Why Boxing Needs to Rethink the Idea of Lineal Championships

Boxing has a problem.

Sure, it’s not the biggest problem, and it won’t be the thing that destroys the sport, but it’s something of an annoyance that limits fighters and prevents fans from seeing many fights that are in high demand.

In an era dominated by alphabet championships, where the same sanctioning organization will often crown multiple world champions at the same weight, lineal championships must mean something.

Being the man who beat the man makes you the man. It’s a simple concept, and far easier for fans to follow than figuring out who holds some alphabet-soup organization’s interim, super, diamond or regular world championship this week.

But what happens if the man who beat the man refuses to fight the man believed to have the best shot at beating the man?

Convoluted enough for you?

Let’s make it easier with a pair of possibly unequal examples that illustrate this point, which is that if you refuse to fight your undisputed top challenger, you cease to be the man.

Adonis Stevenson, light heavyweight, and Miguel Cotto, middleweight, both hold lineal championships at their weights. Both earned that title by beating—in impressive fashion—the previous occupants of that throne.

But neither is the best fighter at his weight.

Richard Wolowicz/Getty Images

Those titles belong to Sergey Kovalev and Gennady Golovkin, a pair of fighters who have won the people’s championship to go along with their increasingly large collections of alphabet belts.

Stevenson took the title from Chad Dawson—who had taken it from Bernard Hopkins—with one big shot in a single round at Montreal’s Bell Centre in 2013.

He was named Fighter of the Year by both The Ring Magazine and Sports Illustrated in 2013.

Stevenson was also named Breakout Fighter of the Year by Bleacher Report for a campaign that saw knockouts of Dawson, former titlist Tavoris Cloud and Tony Bellew, the latter of which set the stage for a unification fight with Kovalev.

The Haitian-turned-Canadian fighter never seemed in love with the idea of facing the Krusher, giving HBO’s Max Kellerman some verbal gymnastics in the ring after the Bellew fight about how he’d rather face someone—anyone—else.

Stevenson, of course, did just that by jumping ship to Showtime and signing with uber-adviser Al Haymon. The move was expected to be a prelude to a unification fight—perhaps just as lucrative and far less physically threatening—against Hopkins.

But Hopkins grew tired of waiting for Stevenson’s camp and made his own move across network lines, returning to HBO for his own showdown against Kovalev.

Stevenson struggled in his his Showtime debut against Andrzej Fonfara, a solid but not top-level contender, and then moved on to other things.

With Kovalev and Hopkins set to unify on HBO and the lineal champ without a fight of significance, speculation turned to former champ Jean Pascal.

Stevenson-Pascal would’ve been a massive showdown in fight-crazed Montreal, where Pascal is a bigger star, but it fell apart.

If you believe Pascal’s people, the central issue was related to money and difficulty dealing with the champion’s demands.

Pascal's promoter Greg Leon, per Rick Reeno of BoxingScene.com, didn't mince any words when it came to his dissatisfaction in dealing with Stevenson:

"

I'm going to send a letter to the Ring Magazine for Adonis Stevenson to be stripped of that title. He doesn't deserve it. Pascal fought Hopkins twice, he's ready to fight Kovalev. Kovalev fought Hopkins and now he's ready to fight Pascal. Who's the only guy missing? The Ring Magazine champion? He should be stripped for [being a] coward.

"

Kovalev, once again the beneficiary of Stevenson’s unwillingness to make big fights with big fighters, snatched up the bout with Pascal, went on the road to Montreal and knocked him out in an all-action war.

Both guys' stock rose in that performance and a rematch is possible.

Stevenson?

He knocked out the completely unknown and overmatched Dmitry Sukhotsky (who?) on a Friday night last December to retain his increasingly meaningless title.

Let’s recap.

Stevenson, the lineal champ, beat Fonfara, Sukhotsky and is slated to defend against Sakio Bika—not a light heavyweight—on April 4 on Premier Boxing Champions’ CBS debut.

Kovalev, the IBF, WBA and WBO champion, knocked down and dominated Hopkins and became the first man to drop and stop Pascal in one of the better fights you’ll see this year.

Stevenson has blustered quite a bit about facing Kovalev—coincidentally, since he moved to Showtime—and, per HBO’s broadcast of Kovalev-Pascal on Saturday night, said he would do whatever it took to make the fight happen now.

Maybe he’s serious this time. Or maybe it’s more talk from a man who, while lineal champion, no longer can lay legitimate claim to being the man to beat at his weight.

Kovalev may not be the man who beat the man, but that’s because the man refused to fight him, or anyone else of consequence for that matter.

But he is most certainly the man to beat.

What about Cotto?

Rich Schultz/Getty Images

Now, this case is a bit trickier, mainly because the Puerto Rican legend, who wants less-than-zero part of Golovkin, isn’t a true middleweight. So maybe he isn’t subjected to the same rules as Stevenson?

Cotto barely tipped the scales above the junior middleweight limit for a historic challenge of Sergio Martinez last June at Madison Square Garden.

A solid 155 pounds, Cotto was faster, stronger and more determined, blowing out the Argentine to become the first Puerto Rican four-division world champion.

A planned May fight with Canelo Alvarez, which most boxing insiders felt was a foregone conclusion as negotiations entered the advanced stages, fell through, and Cotto has since had a messy falling out with longtime promoters Top Rank.

Bob Arum’s company has promoted all but two of Cotto’s fights, including his middleweight-title victory over Martinez, but the future Hall of Famer worked on a fight-by-fight contract. 

He recently signed a long-term deal with rap mogul Jay Z’s Roc Nation Sports to serve as his promoter, both inside and outside the ring, and has been reluctant to say whether or not he’s interested in facing GGG.

Golovkin is considered to be among the fastest-rising superstars in the sport, and his 19 consecutive knockout victories have already positioned him atop many people’s rankings at 160 pounds.

Abel Sanchez, GGG's outspoken trainer, doesn’t believe the fight will happen, per David Greisman of BoxingScene.com:

"

We can’t kidnap him [Cotto] and force him to get in the ring. He in his mind knows, and Freddie [Roach] knows that Golovkin is too much for him and will stop him in less than five rounds. They’re not going to take a chance on that. Cotto’s had a great career. There’s no reason, unless he really wants to prove that he’s a middleweight. There’s no reason to get in the ring with Golovkin. Golovkin will destroy him.

"

There’s a lot of logic in that statement.

Cotto has never had the reputation as a ducker. He’s faced many of the good, great and elite fighters of his era, including Floyd Mayweather, Manny Pacquiao, Shane Mosley and Martinez.

But he’s not a middleweight, and you can understand his reluctance to face the most feared puncher in the game if other options are available.

What you can’t understand would be a desire to continue calling himself the legitimate middleweight champion of the world while simultaneously passing up his top challenger.

Kevin Iole of Yahoo Sports reported last week that Cotto received a $5 million signing bonus for joining Roc Nation, and as a result can select a foe for his next fight who might not make as lucrative a match.

The money is already in the bank.

Cornelius “K9” Bundrage, a junior middleweight titlist, appears to be the top contender to land a fight nobody has been demanding.

Nobody.

Now, if that fight comes with Cotto vacating his title at 160 pounds—seemingly an option—then you can say he dodged Golovkin, but at least he’s not clogging up the machinery of the sport.

GGG will fight someone for the vacant title, likely win, and we’ll all be on our way.

But if the powers that be try and sanction that as some sort of legitimate middleweight championship fight, it will be exposed as a farce.

Not Canelo.

Not GGG.

K9 Bundrage?

No.

Then we’re in Stevenson territory, and Cotto no longer gets a free pass.

Either defend your title or give it up to somebody who will.

Either be the man or get out of the way.