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 fight can’t happen because he will only fight me if the fight is on pay-per-view. I would fight him on [UK terrestrial channel] DAVE, but he doesn't want to do that.” On November 2, 2016, the WBA ordered Briggs to fight Australian heavyweight Lucas Browne for the WBA regular title. The title became vacant after Browne defeated Ruslan Chagaev in March 2016 but was later stripped after he tested positive for drugs. The fight was ordered to take place before the end of 2016. The WBA and Browne came to a legal settlement which said he would fight for a