top 25 heavys today..Whats up

you can't go by the top 25. i believe they just start dumping any name they can get after the top 15..:-(

 

The division could be interesting if Povetkin and Haye are really able to prove themselves, there could be some good match up's then. Also Tua brings some short term excitment but poses no real threat.

 

id like to see tua get a shot

 

Well, it's just not a particularly strong era - not the worst ever as some say, but certainly not the best. Fights between up and coming contenders, like Chambers and Dimitrenko, aren't as common as they used to. And then you have clowns like David Haye, who come into the division and think they deserve a title shot after fighting nobody.atsch

 

They're too busy getting fat to fight one another.

 

The problem (I nearly started a thread on it, but couldn't be arsed...) I think is that there is no incentive to test yourself as a fighter these days, in fact, it's a disincentive.

I thought of it when Tua fought the other day. Tua and Ike were thrown together to see what would come out of it. What happened was a great fight, and even though Tua lost, it did him ZERO harm in terms of marketablity etc.

However, these days, fighters fight a bum to keep their 0 to get a title shot, and cash out with a big payday. It doesn't matter that when they actually get to the big show, they're woefully underprepared for it. They get their money and run.

Tua's career is an almost perfect (except for losing to Lewis and Byrd of course.... ) on how to build a career. (Duva did that for him, until that **** Barry got involved)

Start off slow, step up the competition a bit, and then face similar, up and coming type fighters (eg, Ike, Ruiz, etc) before getting a title shot.

These days, it's fight bums, fight 1 guy in the top 15, and then get a title shot. Arreola, Austin, the next Vitali opponent etc are all perfect examples of that.

These days, Tua would get a title shot straight after the Ruiz fight. Hell, these days, those guys wouldn't even be matched against each other.

More fights, less money per fight, and the acceptance that if you lose and learn something, it's better than winning and learning nothing would help IMO.

 

To start - who's top 25 are you looking at? It makes a difference.

Bottom line, though, is that contenders can get title shots without fighting other contenders. Why? Too many titlists. The champs need someone to fight and the choices are either recycled has-beens or untested contenders.

The answer to the problem: ABC's should sanction mandatory bouts. Yes, it's BS money for the ABC's, but it would force contenders to fight contenders.

The answer to the question "who deserves it": Povetkin and Chambers deserve it. Everyone else is at least 1 fight away (including Aerreola, Tua and Johnson). Oh, and yes, Povetkin is raw and would likely be blown away by a Klit bro, but he's had the balls to take more tough fights than anyone else. Ditto for Chambers.

 

You have summed up exactly what is wrong with the division today. And, as djm said, title proliferation is the cause.

Something HAS to be done to get rid of these parasitic sanctioning bodies - or, at the very least marginalize them to the point of irrelevancy. This is one reason why I so strongly favor the Ring belts, and the endorsement of them by TV networks like ESPN.

 

Actually, it's worse than that - both Aerreola and Johnson (if that fight goes through) didn't even graze the top 15 (being generous, Austin did).

Frankly, it's even worse at the lower weights, just not as high profile. Regionally popular guys (who may even be legitimately top-5 at their weight) make a good living off of a bogus belt, screwing the sport at all levels, not just HW. At HW, the problem is guys waiting out a title shot by letting other contenders be eliminated by the champ. It's just a variation of the same tune.

 

Yep, I know.

I didn't know a whole lot about Arreola before he fought Vitali apart from a couple of fights.

I looked him up, and saw he was fighting 6 and 8 round fights only 3 years ago against scrubs. 2 half-decent (and that's being kind) fights later, and he's a challenger????

Then after that, people are raving about Vitali's performance, and the fact Arreola dragged a performance out of him that nobody else could?????

Please, that's mental. Arreola wasn't prepared physically, mentally or experience wise to go anywhere near a title shot.

Imagine how much better he could have done if he'd had half a dozen fights against guys of similar standing, had gone the distance a few times, and won in adversity a couple of times.

That's what makes fighters improve. Not fighting scrubs.

 

I have been wondering what happened to so many of them.

 

worst division ever.

 

David Haye... oh wait, no he doesn't...