a short interval before one champion defeated the other. In this era, a title vacancy was generally filled by having a single-elimination tournament box-off between two or more top-ranked contenders. The lineal championship is intended as a return to that era. Several top boxers have specified holding the lineal championship as a personal accomplishment (e.g. Lennox Lewis[3]) or goal (e.g., Nate Campbell[1]). Many boxing experts view the lineal championship as a prestigious status which trumps the world titles being issued by the sanctioning bodies (e.g. Steve Farhood).[4]

In mixed martial arts (MMA), the lineal championship is of particular relevance because until the mid 2000s, the top-ranked fighters were spread out amongst a number of mixed martial arts promotions across the globe. This included Japanese promotions such as Pride Fighting Championships, Pancrase, and Dream as well as US-based promotions such as the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), World Extreme Cage Fighting (WEC) and Strikeforce. The UFC eventually purchased most of the major promotions[5] and, as a result, all of the lineal champions are currently signed with the promotion. Former UFC champion Jon Jones was suspended and stripped of the title for reasons resulting from an alleged hit and run felony charge.[6] Daniel Cormier, whom Jones had just defeated, subsequently won the vacant UFC title. These events, however, do not affect the lineal title because Jon Jones was never defeated in the octagon.

The boxing magazine The Ring has its own lineal championship. The original sequence was from its first publication in the 1920s until its hiatus in 1989, continuing as late as 1992 in some divisions. When it started awarding titles again in 2001, it did not calculate retrospective lineages to fill in the gap years, instead nominating a new champion.[11] CBZ commented in 2004, "The Ring has forfeited its credibility by pulling names out of its ass to name fighters as champions".[12] In 2007, The Ring was acquired by the owners of fight promoter Golden Boy Promotions,[13] which has publicized The Ring's world championship when this is at stake in fights it promotes (such as Joe Calzaghe vs. Roy Jones, Jr. in 2008).[14] Since 2012, to reduce the number of vacant titles, The Ring allows fights between a #1 or #2 contender and a #3, #4, or #5 contender to fill a vacant title. This has prompted further doubts about its credibility.[15][16][17] Sports Illustrated used The Ring lineages for galleries of lineal heavyweight and middleweight champions.[18][19]

The Cyber Boxing Zone (CBZ) website maintains lists of lineal champions, with input from boxing historian Tracy Callis of the International Boxing Research Organization.[12][20][21] These were first published in 1994, and are retrospective to the introduction of Marquess of Queensberry Rules in 1885.[21] The historical lists have sometimes been updated when new information about old fights comes to light.[22] If its lineal champion at one weight class moves to another class, CBZ does not automatically vacate his title.[23]

BoxingScene.com disagrees with the lineages given by The Ring and by CBZ, especially in lower weight divisions with a higher rate of champions changing division.[8] BoxingScene has traced its own most recent lineages, generally back to the 1990s.[24][25][26][27]

The Transnational Boxing Rankings Board (TBRB) was formed in October 2012 as a volunteer initiative to provide boxing with authoritative top-ten rankings, identify the singular world champion of every division by strict reasoning and common sense, and to insist on the sport's reform.[28][29] Board membership includes fifty respected boxing journalists and record keepers from around the world who are uncompromised by sanctioning bodies and promoters. The board was formed to continue where The Ring "left off" in the aftermath of its purchase by Golden Boy Promotions in 2007 and the following dismissal of the editorial board headed by Nigel Collins.[30]

After the new editors of The Ring announced a controversial new championship policy in May 2012,[31] three prominent members of the Ring Advisory Panel resigned. These three members (Springs Toledo, Cliff Rold and Tim Starks) became the founding members of the Transnational Boxing Rankings Board,[32] which was formed over the summer of 2012 with the assistance of Stewart Howe of England. The board only awards vacant championships when the two top-ranked fighters in any division meet, and currently recognizes legitimate world champions or "true champions" each weight classes.[33]

Since its inception, TBRB has been viewed by many boxing historians and analysts as the superior version of lineal championship (e.g. Teddy Atlas)[34] and their rankings as the most authoritative in boxing today.[32]

Since April 6, 2019, LinealBoxingChampion.com (LBC) has been producing monthly, non-computerized divisional rankings for women's professional boxing.[35] Prior to this, no such impartial, independent rankings existed. The rankings are compiled by an international team of ten boxing experts,[36] which includes site editor and member of the International Boxing Research Organization, Adam McMeeking (from the UK),[37] International Women's Boxing Hall of Fame 2019 inductee,[38] David Avila (from the U.S.), Max Boxing journalist[39] and former Boxing Monthly contributor, Anthony Cocks (from Australia) [40] and Ring Magazine contributor, Yuriko Miyata (from Japan).[41] In keeping with the tradition, the lineal champion status is awarded to the winner of a fight between the number one and number two ranked contenders.[42] Currently LBC recognizes four true lineal champions in women's boxing: Katie Taylor at Lightweight, Jessica McCaskill at Junior Welterweight, Claressa Shields at Middleweight, and Geovana Peres at Heavyweight.[43] Due to its limited number of competitors LBC does not recognize the light heavyweight division.