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Linux Boot Loader
N.B. The boot loader doesn’t have to support a filesystem to access a file on it if it has a list of sectors for the file and is prepared to handle the BIOS interrupts. Thus, it can access files without having to mount them.
A boot loader is not required in order to run Linux if it is the only O/S on the system or by using alternative boot methods (floppy, CD or DVD, boot EPROM, USB device, network, etc) or using the loadlin Linux loader.
A boot loader can certainly make it easier to manage multi-boot capabilities with other operating systems and/or multiple versions of a kernel on the same system.