Lineal championship For example, George Foreman was considered lineal champion from 1994 until 1997, when Shannon Briggs beat him. After the WBA and IBF stripped him of their titles in 1995, Foreman fought only two, low-ranked opponents before Briggs. The lineal champion is not necessarily the boxer viewed as the best. Cyber Boxing Zone and BoxingScene considered Zsolt Erdei the lineal light-heavyweight champion from his 2004 defeat of Julio César González until 2009, when he vacated his title and moved up to cruiserweight; as he had not fought the highest-ranked opponents in the interim, Cliff Rold conceded, "while the concept of a
Shannon Briggs potential unification match with Evander Holyfield, Lewis ultimately agreed to defend his WBC championship against lineal champion Briggs in a fight billed as "March Badness". In the fifth round, Lewis knocked Briggs down for the third time with a powerful right hook at 1:09 into the round. Briggs laid flat on his back for five seconds but got back up at the count of eight and continued with the fight. After Briggs collapsed to the mat following a missed left hook, referee Frank Cappuccino stopped the fight and awarded Lewis the victory by technical knockout. Lewis earned $4 million compared