How many of these heavyweight contenders would have been Champions today.

Bob Foster
Ron Lyle
Jimmy Young
Joe Bugner
James Tillis
Gerry Cooney
Carl Williams
Razor Ruddock
Andrew Golata
David Tua

 

None of them.

 

None of them beat Joshua or Fury.

 

None of them

 

None of them except for maybe Tua who had a concrete head and huge one punch power. Most of the heavyweights listed (including Tua) would be considered small for heavyweights today. The only difference though is that Tua was small even in his era so he still would be accustom with being at a size disadvantage.

 

Wait...how many titles are currently out there? I guess the boxing officals and politics would find a way to establish another 1 or 2 champs and maybe + 2 or 3 belts.

Honestly: I think if there are enough additional interesting fighters, another title will be added...with a "separate" champ who doesn't have to defend his title against the best contenders.

 

Good point.
I'm pretty sure that I am the current WBC Fedar-Box champion of Over There on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday.

 

Exactly, if you can raise the money to pay the"sanctioning" fee anybody can be a champion of something. A local guy got some type of whatever that Fecar or Fedar or Fecal (should be), or whatever it is championship... they'll make it regional or even less if you've got the money to pay for it. He asked his supporters for the money for the sanctioning fee and then fought a no hoper for the "title." I think it was at Light Heavy.

There was another guy who had one of those "titles" a few years ago, he was a middleweight in a busy boxing area. When it came time to "defend" the title, there were probably 15 middleweights in that area who could beat him and numerous amateurs who could have beaten him in their first pro fight so they bought in a MMA fighter from the mid west for him to fight.

Those "paid for" titles are ridiculous, people who attend the events should treat those titles like the joke that they are. By the way, how much does it cost to get that title you have for Monday and Wednesday?

 

There’s no Charles Martin’s or Bermane Stiverne’s amongst that lot.

 

This. Everything from Super Champion, Regular Champion, and 5 major alphabet soups is enough to make being a champion lose some of its meaning.

Titles are too plentiful nowadays to the point that a guy can pick up a vacant strap without a one win over even 1 serious contender.

In 2015-2020 a Young-Lyle fight would’ve probably been for a WBA regular title or something as would a Tua-Ibeabuchi fight.

 

Golota.

 

The price of lunch at a good taco stand. But I have a special deal because I'm not even sure which weight class I'm in.

I was at a gym in Texas that had an autographed poster of ABO light heavyweight champion Alfonso Lopez on the wall. I had never heard of him so I asked the gym owner who he was. He told me "I don't know either but he was so nice that, when he gave me the poster, I put it up so I wouldn't hurt his feelings."

 

I know how the guy who owns that gym feels, some people are so nice that you just don't want to interfere with their dreams. We have a guy who has a record of about 2-15, who stops by the gym to train/spar once before he goes to fights, IF he has enough advance notice to get a "training" day in. He almost always tells me that he is fighting for some title or other when he takes a fight. He's nice too, so I always just tell him "good luck." I'm sure if he ever wins one, he's going to come into the gym with a big, gaudy belt on.

He is one of those guys who can actually fight a little (if he had time to prepare for a fight), so he'll probably catch one of these protected guys one day and win a "title."

 

I would like to see it happen. A guy I know could have pulled it off against Andy Vences when he was undefeated, but he quit jabbing.

 

You have to pull for the underdog sometimes, particularly in boxing and especially if you have been around it long enough to understand that it's not really a level playing field. Not saying it's fixed, just that one guy trains/prepares, and the other guy often finds out about the fight on Wednesday and has to travel to the weigh in on Friday and fight on Saturday. At least for now the pay is much better than it was a few years ago, but the Federal ID regulations and the medical requirements have made the expenses for the fighter much higher.

We have another guy, late 30s who also stops by the gym occasionally. He takes fights on short notice when the money is right. He has incredible stamina, too much heart for his own good, but absolutely no technique. If this guy had started training in his teens and could have understood English at the time, he might well have been a champion. As it is, he has lost about 15, and has 4 draws in other fighters home towns. I assume he probably really won those.

I wish the guy you know would have pulled off that upset!