A brief chronology of lineal heavyweight champions

this is from east corner in the rich history of professional boxing there have been many world champions especially in the last 30 to 40 years when things evolved to the point where we now have four major sanctioning bodies we don't have many undisputed champions in boxing these days and in the rare instances that one emerges boxing politics in the corrupt nature of sanctioning bodies usually make for a short-lived undisputed reign tracing the championship lineage in any weight class isn't an exact science and in some instances it can get tricky at any given time the lineal champion isn't necessarily the highest regarded champion in his division indeed the lineal champion may not even technically possess a world title even so tracing the lineage of the man who beat the man this typically tends to be a far more objective guideline than adhering to the ever-changing whims of any of the four alphabet bodies and I think a really great example of this can be seen when tracing the heavyweight championship lineage back in the 1880s john ll sullivan the boston strong boy he was considered boxing's first heavyweight world champion so for our purposes here everything began with Sullivan on September 7th 1892 gentleman Jim Corbett defeated Sullivan by 20 first round knockout Corbett defended the title just once during the next four plus years then on March 17 1897 Bob Fitzsimmons challenged gentlemen Jim for the title Corbett was in control of the action for most of the contests and he dropped Fitzsimmons in round six but Fitzsimmons persevered and he rallied back to score a 14th round knockout in his next title fight June 9 1890 9 Fitzsimmons was knocked out by James J Jeffries in round 11 Jeffries went on to defend the title seven times over the next 5 years before retiring when Jeffries retired the original lineage dating back to Sullivan had been broken a new lineage started on July 3rd 1905 when Marvin heart stopped Jack root in the 12th round in a foul that was refereed by Jeffries himself on February 23rd 1906 Tommy Burns decisively defeated Hart in a 20 round decision Byrnes went on to defend the title 11 times over the next two years on December 26 1908 Byrnes took on challenger Jack Johnson and Byrnes was thoroughly dominated for 14 rounds before the fight was stopped by the police the title was awarded to Johnson on the referee's decision Johnson went on to defend the title eight times over the next six plus years including his successful defense against James J Jeffries who had come out of retirement to challenge Johnson on July 4th 1910 Johnson was in control of that fight before ultimately stopping Jeffries in round 15 and that victory had further solidified Johnson's claim to the heavyweight lineage removing any doubt that may have surfaced from the broken lineage when Jeffries first retired on April 15 1915 Jack Johnson went up against Jess Willard Johnson had been in control of most of the contests through the first 20 rounds but his things drew towards the halfway point of their scheduled 45 rounder the champion began to tire and Willard scored a knockout in the 26th round Willard defended the title just once over the next four years and on July 4th 1990 team Willard squared off against Jack Dempsey the Challenger proceeded to drop Willard seven times in the opening round this still back in the day where a fighter didn't have to go to a neutral corner after scoring a knockdown the fight was ultimately stopped when Willard failed to answer the bell for round for Dempsey defended the championship five times over the next several years and on September 23rd 1926 Dempsey went up against gene Tunney and Dempsey lost this title when Tony was awarded a 10 round unanimous decision sunny defended the championship twice before retiring which included a rematch victory against Dempsey in the bout famously known for the long camp when sunny retired this marked the second time that the heavyweight lineage was broken but unlike Jeffrey's before him Tony never attempted a comeback on June 12 1930 Jack Sharkey went up against Max Schmeling for the vacant heavyweight crown Sharkey won the first three rounds but he was disqualified for a low blow near the end of Round 4 so smelling became the first boxer to win the heavyweight world championship on a foul-smelling made one defense of the title and then on June 21st 1932 smelling lost a controversial 15 round split decision in his rematch with Sharkey then on June 29 1933 Primo Carnera became the world champion when he knocked Sharkey out in round 6 Carnera made two successful title defenses and then he squared off against Max Baer On June 14 1934 Baer savagely battered the champion dropping carnera 11 times in the fight before the referee mercifully stopped the bout eleven saving carnera from further punishing air lost the championship in his next title map on June 13th 1935 when he went up against James Braddock despite being a 10 to 1 underdog Braddock overcame the odds and he defeated Baer it was a 15-round unanimous decision for Braddock and he would become known as Cinderella man as the result of this most unlikely feat on June 22nd 1937 Braddock went up against the brown bomber Joe Luce Braddock dropped Lewis in the opening round but Lewis soon found his groove and he inflicted a great deal of damage upon the champion before ultimately knocking him out with a big right hand in round 8 Joe Lewis successfully defended the heavyweight championship a record 25 times over the next 12 years before retiring but his retirement didn't last very long boring his absence on June 22nd 1949 Ezzard Charles defeated Jersey Joe Walcott to become the NBA heavyweight champion azhar Charles defended that title three times before the brown bomber came out of retirement to challenge Charles on September 27 1950 defeated Louis by 15-round unanimous decision and with the victory Charles was the new lineal heavyweight champion Charles defended the title four more times and then on July 18 1951 Charles squared off against Jersey Joe for the third time this was Walcott's fifth shot at the title and even though Charles had won their first two encounters this time Jersey Joe was victorious and he scored a seventh round knockout Walcott made one successful title defense against the very same as you Charles on September 23rd 1952 Jersey Joe took on challenger Rocky Marciano Walcott Rob Marciano in the opening round and woke up proceeded to control most of the acts in the 13th round Marciano landed a crushing right hand to score a devastating knockout rocky would go on to make six successful title defenses before retiring and Marciano holds the unique distinction of being the only heavyweight champion in history to retire and remain retired with an undefeated record but Marciano's retirement represented another break in the lineage on November 30th 1956 a showdown between Archie Moore and Floyd Patterson was set to crown a new heavyweight champion and Patterson stopped the old Mongoose in the fifth round Patterson would go on to make four title defenses and then on June 26th 1959 Patterson went up against in Ammar Johansson inko dropped Patterson seven times in the third round before the bout was mercifully halted by the referee the following year on June 20th the two of them had a rematch and this time around the much sharper Patterson was victorious scoring a fifth round knockout this meant that Patterson had become the first heavyweight to ever regain the championship Patterson defended the title three more times which included a rubber match victory over Johansson on September 25th 1960 to Sonny Liston challenged and defeated Floyd Patterson by first-round knockout Liston defended the title once the feeding Patterson in a rematch with an identical result On February 25th 1964 Liston squared off against Cassius Clay Liston was a big favorite going into the contest but Clay controlled the action and he won the fight when Liston failed to answer the bell for the seventh round clay would of course go on to change his name to Muhammad Ali and Ali defended the title nine times before losing his boxing by the time Ali was once again granted a boxing license Joe Frazier had defeated Jimmy Ellis for the vacant title on march 8th 1971 Muhammad Ali faced Joe Frazier in the fight of the century it was a unique situation in the sense that at this point in time because of the circumstances Ali and Frazier both sort of held legitimate claims to the lineage Frazier drop belly in round 15 and smokin Joe was awarded a 15-round unanimous decision Frazier would defend the title twice after this and then on January 22nd 1973 Frazier was overwhelmed in a brutal Display of power from big George Foreman Pig George dropped smokin Joe three times in the first round and he dropped them three more times in round two before the fight was mercifully stopped Foreman would go on to defend the title two times on October 30th 1974 Foreman squared off against former world champion Muhammad Ali big George was the favorite going in but I'll be utilized an intelligent strategy that wore Foreman down Ali stop Foreman with an eighth round knockout making him the second boxer in history to regain the heavyweight title Ali went on to make ten successful title defenses over the next three plus years On February 15 1978 Ali went up against relative novice Leon Spinks in an upset effort Spinks defeated Ali by a 15-round split decision the two had a rematch on September 15th of that year and this time Ali won a 15-round unanimous decision this gave Ali the unique distinction of becoming the only boxer to become a three-time winner yell heavyweight champion I'll be had a short-lived retirement and then he came back to face Larry Holmes on October 2nd 1980 at this point Holmes had already made seven Defense's of his WBC title and Holmes proceeded to dominate the badly faded Muhammad Ali before Ali's corners stopped the fight at the end of the tenth yeast and assassin may 20 title defenses in total including those he made before he had solidified the lineal claim on September 21st 1985 Holmes took on Michael Spinks and Spinks was awarded a controversial 15-round split decision Speaks made two successful defenses of the IBF title before he was stripped of the belt not long after that Iron Mike Tyson would successfully unify all three major titles from that time the WBA the WBC in the IBF but even though Tyson was undisputed in terms of alphabet belts Spinks still had the legitimate claim to the lineal title as he was the man who D thrown the longtime champion Larry Holmes so this was a bit of a unique situation where the lineal champion was not considered the best in the division and indeed he wasn't even technically a title holder but this matter was resolved on June 27th 1988 when Mike Tyson stopped Michael Spinks in the first round with the victory Tyson truly did become the undisputed champion in an age of fractured titles with all three major titles and also the lineal recognition Tyson would make two more successful defenses and then on February 11th 1990 Tyson went up against James Buster Douglas in what was arguably the greatest upset in the history of professional sports Douglass scored the upset for the ages when he knocked out Tyson in the 10th round in his next fight on October 25th of that year Douglass squared off against a van der Holyfield the real deal made relatively quick work of Douglas knocking him out in round three Holyfield defended the title three times over the next couple of years on November 13 1992 Holyfield took on Riddick Big Daddy bow and what turned out to be an explosive crowd-pleasing clash o dropped Holyfield in round 11 and route 2 being awarded a 12 round unanimous decision bo made two title defenses then he had a rematch with Holyfield on November 6 1993 this fight was known for the infamous fan man incident and Holyfield edged out Bo with a razor thin majority decision this marked Holyfield as the 3rd boxer to ever regain the Heavyweight Championship joining the company of Patterson and Holly before him on April 22nd 1994 Holyfield fought Michael Moore Holyfield roughed more early in the contest but more persevered and proceeded to win a majority decision on November 5th 1994 Michael Moore faced former heavyweight world champion adjourn it had been more than 20 years since Foreman lost the title to Muhammad Ali and at 45 years old few observers were giving Foreman much of a chance but big George defy the odds and despite losing big over the first nine rounds Foreman land of his money punch in round 10 and knocked more out Foreman had become the oldest heavyweight champion in history and he also became the fourth boxer to regain the heavyweight championship when Foreman faced Shannon Briggs on November 22nd 1997 Foreman no longer had the WBA and IBF versions of the titles he had won from war but he was still the lineal champion Briggs was awarded a controversial 12 round majority decision against big George so this was another unique situation where Shannon Briggs had the claim to the lineal title despite not being recognized as a champion by any of the major sanctioning bodies on March 28th 1998 Briggs challenged WBC heavyweight champion Lennox Lewis it was an exciting battle that sold Lewis hurt early in the battle but Lewis persevered and he proceeded to drop Riggs three times in route to scoring a fifth round stoppage victory Lewis had six title defenses after this and during this time he also managed to reunify the big three belts that were fractured back when Riddick I lost the WBC belt into a garbage bin on April 22nd 2001 Lewis squared off against Hasim Rahman in an upset victory Rahman scored a fifth round knockout over Lennox the two had a rematch on November 17th of that year and this time Lewis knocked Rahman out in the fourth round as a result Lewis had become the fifth and final box of to regain the lineal heavyweight recognition Lewis had two more title defenses and then he retired once again causing a break in the lineage this left the lineal Championship claim vacant for a number of years until Vladimir Klitschko ultimately received such recognition boring his long and dominant Championship reign most observers view Klitschkos victory over Ruslan Chagaev as the pivotal moment and about happened on June 20th 2009 a day short of six full years since Lewis's last title defense vladimir piled up 11 more title defenses before facing Tyson Fury on November 28th 2015 for the surprise of most fury thoroughly outclassed Klitschko to earn himself a 12 round unanimous decision and that's where we currently stand Tyson Fury is the lineal heavyweight champion of the world but it's been nearly two full years since fury defeated Klitschko and in his absence we've seen the rise of WBC champion Deontay Wilder and unified WBA IBF champion Anthony Joshua these two appear to be on a collision course where their showdown is inevitable so long as they both keep winning but assuming Tyson Fury returns and I tend to believe he will return to the grave then I'm of the opinion that all roads looking to seize claim to the heavyweight lineage go through Tyson Fury and I for one and very interested in seeing how the heavyweight championship picture plays out that's all I got for now thank you very much for watching everyone and have a great night

Channel: undefined

Views: 2,646,414

Rating: 4.8587012 out of 5

Keywords: Tyson Fury, John L Sullivan, Wladimir Klitschko, Lennox Lewis, Muhammad Ali, Mike Tyson, Jack Dempsey, Rocky Marciano, Larry Holmes, Evander Holyfield, Riddick Bowe, Sonny Liston, Ezzard Charles, Joe Louis, Gene Tunney, Jack Johnson, James J Jeffries, Gentleman Jim Corbett, Jess WIllard, Max Baer, Floyd Patterson, Ingemar Johansson, lineal heavyweight champion, boxing, lineage, Buster Douglas

Id: MScEQESjKyU

Length: 20min 0sec (1200 seconds)

Published: Sat Nov 25 2017

Reddit Comments

[u/razaninaufal]

for those whose confused about what if the title holder retired.

to get the lineal title, you need to be in the top 3 & beat the other top 3. for example, fury vacated his belt due to 'retirement', but later came back & retained his lineal by beating the other top 3 (Wilder). sc : LinealPolicy

[u/[deleted]]

Except, they aren’t the same lineage. Tyson Furys lineage consists of two people, himself and Klitschko.

[u/Kurgen22]

Is it just me or does Rummy sound EXACTLY like Christian Slater?

[u/monkey_news_ya_cnnnn]

I think we should forget about Lineal altogether and just focus on actual belts. Even better would be to have a cull of 99% of all the pointless belts. Even better than that would be to consolidate into one organisation so you could have 'one belt to rule them all' at each weight class.

The perfect thing would be to have one belt to rule them all and, every 5 years or so, a knockout tournament where the belt goes to the winner, just to stop things ever stagnating. Then, regardless of politics, everyone would get their chance of fighting their way up to the top.