Alan Minter his winning streak ended when he lost to former world title challenger Ronnie Harris by a knockout in eight. Minter returned to top ten challenger status by upsetting the former World Welterweight and Light Middleweight Champion Emile Griffith with a ten-round decision win in Monte Carlo, but then he lost his European title to Gratien Tonna by a knockout in eight at Milan. He closed '77 with a third 15-round decision win over Finnegan to retain his British title. 1978 was a sad year for Minter, although he won all three of his bouts. On 15 February, at the Muhammad
Lineal championship Lineal championship In combat sports where champions are decided by a challenge, the lineal championship of a weight class is a world championship title held initially by an undisputed champion and subsequently by a fighter who defeats the reigning champion in a match at that weight class. In professional boxing the secondary choice if the remaining champions don't fight each other is for a unified champion to fight an alternate title holder as in the case of unified champion Wladimir Klitschko vesus interim WBA champion Ruslan Chagaev, the only way this can be negated is if the other major title