Is this a terribly weak heavyweight era?

No.

Me, @The Malibu Mauler and @The Undefeated Lachbuster spoke about this on the last episode on the podcast. Heavyweights today aren't bad, there's just no ATGs.

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Now, us 3 are in agreement that Fury is well on his way to becoming a top 15 HW. Should he beat Joshua, Usyk and a top HW contender, he may end up as high as 9/10. Yeah, he's that good. The win(s) over Wilder are excellent, I'm the first to put Wilder down but look at like this: Wilder has 40 fights experience with 10 title defences, has never been beat before, every win was clear cut, is a top 5 Power puncher in HW history and was the #1 HW aside from Fury himself when Fury beat him. Then Fury made him escimo dance... Great win. No two ways about it. My personal opinions of him are that he'll beat AJ and probably Whyte, locking him for top 15. I'm not sure if he'll keep going after that. But watching him vs Wlad, Wilder 1&2, Chisora 2, Hammer ect; the writing's on the wall that he maybe one of the best H2H HWs ever. Few have wins as good as a win over an on form Fury.

Obviously Joshua is about too, his résumé is still better than Fury's, just based on depth right now. He also has a decent title run as well as both being two time (ABC) champions. Both Joshua and Fury are circling top 30 at HW right now, but by 2025 I have a strong feeling that both will be top 20, at least.

Guys like Whyte, Parker, Ruiz, Wilder, Rivas, Ortiz ect. are top notch HWs in any era, even if they wouldn't be as highly rated as they are now, they're competitive(probably top 10) in any era. You can't show me a year where one of these couldn't slip into the top 10 rankings.

And I'm supposed to come down hard on today's guys. (don't worry I will do on the next pod episode...)

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**** off. This ain't the place for bellends from TikTok

 

How anyone can even contemplate that this era is weak is nuts. You have Fury, who is a unique and incredibly skillful HW for his size heading a division with 2 other boxers who would dominate if he wasn't around. This is the best since Lewis ruled the division. You have 3 quality HWs in the top 3 that could also win in other eras, followed by very good boxers in Whyte, Usyk, Parker, Ortiz, Ruiz Jr and Dubois.

 

Ring Magazine's Annual Ratings 1991
1.Evander Holyfield
2.Mike Tyson
3.Riddick Bowe
4.Razor Ruddock
5.Ray Mercer
6.George Foreman
7.Tim Witherspoon
8.Tony Tucker
9.Lennox Lewis
10.Michael Moorer

 

SNV would fit in

 

You don't think anyone mentioned could beat Micheal Moorer or an ancient Tim Witherspoon or Tony Tucker?

 

Who?
I only counted 2: AJ and Fury

 

Not really. Michael Moorer and Witherspoon are just a bit better than the current crop. Witherspoon was only 34 in 1991. If I'm being fair then maybe he's comparable to a Parker or Whyte. But you have to recognize that his resume is better than theirs dropping an SD to Holmes which he could have won, and beating Tillis, Page, Smith, and Bruno. Moorer was a better boxer than any heavy today, well rounded and polished. He was kind of like Chris Byrd. His weakness was his chin. If you didn't ice him he'd outbox you. Tucker, the thing you have to understand about Tucker is by '91 the only person who'd beaten him was Mike Tyson and he was only the third person to take Tyson the distance. Everyone else got knocked out in a round or two. Meanwhile, Tucker had wins over the likes of Young, Douglas, and was about to beat McCall. He went 48-1 before taking his second loss, this time to Lennox Lewis. He doesn't start picking up losses until he's over the hill at 37. Most likely, he underachieved and was capable of a bit more, like Tony Thompson who after an early loss doesn't lose to anybody not named Wladimir Klitschko until he's 42. If Tucker had better management, got better shots?

 

Meh.

Witherspoon ran hot and cold, his great performance against Holmes was like 8 years before 91. He was ranked off a tight decision over a really faded Carl Williams. Iirc he was stopped in 1 by Bonecrusher? That doesn't bode well for him... Tucker was really negative. He was insanely durable and very good at surviving, but his offence was poor. He wouldn't outbox Parker or Ortiz imo, he also wouldn't out-work Miller or Ruiz. By '91 he was pretty much there for the taking. Moorer was on ***** street from Bert Cooper and brawled with everyone at this point, he does that with Whyte, Rivas or Ruiz he does sleep, imo.

Anyways, they only one has to beat only one of those guys for my point to be right, I'd say Miller is a somewhat heavy favourite over '91 Tucker.

 

Exactly. The only reason Wilder started boxing is because he wasn't good enough to play football or basketball beyond the high school level. Every potentially great American HW is playing a team sport. It really sucks. It's extremely rare that a big kid with talent ever sets foot in a boxing gym.

 

The best HW today is the best HW of all time. The division is The best of all time.

The population pool is growing rapidly.

Humans as a species are rapidly evolving in terms of average size. Therefore there are far more athletes in the division.

Nutrition, exercise, training, sports science have vastly evolved, incorporating all previous advances.

Information Technology facilitates rapid transfer of information, which further optimises current training.


The level of interest and competition is high, but maybe not on the level of Ali\Tyson eras. Most of this is reflected by the US monopoly on the sport.

For me, this is the most exciting HW era, but that's because I live here, and think for some bizarre reason, the top 5 HWs in the world right now are British.

 

IMO this is a very weak era, as far as boxing talent at hw. It’s not boring anymore, and they are world class, but I don’t see any p4p talent even with accounting for the effects of extra weight.
It’s really getting interesting, though.

 

Good Post.!!!

 

Not at all. People hated Ali early on. He was no Marciano! Larry Holmes never got the respect he deserved because he was no Ali! No more Frazier or Foreman in his era either. This is always a thing. In 50 Years people are probably gonna complain about the heavyweight division, say its dead, and say it was way better 50 years ago

 

:heedtheib:

..holy ****, I just typed out that emoticon code on instinct; had forgotten until just now that it actually USED TO BE a real emoticon here.