Is the current Heavyweight Division that bad?

The "concern" is just a show of tears to appease the NFL Veteran's Committee and the fickle interest of Congress. Nothing really has changed. Despite the "Tom Brady Rules", Brady still ended the season with 3 or 4 broken ribs, a broken finger and an ankle that may never heal right. He was flat out hobbling. I don't think Pat White felt too protected when he was carted, immobilized off the field. Brad Gradkowski didn't feel too protected when he blew out BOTH knees. Brett Favre has had a great season- thank god for the 3000 mg of ibuprofen he ingests daily (that won't come back and bite him in the ass)... And the whole concussion situation will not come to the fore for a few years. Hell, I watched Aaron Rodgers take two vicious helmet to helmet shots last Sunday...

end of football discussion for me. i don't want to bore the euro's...

 

I just dont like the football comparison when you have a wall of humans around you. Theres just far more reaction time involved. One could say the guys doing the hitting are bigger and faster thats why the injuries are still there. They almost want the QB completely untouched these days because a 320 pound speedster tackling or just knocking a QB down is going to do physical damage to a guy thats 100 pounds lighter almost everytime.

 

OK, one more visit to football.

That wall of humans is trying to protect another, faster wall of humans that most often outnumber them, coming at the qb who is focussed downfield and often gets blindsided. I guarantee you the concussive forces of a 250 pound linebacker that runs a 4.5 forty yard dash coming unabated from the left side while the quarterback is looking right, that force, delivered helmet to helmet is much greater than any right cross Shavers ever threw.

The powers that be want the quarterback protected because there are so few athletes in the this country capable of playing the position effectively... i.e. the talent pool is very shallow despite being the most recruited sport in a country of 300 million. However, all these efforts really have come to nothing. Each season is still a bloodbath, even for the qb position.

 

A 20 year old quarterback can just as easily be blindsided as a 40 year old, because he doesnt see whats coming.
Theres just is no comparison to getting punched in the face over 12 rounds at close distance to football.

 

It's better than it has been for a while, thanks to Adamek, Haye, Solis, Boytsov, Povetkin, all entertaining and good fighters with potential . After Haye murders Ruiz and Vitali does the same to Valuev, they should be out of the title picture for at least a while. This would lead to the Klitschkos and Haye to have nothing in the table expect interesting fights with the guys mentioned above or hopefully a Haye-Klitscko fight.

 

This statement has no relevance to what we were discussing.

One more time..

My point was in response to the contention that because HW champs and contenders are older now than in the past, they must be worse. My response regarded the role of improved medical procedures lengthening the career of athletes in the 90's and 00's. I illustrated said point with specific examples of explosive track and field athletes and American football players, to wit...

The position of qb in american football is the most vulnerable position on the field. Over the course of a long career, the beating the body takes in immense, both to the skeletal system and nervous system. The debilitation factor is roughly the same. I heard two doctors in front of the US Congress say as much, comparing the post-career life of a football player to that of a boxer.

Now protean to the discussion of this thread, the reason QB's are lasting longer today and performing better well into their 30's or even 40's is that they can be medically repaired. Favre would be retired if not for hand and elbow surgeries. FACT. Vitali Klitschko would be retired if not for back and knees surgeries. FACT. 30 years ago, they both would running car dealerships or doing endorsements on late night TV, not performing at a championship level.

That is point I am making.

 

You dont think a running back takes a worse beating than a QB? :yep

Going back to the fight discussion, it still doesnt slow down the deterioation of a fighters reflexes. A fighter with somewhat close skills thats younger should still be able to expose age.
I dont think fighters retired in the past because they were physically unable to fight or they couldnt bounce back from injuries, but more often the case because their reflexes slowed to the extent that they could no longer react to a younger skilled opponent.

The new generation of fighters is so bad they cant take any advantage of it. Personally I dont watch Vitali fights and say wow, what a show of ability and greatness, especially after watching boxing for 30 years. I watch and think to myself how horrible the opposition is performing because Vitali isnt doing a lot of anything special because hes not being forced to.

It started off with Foreman, Holmes and Tyson cherry picking certain fighters in the 90's that they knew couldnt expose their age or deterioration, and now its just a whole division of fighters with a lot of the same type of shortcomings.
Just my opinion though.

 

What? he's not even 30 and he hasn't had that much wear and tear in his pro career.

Agreed on Ibragimov and Pulev

Ibragimov
Chagaev
Boytsov
Povetkin
Tua
Haye
Chambers
Solis
Adamek
Peter
Maskaev
Johnson
Rahman

All 6'3 or under and unless they're obese like Solis are in the 220 - 230 range. Most of the guys today aren't all that huge

Klitschko's are the only real good big guys

Ustinov
Valuev
Austin
Thompson
Dimitrenko
Meehan

all the 6'6 - 6'8 guys are limited and can be beaten by smaller guys. Aside from Klitschko's & Lewis, giants who are coordinated and skilled are a rare thing. I can't ever see it being "the norm"