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
Sultan Ibragimov vs. Evander Holyfield Sultan Ibragimov vs. Evander Holyfield Sultan Ibragimov vs. Evander Holyfield, was a professional boxing match contested on 13 October 2007 for the WBO heavyweight championship. Following Ibragimov's decision victory over Shannon Briggs to win the WBO belt in June 2007 he agreed to face WBA champion Ruslan Chagaev, however Chagaev contracted hepatitis B and pulled out. After his poor performance against Larry Donald in November 2004 New York State Athletic Commission suspended the former four-time heavyweight champion Evander Holyfield, leading a 21 month absence from the ring. He returned to defeat his next four opponents before agreeing to stand in