The division is weak. Most people rate AJ as the current #1. He's a 19-0 fighter who just struggled badly with an ancient Wladimir Klitschko, and for years people have been saying Klitschko's a glass-chinned fighter who will crumble under pressure from a good puncher his own size. AJ only just managed to pull that off. AJ may improve greatly. Or he might get derailed at any point. And apart from AJ, who is there left ? Wilder's a joke. He's been professional 8 or 9 years and has barely faced any top 10 fighter ever. Maybe one or two. Joseph Parker's a decent prospect but he's had three bad performances in a row. Povetkin was better a few years ago. Ortiz has been left on the shelf too long now too. Pulev's 3 or 4 years past it too. Most of the old guys now were not rated as much when Wladimir was on top, so there's no reason to think of them as better now.
Its an average to good era , certainly not a great one , but its still better than the dreadful K2 era. Eddie Chambers was a top 5 level guy for a number of years during Klitschko's era. Even a guy like sub par Washington was able to pitch a shut out against Chambers.
Division is very poor right now. Whenver you lose a hall of fame talent like Wlad, and arguably (along with Joshua), the best young fighter Tyson Fury in the division that leaves a huge void of talent. Then add in, Ortiz is 38 going on 48 and is either a serial ped abuser or needs blood pressure medication. Povetkin is also getting long in the tooth and while his transgressions on drug labs is not as severe he has his own issues. Then add in Wilder who cops out to any excuse not to face a top contender, in fact he has fought only 1 top 10 opponent in 9 years and 40 fights it's a very WEAK division. Hayes is old, injury prone and irrevelant, guys like Molina shouldn't be near a title end up getting two chances. It's bad. But, this happens while it looks awful now, talent is on the horizon. Talent that looks good. So hopefully in 2-3 years it will be exciting again.
The division is weak because of Wilder. For years he should have took the mantle from Wlad, but he didn't. How people can have excuses for him is beyond me. Then these same people often criticize AJ and Parker. Two novices really.
This is a very weak time at the top. Here's the thing, Wlad fought the best out there. Wilder is not interested in facing anyone in the top ten, and Joshua hasn't outside of Wlad. The sub of Takam is not Joahua's fault, but his first two title defenses were very soft touches. That needs to change.
Who else could Joshua face? He had Mandatories with IBF and WBA. Current available IBF Mandatory - Carlos Takam (Pulev Injured) Current available WBA Mandatory - Fres Oquendo (Ortiz 6 month suspension, Ustinov already fighting) The Klit era was boring because there were no other top level opponents....it's the same now. Wlad and AJ are not responsible for the weak level of opposition in the division.
Has to be the most pathetic heavyweight division ever. Not only that they don't even want to fight ea
Anyone who states its a weak or uninteresting era simply doesnt follow the Division or think its a old filled one that has past prime guys all over ??? This is the most stacked era since the 90's. If not moreso bc you still have prime guys at top ten and old ones still relatively in form ,you have literally a handful of up and comers olympic guys like Duboi and Joyce along with all the other eastern Euro giants .If Wlad had stuck around it would be even better,but he knew there was only room for one top dog at age 41. None of the champions are even in their peak yet except wilder. Everyome also expects joshua to fight everyone,dont you realize he cant fight more than 3 guys PER year? lol Everyone else needs to step up by 2019 bc he isnt going to be able to knockout everyone and unlike wilder hes going to go after mandatories and top 3 guys regualarly,so its up to the other guys to get in those spots ,not him chasing others around bc they called him out. Very good strong era here and we haven't seen the top yet at their peaks ...this is a fact,which means its going to go strong a good decade at least. not only that but were getting much evenly made fights sooner,other past eras had guy waiting until they had about 30 fights under them to fight decent guys and then most fought weaker guys anyway after ( you guys would have a heart attacks in other eras) ....its pretty clear we ( you ) are spoiled these days! After Bowe won his title he then fought unhealthy Dokes who hadnt fought a top ten guy in 3 years prior to the fight anyway and Jessie Ferguson who lost to Dokes? imagine that stuff happening this era full of media? You guys would have ridiculed Bowe to his grave but hes one of the best right? Bowe didnt even fight the best guy of the 90's he dumped his belt in the garbage and ducked out by 1996 ,so lets lay off the joshua is afraid of Wilder....its pretty much the same scenerio ALMOST ( except wilder will man up and take the fight when its offered. lol Let the era play out Joshua is the champion and face of it,and hes doing great so far,those complaining just arent true boxing fans.
More enjoyable. Because there is a greater quantity of even less proven quality than times before. So it's exciting to see who shakes out to the top. Just don't hold your breath for clarification.
it's the START of a new era. let's not be too hasty and judge everything by what we have yet. in terms of talent, it's certainly there, and it's competitive if more fights will be made.
