Outside of fights involving the 4 best fighters in the division. Take away fights involving Wlad, Povetkin, Fury, and Wilder, and now that Cunningham Tarver is concluded, there are exactly 0 fights among contenders who are ranked in the top 50 on boxrec. Inexcusable.
Yeah the HW division is extremely frustrating. Especially when there's more than enough talent for it to be a very vibrant, and exciting division. It's just about making the fights that's hard, not the lack of talent. What do we have to look forward to now? Povetkin/Wach Wlad/Fury Wilder/TBA Rising prospects in showcase bouts, a few contenders here and there staying busy, pretty inactive even for the modern HW division.
Oh yeah... Manuel Charr v.s Mairis Briedis is a pretty solid one too, arguably between two top 50 HW's althought Briedis is a CW moving up. That one is next week. Could very well be the best HW fight we see until Wlad/Fury.
Has Ortiz found an opponent yet? Really need Helenius to fight again he can become a force. Arreola, Tarver, Cunningham all look fit for the HW boneyard to me.
Agreed! It could be great, if today's guys fought as often as the guys from the 80s and before, it would be awesome. Instead, long lulls of nothing. People are exciting about Joshua facing Whyte later this year, and it is better than most of his competitors, but all White's got going for him is an amateur victory over Joshua light years ago. Lennox was fighting Gary Mason, 35-0 in the top 10 with solid victories over other contenders for his 15th fight.
The division needs Wlad to unify then divest the belts. In the meantime, Let Parker and Joshua keep moving along at a good clip.
Exactly what I think! I want him to get the WBC belt, then start divesting. Wlad will get a well earned ability to pick and choose his last few fights, and it will force the contenders to start fighting more often. Wilder is probably fighting among the worst competition for title defenses in the last 20 years, but they're at least still a lot better than most contenders are facing. And most titlists won't be treated as gently as Wilder has been. If Wlad shed's a few belts, we'll really start to see some good contender on contender action. That was probably the #1 reason why 80's saw so many good contender fights, because Holmes only held on to 1 belt, and the others were always being traded around.
Imagine if the fights and title defenses were picked by fans who didn't care about a boxers career. "Who cares if AJ or Parker lose the 0 - stick em in there!" It's a business with a lot of money involved, so it doesn't happen, but I like the idea of Klitschko unifying and retiring on his own terms Parker is fighting Meehan (18 vs 29 on boxrec), so isn't that top 50?