Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Heavyweight division

I don't think anyone is looking forward to the Usyk Wilder fight partially because in addition to being past it we have little info on how good Wilder was at his best.

Could have been below Sanchez level for all we know

And Fury is clearly no longer interested in fighting top contenders and hence no longer a major player in terms of big fights

 

Nonsense. No way is Sanchez good enough to have had a competitive, great trilogy with Tyson Fury.

Plus there's the two wins over Luis Ortiz. Definitely good wins.

Wilder was a highly dangerous heavyweight with the power to knock out anyone out at anytime.

 

It wasn't especially competitive and Fury has struggled with guys like Ngannou, Wallin, and Cunningham none of whom were major players in the division so that doesn't prove much.

I think Sanchez could probably beat Ortiz and everyone else Wilder fought. Who did Ortiz beat to make him such a great win?

 

Paper champions? In other combat sports, like MMA, when a champion refuses to face the No. 1 contender, they get stripped, and no one makes a fuss about it. Nobody calls Tom Aspinall a paper champion. I can understand calling Dubois and Gassiev paper champions, but Kabayel 100% deserves the title. It's not his fault Usyk ran away like a little *****.

I don't care if you think Usyk beats Kabayel. Kabayel had been calling for that fight and earned his shot for a solid year and a half.

 

I get your logic. You could argue that at Martin's peak (2018–2020), he was better than Stiverne. However, Martin won the title at the beginning of 2016 against Glazkov, who lost because of a leg injury. Judging by the eye test, I think the 2014 version of Arreola would have battered Martin at that stage of his career. To Martin's credit, he improved after losing the title, whereas Stiverne looked horrendous after the 1st Wilder fight.

 

Deserving "a shot" ... or "calling" for a title shot ... is totally different than "100 percent deserving the title."

Those are completely separate things.

Kabayel didn't beat Usyk from pillar to post, knock Usyk down a half-dozen times, and get robbed on the cards. Kabayel has never fought Usyk. To my knowledge, they've never even stood in a ring at the same time before.

So, in no way, does Kabayel "100 percent deserve the title."

Hell, there are four major boxing organizations ... and RING ... and only the WBC had Kabayel even listed as their top contender before presenting him with a belt.

I agree, he certainly earned a title shot and Usyk didn't fight him.

But earning "a shot" isn't the same as "deserving" the title. Not even close.

Lots of people "earn" title shots and go on to convincingly lose those shots.

 

It's legit just all narratives on here. All evidence that contradicts is completely thrown out

 

Sure, I understand where you're coming from. Kabayel hasn't earned the No. 1 heavyweight spot in the ring. However, when the champion repeatedly avoids the top challenger after being called out multiple times, especially after Kabayel got in the ring following Usyk's last fight and Usyk showed no interest in facing him, it's hard not to view Kabayel as the division's top champion. It's similar to when Lennox Lewis retired. Even though Vitali Klitschko wasn't the champion, many people considered him the man at heavyweight because Lewis had promised him a rematch but retired after their first fight. Kabayel's case is even stronger because he's been calling out Usyk for well over a year, while Usyk spent that time defending his title against someone who hadn't earned a title shot at all. Uysk is clearly scared.