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[TysonBomb]

Darius Michalczewski was the WBA, IBF and WBO champion. He didn't LOSE the WBA or IBF titles in the ring. He discarded them, which then means the organisations make the title vacant.

The IBF ordered Darrin Allen-vs-William Guthrie for the vacant title. Guthrie won, then lost it to Reggie Johnson who Roy later beat.

The WBA ordered Eddy Smulders-vs-Lou Del Valle for the vacant title. Del Valle won and Roy later beat him.

So how would Roy have won those belts if Michalczewski decided to keep them or had not been stripped? Roy would have to beat him.

Once you establish yourself as THE man in a division you can only lose that accolade by actually losing in the ring. It's common for unified champions to dump or be stripped of belts (check - Barrera, Lewis, Kostya etc), it doesn't take away from their already established position as THE man in the division.

Each organisation has their own set of rules and rankings, which mean different contenders, politics, and they all want paying sanctioning fees.


@IamInuit

There is no such thing as lineal in this era or Roys because there are no undisputed champions.

You can establish THE man in a division, it's just harder to trace because of the sanctioning bodies confusing things, and especially confusing fans.

Off the top of my head check out - Lewis, Hopkins, Barrera, Tyszu, Marquez, Pac, Floyd, Calzaghe, Naz etc.. you can trace the lineage of some of these fighters going back decades and others established themselves as THE universally recognised champion of a division.

you are putting too much stock into the BS "lineal title" that isn't even lineal ... especially when there are different versions of it

Michalczewski ended up beating up guys Roy already had defeated and lost to Gonzalez, whom Roy already defeated.

Roy picked up those belts while Michalczewski was fighting his leftovers, hiding in Germany. Roy was the established champ at LHW and P4P #1. Clearly THE MAN to beat at LHW.

Its similar to Tyson cleaning out the HW division and picking up all the belts, while Spinks the "lineal champion" was fighting old Gerry Cooney and ducked Tony Tucker. You really think that Spinks was the "real champion" when he ducked Tucker, whom Tyson defeated? The lineal champion has no mandatory challengers so he can't be stripped or have the title taken away for fighting subpar opposition. At least with the "ABC titles" you have to fight top contenders ... the lineal championship is a paper title, much like the lesser of the two WBA titles of today. You can't just hide in a country as "the lineal champion" when someone else is actively going around collecting titles with you fighting his left overs.

Actually I may be wrong ... Ring magazine awarding Roy with their lineal title may have been their own way of stripping Michalczewski of his lineal title for ducking Roy.