How bad is todays heavyweight division?

I don't think Holyfield could get sanctioned today with the stricter drug testing. He'd be suspended more often than allowed to fight:yep

As for Foreman:think:think

I think your'e right. He would likely beat several of the top HWs in todays division. However, getting in the ring with them in another feat all together and really, would be no different than his accomplishments during his comeback.

His bigger wins in the 90s included several top 20s and a few top 10s. Qawi, Cooper, Anderson, Cooney, Ellis, and Coetzer were all generally considered top 20s, and nobody would argue that Savarese, Grimsley, Shultz, Stewart, and Moorer were bonafide top 10s when Big George beat them.

As for Foreman not being top 4......that's your opinion. It's a pretty solid opinion, and I tend to agree with it.............

BUT one might argue that Riddock Bowe didnt box enough to beat Foreman. Bowes toe to toe style worked ONLY on smaller fighters, and as Andrew Golota would attest, a similar sized HW would beat him if the chin and heart were there.

AND Who on Tysons resume would beat beat Foreman???? Would it be Bruno? Mathis? Seldon? McNeeley? Ruddock?

ALSO????? How would Lewis chin hold up to that random OH R that drop Moorer? Lewis wasnt punch shy early on, and he was genuinely overconfident when he had the edge in handspeed. Would he expose himself as he did vs Rahman and McCall????

And I don't think a rematch with Holyfield woulda killed George Foreman. He took alot of punches in his day, from far bigger hitters than Holyfield. I don't think George could beat Holyfield, but theres an argument to be made in his defense.

Myself.....I rank George #4 of the 90s. I have him slightly ahead of Bowe but had Bowe not run with his tails between his legs from Lewis, I might not have Lewis ahead of Ali on my H2H ATG list at HW.:deal

I'd rank Wlad, Vitali, Haye and Potvetkin ahead of Foreman in this era with Pulev, Helenius, Fury, Adamek, and Arreola rounding out a top 10 including George. :think
Wlad, Vitali, Valuev ahead of him in the 00s, with Ruiz, Chagaev, Brewster, Briggs, Holyfield, and Liakovich bringing up the rear of the top 10.:think

 

Its pretty average among HW history.....while being better than the Johnson, Louis, Patterson, Holmes eras....

 

I don't think it's ever been worse than it is today. Not for a long period of time anyway.

 

Not really. Remember Greg Page and the others that would be in shape for one fight then 20 pounds heavier the next? They didn't call it the lost Generation of Heavyweights for nothing. The WBA belt was basically handed around to everyone from 1980-1986 nobody could keep if for more than 1 fight :roflatsch

 

Down right terrible

 

It's so damn good, that some people here want to split it in 2 seperate divisions.
A Super Heavyweight division (for the super class HW's), and a regular HW division (for the regular class HW's).

Seriously it's not all that bad.
Problem is that most of the best boxers refuse to fight eachother, or the Klits because they know they'd probably lose.

The guys here who say it's terrible are usually fans of the losing boxers.

 

A bit early to say the top fighters aren't fighting each other in a current active era, plenty of time for those stats to iron themselves out. Besides I don't really buy into that. I think people have short memories and are too quick to dismiss active era's top level against each other cause there not all coming fight after fight, it takes time for these fights to happen.

A slight breackdown of who's fought elite level thus far outside K2.

Byrd.
Vitali, Wlad, Holyfield, Povetkin, McCline, Golota, Oquendo, Tua.

Povetkin. Still active.
Chagaev, Chambers, Huck, Boswell, Rahman, Byrd, Donald.

Peter.
Vitali, Wlad x2, Chambers, Helenius, Maskaev, McCline, Toney x2.

Chambers. Still active.
Adamek, Waldo, Peter, Povetkin, Dimitrenko, Brock.

Chagaev. Still active.
Wlad, Povetkin, Valuev, Ruiz, Skelton, Vyrchys.

Haye. Still active.
Wlad, Valuev, Ruiz, Chisora.

Adamek. Still active.
Vitali, Chambers, Cunningham x2, Golota, Banks, Grant, Arreola.

Valuev.
Ruiz x2, Haye, holyfield, Donald, Chagaev, Liakhovich, McCline.

Helenius. Still active.
Peter, Liakhovich, Chisora, Brewster.


Could have threw a few more fighters in but couldn't be arse with it any more but I think it looks decent when you actually see it down in paper. The only one I'm really disappointed in is Ibragimov who retired early at his peak. He had the tools to beat most.

 

It's bad, but only because the ****ing contenders won't fight eachother.

 

Go slurp Abraham some more. It's a **** era.

 

It is terrible.

You have 2 fighters who completely and utterly trump anyone who has stepped up to the plate. I mean it's not even close.

Then you have EVERYONE else who is busy trying to get a pay day with the Klitschkos, so they are ducking the fighters they should be fighting, chasing after the pay day. Rarely any interesting matchups, where you are truley intrigued like in the past. Almost every HW fight, the outcome is known before the fight even takes place, bar a small percentage. For me the HW scene has basically become uninteresting till the Klitschkos retire. Maybe then it will get a bit more interesting again.

By no fault of their own, they are a major cause of the sorry shape of the division and what happens inside of it. Not to hate, I rate them both very highly, and first class champions. But they are simply beyond the competition, which makes things uninteresting, and other fighters don't take risks fighting other top contenders hoping for a payday against them.

 

So tell me why the era isn't ****? Look at the next big hope Price :rofl :rofl

 

If only they all weight 148 .