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 six bouts in 2014 and a further two in 2015. He won all eight, seven by knockout, earning the NABA Heavyweight title in the process. Briggs fought in Panama against Zoltan Petranyi, knocking him out in round 1. Following the fight, former cruiserweight world champion Guillermo Jones came into the ring to confront Briggs, demanding he fight him next. At this time, Briggs was chasing a fight with then unified and lineal world champion Wladimir Klitschko and told Jones, he would fight him after he fought Klitschko. Neither fight took place in the future. Briggs gained some notoriety over a