Lineal Championship Policy

 

  • Lineal Championship vacancies, as recognized by Lineal Boxing Champion (LBC) are filled by the winner of a fight between the leading viable contenders in a weight class.

  • A Lineal Champion can lose his Lineal Championship if he dies, formally announces his retirement, is defeated in a Championship fight or formally declares that he is leaving his weight class to stay in another weight division. Only in extreme cases, where a Lineal Champion has not fought for over three years and still has no fight scheduled in his weight class, may our Abandonment Policy (see below) be implemented.

 

Contenders for vacant lineal Championships

  • In order to help identify the top contenders in each division, ratings from four different independent online publications are considered (see below).

- Bad Left Hook. Long running, online boxing publication. Bad Left Hook replace Boxing News’ position in our Policy now that Boxing News are utilising the TBRB’s ratings.

- The Ring. Throughout much of the gloved era The Ring Magazine has regularly published the most highly regarded ratings in professional boxing. Their up-to-date ratings are on their website.

- Transnational Boxing Rankings Board. In October 2012 the Transnational Boxing Rankings Board formed, and soon received praise for the balanced, impartial ratings consistently updated on its site.

- ESPN. American based, global television network.

  • As a minimum, two contenders for a vacant Lineal Championship must meet the following criteria:

    • Between them, the two boxers must hold at least two of the #1 positions, in the ratings.

    • Each boxer must be ranked in the top two in at least two of the ratings.

  • The wider opinion among the boxing fraternity will also be taken into consideration - this may include the opinions of prominent boxing journalists/pundits/boxers and other impartial independent ratings. This is especially important with regards to retrospectively analysing Championship vacancies in the 20th century, when alternative independent ratings to Ring Magazine’s, were less common and less accessible.

  • Some consideration will be given to the major titles that are being fought for, in any potential bout to fill a Lineal vacancy.

    An “undisputed” fight, or one in which the major sanctioning body belts are being unified, does not automatically mean the bout will fill a Lineal Championship vacancy, but it is acknowledged that such fights are likely to influence the opinion of the boxing fraternity/press/public, increasing the chance that the bout may be viewed as a Championship-filling fight.

    A bout in which one or no sanctioning body belts are at stake, does not automatically mean the bout is not worthy of filling a Lineal vacancy, but strong evidence that supports its Lineal Championship-worth, must be demonstrated.

  • When boxing’s analysts/ratings are significantly divided, clarity may only be achieved by the notable boxers in the division fighting each other.

In 2018, the TBRB crowned #1 rated Mikey Garcia as their TBRB champion for beating their #2 rated junior welterweight, Sergey Lipinets. Lipinets was not in the top four at 140lb with the divisional ratings produced by ESPN or Boxing News. The Ring had Lipinets at #7. In truth, at the time Garica/Lipinets, the top junior welterweights simply had not fought enough fights amongst each other to have established a clear #1 and #2.

The significant differences in opinions that existed at the time of Garcia/Lipnets, means Lineal Boxing Champion does not recognise it as a Lineal Championship-crowning fight..

Retirements

A formal retirement from the champion will result in the Lineal Championship becoming vacant, allowing the top two contenders an opportunity to fight to for the vacant Championship. However, if the Champion returns, and in his absence the top two contenders did not fight to fill the vacancy, the returning champion may be eligible to fight the #1 contender for the vacant Championship.

In 1910, James Jeffries – who had retired as undefeated champion in May 1905 – returned to the ring to face Jack Johnson. In Jeffries’ absence a new Lineal Champion had been crowned when Marvin Hart defeated Jack Root in July 1905. Hart lost to Tommy Burns, who lost to Johnson, meaning Johnson was the defending Lineal Champion when he fought Jeffries.

Conversely, during Muhammad Ali’s brief retirement, 1979 – 1980, the top two contenders did not fight, so upon his return in October 1980, Muhammad Ali was eligible to fight #1 rated heavyweight, Larry Holmes, for the vacant Lineal Championship.

Abandonment

In the extremely unlikely event that a Lineal Champion refuses to retire, but also refuses to defend his title for a period of longer than 3 years 3 months, it could be considered that the champion has abandoned his title. To prevent a situation whereby the title is frozen for potentially decades, the leading contenders may be eligible to fight for the abandoned crown.

The 3 years 3 months time-frame is used in order to be respectful of past champions. Aside from Tony Zale’s reign in the 1940s, whose reign was affected by World War 2, it represents the longest period of inactivity (Jess Willard’s reign) a Lineal Champion has had in over 100 years of gloved boxing.

A shorter time-frame is not used, because many Hall of Fame champions have had periods of inactivity of 1-3 years, and as history shows, they returned to defend their Championships.

 

Drugs/PEDs

A boxer who tests positive for Performance Enhancing Drugs - for the fight in which he wins the Lineal Championship - leading to the official verdict being nullified, will not be recognized as Lineal Champion.

Policy updated: 04/11/21 - Bad Left Hook replacing Boxing News, now that Boxing News are utilising the TBRB ratings.

Women’s Lineal Championship Policy

Any differences between the men’s and women’s championship policies are described in the Women’s Championship Policy.

(Policy updated: 31/07/23)

(Policy updated: 13/09/20)

(Previous update: 20/10/19)