Has the heavyweight division ever sucked as much as today?

seamus knows his **** to be honest

 

talent wise, he's got the goods

 

bbb

 

No this is the worst its ever been!..and unless they bring back 15 round fights or make a Super HW division its gonna get worse before it grts better.

 

From you, that is a compliment.

 

Here in The Netherlands we're getting heavyweight title fights (even Haye vs Chisora) live on free tv since last year, pretty unique. I hate to see boxing (at least HW boxing) decline somewhat in the US, but that doesn't mean it's declining globally. In Germany, it's still bigger than ever. Even guys like Marco Huck and Luan Krasiniq are major celebrities there.

 

Braddock would've beaten Haye, say what you want but he has something Haye will never come to possess, a great chin, a fighting heart and a set of balls.

 

Four of the Klits challengers came from lower divisions ,and two of those were 40 years old.As was Thompson ,and Briggs was near enough 40.

 

I watched the first few rounds of the fight, couldn't do more than that. As far as my opinion goes, there's not much talent in this era of boxing, and the heavyweight division looks just pathetic.

 

I don't understand the 'David Haye love in'.
I guess even most historians of the game aren't immune from his humbuggery.

Please watch the Klitschko-Haye fight again.
Haye actually did better than I had expected - he went the distance, he made some very good defensive moves.
But his OFFENSE is shitty. And this is what most people rave about ! His speed and punching, almost non-existent against an elite HW.
Watch the footage.
He looks every bit as bad on offense as a guy like Luis Firpo, boring in with his head down and flailing his arms away with wild wild punches. But at least Firpo had heart.
And for most of the fight Wlad is 'fighting small' and sticking his face in Haye's direction. Still Haye flaps around like an utter amateur.

No footwork coming forward, no strict punching form, just wild desperate haymakers. He made Max Baer look like a straight puncher.

 

Chris , I watched the Wlad fight free on ESPN , surely no one outside of Germany would have paid for it?

 

I know, that's why I said that Marciano's time was a lot like now when smaller more talented men have a chance to move up into a paper thin division. With the Klitschkos sitting on top they will never be champions but they can at least school some fat, slow, untalented hacks.

David Haye, Tomasz Adamek, Eddie Chambers, and Chris Byrd probably would have stayed at cruiserweight if the heavyweight division was healthier. Luckily, we live in the age of steroids and a good cruiserweight can add twenty or thirty pounds of muscle to his frame. Still, if you look at their records they can fight real heavyweights, but mostly not the top guys. And with their weights ballooning up to 215-220 their knockout power tends to only carry up to about 235. If they get wins over that it's a decision. The natural heavyweights get more knockouts and over bigger, higher ranked guys. The Klitschko bros have knockout percentages hovering between 80 and 90 percent. Eddie Chambers has knockouts 45 percent of the time. Adamek had knockouts 70 percent of the time as a cruiser and he's dropped to 30 percent as a heavy. This should be the golden age of the cruiserweight division and these guys would be all time greats at that weight, but they can make more money being contenders at heavy.

 

Its terrible. For whatever reasons i dont know but its terrible.


Joe Frazier was over here several years back and was asked a question by my father;

"Joe, see when you were fighting in the 60s and 70s, even the contenders were great. They knew how to fight and the scene was competitive. Why do you think it isnt like that now?"

Joes reply was;

"Cos they cant fight"


I agree with him

 

Most cruisers are cutting to make the weight anyway.