I hear you and understanding where youre coming from. Especially on just because there have been other weak eras doesn't make this one strong. ... A meaningless and pointless sidenote... I tend to like heavyweights due to, when the two best heavyweights are fighting, for me personally there is a different feeling to it. Its not just a fight for divisional supremacy, its a fight for boxing supremacy, because in reality, they really are the top of the boxing food chain. As much as I love (and yes I do like the lower weights more) the lower weights, when a Canelo and Golovkin fight eachother, I know two divisions up they would get mauled out of the ring by the likes of Beterbiev. Likewise I know (at least, I feel) Beterbiev would be shown to be too small and would get handily beaten by the likes of Fury and AJ. So in the back of my mind, thats always there. That at the lower weights, they are only fighting for divisional supremacy. The heavyweights are, unfortunately, the apex predators in the sport... and I can understand that appeal. That being said of course the lower weights is where I find boxing represented the best and they are who display everything I love about the sport, the most.
Couldn't agree more. Also you just know that watching a HW fight that if you decided to square up on them they would send you to the grave. It got me thinking why casuals don't care that much about anything below 140 pounds. Especially anything below 122 because really anything smaller than SuperBantamweight you're basically looking at a chick sized fighter. No disrespect to the Donaire's of the world, but he's not a grown man sized fighter, he's chick sized. The average big and athletic guy doesn't think the champ can whoop his ass until you get to around the JWW, WW divisions.
Well, since you asked nicely, let's have a peek.. https://boxrec.com/media/index.php/The_Ring_Magazine's_Annual_Ratings:_2010 2010: Wladimir Klitschko, Champion Vitali Klitschko David Haye Alexander Povetkin Tomasz Adamek Ruslan Chagaev Eddie Chambers Denis Boytsov Nikolay Valuev Alexander Dimitrenko Chris Arreola 2020: Tyson Fury, Champion (yes, BoxRec technically still has Joshua listed above him, but.. with the Ring/TBRB/lineal, we can all safely agree that Fury is the king for now, so I've taken a liberty and swapped their placement around, but otherwise this is their current top-10) Anthony Joshua Oleksandr Usyk Andy Ruiz Jr. Deontay Wilder Dillian Whyte Alexander Povetkin Kubrat Pulev Luis Ortiz Dereck Chisora Adam Kownacki K2 >>> Fury and Joshua, IMO. Haye vs. Usyk in their cruiser primes would have been a great match-up - but at HW, that's a dominant UD for The Cat, and I think he'll end up achieving far more than Hayemaker did. Ruiz of today versus Povetkin of a decade ago would actually be a really intriguing chess match between skillful pudgy technicians - pick 'em, for me. Now from the fourth spot down it gets juicy. Wilder vs. Adamek? Oh man, Goral's toughness would be the death of him, I fear. He would amble into a ton of flush right hands and get stopped around the 7th, maybe a career-ending beating. Chagaev thrashes Whyte. Chambers damn near beat Povetkin in their primes (boxed very well in the first half, then fell off due to poor stamina). '10 Chambers beats '20 Povetkin...especially with stringent drug testing. Boytsov wasn't what we thought he was in 2010... the guy that dropped a UD to Alex Leapai isn't outpointing Pulev. Valuev vs. Ortiz, odd one to think about. Depends on where, I guess? Neutral turf, I'll say Ortiz MD. Chisora mugs Dimitrenko. Kownacki probably beats a younger version of Arreola the same as he did last year. Overall, slightly stronger now "Less terrible than ten years ago" still leaves room to be pretty terrible, though.
Good point... I forgot about that. I think that is one of the things contained within that 'different feeling' I get when watching heavyweight. Im watchung guys that really would physically impose themselves on me and easily dispatch me in a fight, and my brain knows it. Ill be honest, while not grounded at all in reality (as any top welterweight would work me over easy Im sure) I dont get that feeling until usually around the bigger light heavyweights. Not sure why it matters to my brain but it does add a different aspect to it, for me.
The 90s is seen as a historically strong era. Yet Tyson and Lewis suffered both suffered massive upset defeats. Lewis was seen as inconsistent and fighting to the occasion. A highly rated American champ got a very controversial draw against a Brit before getting dominated in the rematch. Is it so different?
Lol what a comprehensive answer. Pretty much agree apart from Chagaev / White in terms of quality, even that’s close enough. But I think In terms of excitement and broad (casual) fan appeal we are in a much different place now. The heavies have become exciting again
I agree, but the point I've been making is that people are conflating "more parity and excitement" with "significantly better (in terms of quality)" and they aren't the same thing necessarily. Also, how would you see Whyte vs. Chagaev going, just curious?
What’s weak about it? Fury raised his game last night to an All Time great level last night. I mean does Foreman blasting Frazier our discount anything else he did or make the era “weak”?
Completely agree. We like to pretend to ourselves that excitement = skill and get emotionally over invested. That’s just human nature. Thing is for every one of us that wants to see skill, heart and overall quality, there are 100 more that don’t give a **** as long as it’s exciting As for Whyte / Chagaev, I see Whyte taking a decision more often than not. Neither of them have the last few % in terms of skill or power but I think Whyte has better movement and his short aggressive bursts are effective against anyone outside the top 5. Chagaev isn’t fast enough on his feet to keep away all night and if there was a KO I would favour it to come from one of Whyte’s aggressive bursts