Positive news about the heavyweight division...its getting younger!

I think the new generation is going to flush out the old generation very soon.

 

Gurgen Hovhannisyan fighting next week.

 

I dunno we still have Zhang at 40 years old hanging in there and after Parker's performance Joyce at 38 isn't looking so washed up. If the Juggernaut can get a few quick wins be might be back in contention again.

But yeah it's inevitable that the new gen eventually push out the old ones, question is when will that be? Are the new Gen good enough or will we still have the old veterans hanging on a little longer because the next gen are not good enough.

 

Justis Huni is 24 and will be a factor if he can find a little bit more power.

The guy is a beautiful boxer.

 

It’s a cycle

 

Yeah, Joyce isn't that bad. I think it's a classic case of styles making fights, his matchmakers walked him into a highly unfavourable match against Zhang and paid the price. They probably presumed he could weather Zhang's power and drown him late but Zhang was both too accurate and powerful so what might have happened late was irrelevant, the most relevant thing was Joyce's lack of defence.

By contrast I think Parker was a good match up for Joyce (not enough power / committed aggression to stop him and Joyce's superior stamina and volume won the day). I feel Parker would do better vs Zhang though, he's a lot more responsible defensively and may well avoid the early KO. If he takes Zhang late, Zhang will be gassed and struggling, even if he's won the early rounds.[/QUOTE]

 

Joe is 38 and 3 mos. But certainly he's no longer a climber in the division.

 

Calling these two "IN GUYS" is a stretch.

I think "Justis Huni - 24" would be a better entry, though I don't think Huni is ever going to hoist a major belt.

 

Yes, and it's timing operates around when a small number of promoters decide their fighter is cashed.

 

Can't 100% rule it out - but being stopped twice in succession is not a good look.

I Joyce is more of a stepping stone now. He can get good money fighting Fabio Wardley or Frazier Clarke or maybe rematching DuBois. But he's not a climber.

I have heard that Zhang is 18 months younger than he's listed (b/c Chinese officials were trying to sneak him into AIBA tournaments to prepare him for the 2008 Beijing Olympics). But this is unconfirmed. But Zhang's overall health is not good. He has calcium deposits on his heels and you can only treat those with cortisone shots and those do not work indefinitely. Hard to tell what version of Zhang will show up.

 

This guy is a big sleeper (kind of like Kossobuitsky was a few years ago). He's already been ducked by Viktor Faust.

 

Lerena does have some decent wins in there (Merhy is one of them) and gave DuBois a scare. Seems like he will get another chance to step up. But it doesn't look like he's in the mix for the big fights in the UK, Saudi Arabia and the USA at this time - so I don't think he's "IN" at the moment.