Boxing will probably never have the cultural impact or resonance it had in some earlier eras, especially Joe Louis's and Muhammad Ali's. So by that respect, this era will never measure up. However, there are plenty of reasons this era could be the best of the rest. In the internet age, its easy to mock and underappreciate, but we really have a great line up in the division right now and we should be more appreciative of it. The reasons: A. Three well established, undefeated, well regarded HW "champs" (Fury being sometimes considered lineal). These guys will likely be undefeated when they start facing each other, which is actually in the process of happening. When has that ever happened before? Never. The closest thing to it was in Ali's era and the Lewis era. For Ali, both he and Frazier were undefeated when they faced each other. But it was before Foreman really came on the scene. For Lewis, there were several great, highly regarded champs floating around in the 90's, but none of them were undefeated at a time when they were matching up with the other top champs. B. H2H supremacy. Yeah, I get its not popular on the forums, though generally accepted in the real world, but it bears stating. Just as all sports with tangible records have seen their records broken, and usually seen their top athletes get much larger just like HW boxing has seen, so has HW boxing improved in actual performance level. We have a bunch of athletic giants competing against each other now. Fury is the Ali of his era, both relying on great size for their era coupled with great movement and skills, just Fury comes in at 6'9. AJ is the Foreman, with clubbing power, except at 6'6 and more traditional boxing skills. And I'm not quite sure what Wilder is, maybe a 6'7 Rocky Marciano? But we've never seen anything like this before, with the people of this size, skill and power at such a high level and so close to each other. Its not the K's running away with the division, its a big 3 who will actually face each other, followed closely by another top 3, and so on. Leading to the next point. C. Top fighters are facing each other again. I loved the Klitschkos. But while they beat everyone, the rest of the division stagnated. None of the contenders wanted to face each other, nobody wanted to risk that "0" and endanger a title fight. In the last couple years, however, that has changed. Contenders are fighting each other on a much more regular basis. I'm sure there are myriad reasons for this. Personally, say what you will about the guy, but I think Eddie Hearn is one of the more powerful, positive forces in this. Many of these fights have come about as a result of him. D. Related to "C", even after the "big three", we have a handful of quality contenders who have put themselves ahead of the rest of the pack. Ortiz, Povetkin, and Whyte are all very strong at the next level below. And then, right below them, we've got Parker, Miller, and whoever wins Fury Pulev. And then Chisora heading up a strong fringe top ten borderline top 15. So, again, I get the grass is always greener mentality. Coupled by the forces of the internet, its hard for anything current to get its proper due. But we really are in a HW era that is already sterling, and promises to be something really great. Let's give it some credit.
One of them will certainly be a champ, they are clearly better than any other fighters in division thus far, but if Usyk moves up that could all change. Wilder will be 35, AJ will still be in great condition at 31 but Fury will have slipped because of his conditioning and abuse of his body.
You will also be watching AJ maybe winning rematches at that stage also, he`ll only be 31 compared to Wildeer who will be 35.
maybe but that's what I'm excited to see will they fizzle out will one rise above or will it be a Mexican standoff
Or they could just fight bums and old men their whole career and just keep the status quo going. Just saying.
I disagree with the poster, I think this era stinks except for a few bright lights. But, he did put up an excellent post and made a few good points. So, kudos for that.
three well respected champs? rare is the person who respects fury or wilder, and few joshua. right now is easily the worst period ever.
One more thing I meant to mention in the OP and forgot about. Assuming Usyk beats Bellew and moves up to HW as expected, we will also have one of the two greatest CW champs of all time moving up to join the division. When has that happened? Only one other time, with Holyfield, which helped kick off one of the greatest HW eras of all time. So three well respected champs or primish ex champs floating around and one great CW turned HW. Thats something special.
