When Anthony Joshua and Oleksandr Usyk meet in a heavyweight boxing match at the Jeddah Super Dome, they will compete for the vacant The Ring title alongside the WBA (Super), IBF, WBO, and IBO heavyweight belts.
The last owner of the title was one of their potential future opponents, Tyson Fury, who held the honour twice.
Fury regained The Ring belt when he recorded the first of his two wins against Deontay Wilder in Las Vegas in February 2020.
What will Joshua or Usyk achieve by winning the belt? Which fighters have held it in boxing history? The Sporting News takes a look.
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What is The Ring title?
Fury and his father, John, have frequently and persuasively set out the reasons why they proudly believe that the towering Mancunian is rightfully a lineal champion as a result of his points win over his immediate predecessor, Wladimir Klitschko, in Dusseldorf in 2015.
Their view is not without counter-arguments from fellow boxing obsessives. Some interpret the word lineal to mean an unbroken streak of defences in this context. Fury’s path has been far more complicated than that, including almost three years away from the sport after he beat Klitschko.
The Ring title denotes the man deemed to be the lineal champion by the American boxing publication that belt is named after.
Fans and commentators have long criticised the number of titles available in boxing. Nathaniel Fleischer, the editor and co-founder of The Ring Magazine, attempted to end the confusion by identifying the real champion for much of the 20th century through monthly rankings and belts.
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The Ring introduced policy changes during the 1990s and in 2012. That meant the title had less to do with lineage, as well as allowing leading contenders in the rankings to challenge the number one. That led to more debate and controversy, but the belt still exists and is respected today.
Why is The Ring belt vacant?
Fury won Klitschko’s WBA, IBF, WBO and The Ring titles in Germany, only to vacate them during a pending investigation over anti-doping and medical issues in October 2016. The champion lost his boxing license the following day.
More than two years into his high-profile absence from the ring, Fury was set a deadline by The Ring of January 31, 2018 to defend his title by facing their mandatory challenger, Vyacheslav Glazkov.
When that fight failed to go ahead, Fury, who was recovering from mental health and addiction issues at the time, was stripped of the title. He publicly apologised to The Ring, thanking them for their patience and claimed that he had set a new precedent by splitting the belt from the lineal route for the first time since 1922.
Now the fighter known as ‘The Gypsy King’ has retired and vacated the belt – although many believe his retirement will not be permanent, and Fury has said we will return for £500m ($590m).
“I never even heard of the lineal title until he talked about it.” – @BronzeBomber
“If you don’t want to win mine, then I’ll just win yours!” – @Tyson_Fury
Wilder and Fury talking belts ahead of #WilderFury2. 👀 pic.twitter.com/uIjacj2MYA
— FOX Sports: PBC (@PBConFOX) January 25, 2020
Which previous champions have held The Ring belt?
Part of Fury’s pride in his claim to be lineal champion lies in the legacy of fighters to have held the title and claimed to be lineal champions, which is quite the pugilistic hall-of-fame.
From early champions such as Jack Johnson and Rocky Marciano to later greats including Muhammad Ali and Mike Tyson, iconic athletes have been considered lineal champions.
There have been other complications along the way: Ali suffered a rare stripping when he had his boxing license revoked, and fighters such as Lennox Lewis could be considered to have interrupted the chain by retiring as champions.
Then there are the holders whose reigns were fleeting but no less worthy, including James “Buster” Douglas – the unheralded challenger who became undisputed champion for less than nine months by stunning Tyson in 1990.
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