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
International Boxing Union (since 1996) was Shannon Briggs, who had his title stripped in 2003 after refusing to face quality opponents. Briggs went on to win the WBO title a few years later, after defeating Sergei Liakhovich in November 2006. Another notable former IBU World Heavyweight Champion is "Fast" Eddie Chambers who captured the title in 2005. The IBU also sports two notable former Lightweight Champions in Gary Balletto and Gregorio Vargas. Balletto was 29-1-2 before losing the IBU Lightweight title to Vargas in 2003. Balletto attempted a comeback in 2006 on ESPN's "The Contender". Other notable fights of the IBU were the two IBU