The HW divison has good quality overall. The only thing that split is WBC and Haymons actions. Having two very weak opponents in Stiverne and Arreola for the title. Then Having a guy beat Jason Gavern get a title shot in Wilder. Allow Wilder face the sofestest hand picked poor opposition that champion has fought only for it back fire with cherry pick gone wrong. Hopefully the WBC can finally put an end to this if the enforce the Whyte mandatory.
What amazes me is the Fitness level of this era.....Majority are overweight and struggle to fight 6 rounds let alone 12.....Look back to the 70s to the 90s and even later most looked ripped and at least like they took there sport seriously....Could you imagine most of these going 15 Rounds......I dont think so.!!!!
This is more or less what I was going to say. Fury, wilder, and Joshua all keep repeating the same thing, that they're willing to fight anybody. But this isn't true. I was naive at first thinking I should pick a side and go with the narrative that I thought made sense, but that's exactly what they want people to do. Until I see undisputed, they're all duckers as far as I'm concerned. The mid level guys being recycled is another problem. Promoters get guys a few decent wins, secure a ranking, fight in an eliminator, then avoid anyone good until they get a title shot protecting their 0 ad long as they can. So the highest ranked guys can sit on their ranking, and the alphabet champs keep recycling the same boring opponents who have already been beaten numerous times like Chisora or Areola. Meanwhile, the prospects who have the potential to actually pull off an upset or at the very least provide some interesting fights and a change of pace wait years and years without getting a shot because they're seen as big risk, low reward.
Oh please. Those are rose-colored glasses you're wearing. Everyone didn't fight 15 rounds in the 70s. And most heavyweights even back then were worried about the 15-round distance when the very rare opportunity for most presented itself, so they'd often keep from going all out in the early rounds, concerned about going the distace. Nobody in the 90s went 15 rounds, either. The fitness level of the top fighters in this era is pretty solid. Also, every era had guys with poor endurance. Today, most boxing cards show every fight top to bottom. Back then, you primarily just saw the main event. So you watch a show like last Saturday - which broadcast fights for the better part of seven hours - and you see guys like Coffee barely able to breathe or punch. But if you go back and watch shows like Liston-Clark, some films show the chief support Harold Dutra vs. Jimmy Gilmore. Give that **** show a gander. And who in the current Ring top 10 would you replace with Chuck Wepner, Alfredo Evangelista, Lorenzo Zanon, Leroy Jones, Leon Spinks, Joe "King" Roman, Henry Clark, Jack Bodell, Randy Neumann, Duane Bobick, Kallie Knoetze, Jose Urtain, Jose Luis Garcia ... during what was supposed to be the GREATEST heavyweight era ever? Or how about the 90s with Bruce Seldon, Alexander Zolkin, Derrick Jefferson, Michael Bentt, Phil Jackson, Franceso Damiani, Carl Williams ... all Ring top 10 guys in the SECOND greatest heavyweight era. Want to swap out anyone in today's Ring Top 10 with Seldon or Jackson? I think the worst, most slovenly guy rated by Ring since 2015 was probably Adam Kownacki (who was only there briefly). And his endurance (until he fought Helenius) and delivering exciting fights was what he was known for. Kownacki and Arreola went 12 rounds and threw more than 2,000 punches. If Kownacki is the worst Ring-rated heavyweight we get this era, it'll be a fine era. This era is very good. Most fans crap on the current era ... until it's over ... then they crap on the next era and say the era they used to complain about was better.
Fury can fight 30 rounds after a night out on the town His natural size advantage would leave someone like Ali & Frazier moaning on the canvas late fight One exception is I'd like to see these modern superheavies deal with manila heat. screw that. Harder for bigger men to cool themselves. They'd have to fight at a low pace.
Disagree but respect your opinion but Fitness levels of a lot of this lot in my opinion is Appalling Not the Word of God just an opinion.!!!
I understand. But I can't think of one rated heavyweight today who I'd say "this guy needs to get things over quickly because he struggles going the 12-round distance." But I can think of any number of top guys who notoriously struggled with pacing themselves in previous eras, like Morrison, Bruno, Briggs, Jorge Luis Gonzales, etc. Hell, you can even throw WLAD in there in his younger days. It didn't matter who the opponent was, solid or a complete nobody. People worried they'd "gas out" before the final bell. Someone might be concerned for someone's chin today. But rarely is a top 10 fight discussed and someone says, "I don't think this guy has the gas tank to go 12 rounds." That never seems to be an issue that needs to be addressed.
Do not compare the 90's or 70's counters or top ten to todays. Sure every era has its share of bad contenders, but not every era has its share of great fighters like the 70' and 90's do. Who was in the top then 5 yers ago? 3 active fighters I think. The names are many as the years pass they fade into obscurity.
Yep people Bagging fighters like Ortiz and Ruiz for example and these 2 Fighters have been in the Top 10 in this era for some time 1 a fat unfit Mexican who has been a World Champion already the other an old Man who is still dangerous against a good percentage of the Top 10...... People comparing this era to the 70s 80s and even 90s and saying it is as competitive and as good amazes me.....But I respect there opinion for me it's pretty weak apart from the Top 3 or so.....
I believe only four 90s-era heavyweights are in the Hall of Fame - Lewis, Holyfield, Tyson, Bowe. They didn't all fight each other. Bowe only fought Holyfield. Tyson never beat any of them. (Hell, you could even put Tyson in the 80s with Holmes and there would only be three from the 90s.) (Morrison, Mercer, Bruno, Botha, Seldon, Buster, none of the others are Hall of Famers.) I believe only four 70s-era heavyweights are in the Hall of Fame - Ali, Foreman, Frazier, Norton. They didn't all fight each other. Frazier and Norton never fought. Frazier went 1-for-5 against Foreman and Ali. (Quarry, Ellis, Shavers, Lyle, Young, none of them are Hall of Famers.) Currently, from this era, Tyson Fury, Anthony Joshua, Deontay Wilder and Oleksandr Usyk are all Hall of Fame bound, without question. They haven't all fought each other YET. Still, Fury and Wilder fought three times. Usyk and Joshua are fighting twice. We'll see how it pans out. We're still in the middle of it. Don't hold the other eras in such high regard. They all have warts. This era is shaping up nicely. Enjoy it. Some eras really suck. Try getting a decent discussion going leading up to a Valuev-Owen "what the heck" Beck or a Chagaev-Carl Davis Drummond "title" fight.
The avaricious promotional era Too many great fights didn't or haven't happened because of promotional one-upmanship
pls make a post like this for welterweight, lightweight, middleweight, junior lightweight and/or junior welterweight pls. I throroughly enjoyed the conversations and breakdowns.
We are still in the AJ, Fury, Wilder era - albeit it’s a morphing one now the landscape is changing somewhat.
It's a weak era. People argue about whether AJ or Fury has the "best résumé" in the division or whatever. Look at their records, they are crap. AJ is already 32, Fury is 33.
