Has The Heavyweight Division Ever Been So Poor?

probably not. few months back i stayed up for the klitschko vs haye fight. and i better should have gone to bed early

 

I can't say I think those two lists are any where close to as bad as today.

The heavyweight division has hit rock bottom.

 

Yes....When Willard was the Champion......

 

After the fight with Helenius (Chisora won) I don´t think Chisora is "under qualified"....
Mormeck...yeah, under qualified......but it is good because they are agressive fighters, it´s an interesting stylistic fight for Wlad....and Vitali......

 

Its really sad

 

I don't know.. You have a dominant lineal champ... A solid belt holder as his close second.. A decent titleist in Povetkin and a few rising talents in Helenius, Fury and Chisora. That's at least 6 good fighters in the same division... Sure its disgraceful that Wlad is fighting a guy like Mormeck, but its probably no worse than when Louis fought Roper or Ali fought Wepner.. Boxing goes through periods like that when good fights are scarce... I agree that the division sucks right now, but I don't know if its at its all time low..

 

And who exactly are you going to match Vitali or Wlad with to provide an interesting match?

Patterson was an exciting young champion, and certainly matches with Johansson, Folley, or Machen would have been interesting, as would matches against big punchers (and bigger men) like Valdes or DeJohn. Most of these fights were not made, but at least they could have been.

Wlad and Vitali are not going to fight each other, and there are no really interesting matchups out there for either of them. Vitali is 40 but still appears able to hang onto his belt(s) for quite a while. Wlad might be all but unchallenged for the next several years, as he has been for the last few.

 

since the eastern bloc entered professional heavyweight boxing the standard has obviously been raised.
Now there are bigger heavyweights from more of the best boxing nations the division is obviously stronger with more boxers of a high standard.
The only thing that is lacking is a strong #3/4 who has beaten most of the other top contenders, someone like Norton, Bowe, zora folley.

 

Are they all that good?

Wlad was knocked out three times in his twenties, by so so fighters.

Vitali was stopped by the two best fighters he faced a decade ago.

One has to buy that these men are much better past 30 than they were in thier physical primes.

 

The best heavyweights over the last 20 years or so all have loses against lesser opponents, look at lewis, tyson, wlad have all been knocked out by opponents ranked much lower,
I think this is largely due to the fact that the opponents they were regularly facing are much bigger than in the 30s-70s so therefore they are stronger and more likely to be able to cause a knockout.
Ali, louis, marciano etc also may have suffered similar loses had they faced 6'3 225lb+ hws on a regular basis rather than the majority of their opponents that were 6' and <200lbs often in the 180s.

 

You do raise a good point.. There is an old adage that any heavyweight can knock out any heavyweight, regardless of rating, legacy, reputation, etc.. I think this notion holds particulary true when applied to very large-hard punching men who exchange with one another.. Corrie Sanders for example is no all time great, but a man of his size, power, handspeed and awkward style could have potentially put anyone on their back, especially if taken lightly.

 

I cant imagine a 5'11 185lb boxer being a serious hw contender today, but we're supposed to think that an era full of boxers like that is stronger. hmm.

 

Can we ban McVey...already?

Two hyperbole threads in Classic on the same ****ing thing.

 

It's the worst it's been in my lifetime as a boxing fan. I turned on to it as an eleven year old in 1966.