That's more or less the oldest in the book when it comes to boxing - despair about the current crop of HWs and look back at a glorious past. In most eras you can find faults. The 90's has become popular, but this was a decade where two 70's fighters and a former LHW was among the best. The guys in the 80's where also very inconsistent and often in poor shape, as today's lot. We've just had two good, exciting HW fights. Ruiz-Arreola actually had a good skill level as well, even though those two aren't going to win Mr Universe any time soon. Sure, Arreola shouldn't have been competitive, but he pulled another life out of the bag and stuff like that is interesting in itself. I think it's a bit sad that Parker seems to be in decline even though he should be hitting his prime now, but otherwise it was a good night of action with two old war horses refusing to lay down and die.
Last night's fight showed us AJ's chin is even worse than suspected. Fury KOs him if he gets him tired.
Holyfield had some terrible fights at HW early on that people though he should have dealt with alot easier
There needs to be more fights between top ten heavyweights. Too many mismatches happening. Throughout most of heavyweight history, the contenders all fought each other. But now, for example, Wilder will retire without having ever fought Joshua, Whyte, Povetkin, Klitschko, Parker, Chisora, Ruiz, etc. Interesting matchups like say, Povetkin-Ortiz around 2015, or Whyte-Ruiz 2021, or Chisora-Ortiz 2015-17 never happened.
The heavyweight division has been the poop since Lennox Lewis retired. Things fighters were criticized for in the 70's,80's,90's, and early 2000's are being praised now. You see how Foreman was called fat when he came out of retirement? Now 95 percent of these fighters are in much worse shape than he was. You see how Tyson Fury is praised for throwing slapping arm punches? I heard numerous Brits say Tyson Fury either the greatest heavyweight of all time or at least top 3. Tyson Fury beat a washed up Wladimir Klitschko by running and landing 86 punches. So wouldn't logic dictate that Ross Purritty, Lamon Brewster, and Corrie Sanders must be the greatest off all time since they all knocked out a prime Wlad? Deontay Wilder knocks out D level fighters usually years after other people did it first. Nothing we seen Wilder so we didn't see Tye Fields do in the mid 2000's. Anthony Joshua was almost knocked out by the same washed up Wlad and then got beat by 300 pound dough boy Andy Ruiz. You frequently see these guys turn pro in 2010 and by this year 2021 they only have 15 to 20 fights. You rarely see these guys get in the ring. You can only get better by actually fighting. The heavyweight division is a joke. The only people who like it are these sad Brits who are just happy finally have a European champion. I guess after years of Americans dominating the sport they are just happy to have anything.
Divisions where champs are not from U.S usually are considered as weak divisions and weak eras. World isn't guilty that U.S now does have only some more well known HW boxers: Wilder, not well known in europe, did not had attempted to unify with champs from other orgs. Hunter: yet not proven enough at HW division, this at least had notable fight vs Usyk at CW for title. Ortiz? : Looks that he is not known in europe, now is 40? or even older. Interestingly CW division does have more well known boxers from U.S or living in U.S, like the same Dorticos and Tabiti, Hunter too at CW had get first big attention to him cos fight vs Usyk in U.S. Doens't looks that pro boxing in U.S now is popular as career choice if compare with 70 ies. 70 ies: almost all notable HW boxers were from U.S, pro boxing then was very popular career choice.
There just needs to be more HW fights to shake out who's who in the division. At the current rate of fights the division will continue to be a mess.
Looks that at HW is very difficult to get fights at high level. A lot of boxers who had boxed in Klits brothers era still had fought top boxers after Klits era ended regardless that they were/ are older. one from them is Takam. 2014. 35 y.o Povetkin who usually is 222-224-225 lbs then still had good legs. Povetkin stopped Takam. 2016. Parker wins vs Takam via UD. 2017. A.J wins vs Takam via stoppage. 2018. Chisora wins vs Takam via stoppage. Next. Pulev. 2014. Pulev then was undefeated 20-0-0 pro boxer and lost vs old Wlad. 2016. Pulev wins vs Chisora via decision. 2020. Pulev fights vs A.J.
I'd rather watch heavyweight than any other division, even if it's not as good as it could be. I think it could be a lot better if bouts were made between all of the top boxers. I'm little more than a casual fan and I don't have any interest in watching tiny little men box.
Muhammad Ali would probably beat Anthony Joshua though. A good big man (usually) beats a good little man. I think you forgot to add that part. Aj isn't a pressure fighter that relentlessly comes at you bobbing and weaving his head for multiple rounds, Chisora is. You Aj fans are going to be suprised how much Aj struggles with Usyk's slickness and his footspeed. It's been written in the books ever since Joshua got a gift decision against Erislandy Savon. Could Aj stop him ? Most certainly. Could Usyk outbox Aj ? Most certainly. Usyk will actually give Aj more trouble than Fury will. Fury is a huge target. Usyk not so much. Im calling it now. Aj is going to win a close decision against Usyk and will stop Fury.
It's awful and almost always has been. All this **** with Fury-Wilder III just makes me laugh. Nobody cares about this fight, and yet they're trying to pull a fast one to create interest. It's sad really. The only good thing about this heavyweight division, is that there's gonna be a lot of fighters on the come up over the next decade or so, thanks to its new found popularity.
