Question about lineage of the Heavyweight title ?

Question

Does the theory about the man who beat the man stop at fighters like Rocky Marciano and Lennox Lewis when they retire without losing the title, this has confused me for a while, i often read about the lineage of the title on other forums but they often go on about it in the early years they often try to avoid modern day boxing, i do remember however that Lewis was the man who held that title during his reign. Can anyone help me with some sort of explanation for how this title continues when there hasnt been a defeat involved.

Thanks Brad, this was obviously what i was getting at too, but i have heard people calling Modern day champs the Linear champ and i couldnt understand how this could possibly be.

Answer 1

It doesn't. There is no such thing as a linear title.
I wrote into 'Ring' magazine about this and they printed the letter. A linear title could only logically exist if every heavyweight champ beat the one before him. Once Tunney retired undefeated, that was it. Logically, from that day forth the real champion was the consensus champ.