post-Klitschko heavyweight era

Precisely how I feel,Fergy.

 

Third Fury vs Wilder fight was exciting, but poor quality in term of skills from both. It was the moment, when Usyk realized that if he can be still in Prime... He will outclass Fury handily and make him look like an amateur.

 

It ended with Vitali needed to be carried by Wlad after the Chisora fight and an easy Charr fight, and Wlad getting completely humiliated by Fury and knocked out by AJ.

After that heavyweight was fun to watch again. Good fighters and talent, some good fights. Not perfect but better than the decade before which was very, very bad for boxing and one of the reasons why Youtubers sell more than real boxers.

Not a single Klitschko opponent except Lewis is being talked about in a historical context. Same as Froch, Kessler and Abraham. No one talks about these guys, makes potential match ups or says the boxers today wouldn't beat them and stuff. It was a realtively weak era in the higher weight classes general with some exceptions.

The Klitschko era was a catastrophe for the sport and once Wlad faced someone as tall as him and someone who came to win, he was sent to retirement.

 

It's been one step forwards, two steps back with this lot, Stevie.

 

Good point actually. Interesting the 80's/00's lull gap. I guess a lot of sport comes in waves

 

From 2015-2021 it was pretty good. I think Covid hurt it a lot.

AJ vs Wlad, Fury vs Wlad, Fury vs Wilder trilogy, AJ vs Usyk, Povetkin vs Whyte, Povetkin vs AJ.

There were still quite a few great fights in this era.

I'm assuming you're talking about after Wlad lost his dominace.

 

To be fair to the current heavyweights, most (not all, but most) of the top fighters of the 90s didn't really go head to head until the end was in sight for many of them.

Bowe-Lewis never fought. Bowe-Tyson never fought. Tyson-Holyfield should've happened five or six years ealrier. Holyfield-Lewis and should've happened about six years earlier. Lewis-Tyson should've happened about 10 years earlier. (It didn't even happen IN the 90s.)

If these guys today all get around to fighting each other before calling it quits, even if some are pushing 40, that's what folks will remember.

I don't have fond feelings at all for the Klitschko era because the two best heavyweights - Vitali and Wlad - never fought and just sort of tag-teamed their way through a poor division. It was a dozen years or so of just hoping one of them (or both) would get upset once in a while.

When it all shakes out, depending who ends up beating who, unlike the Klitschko era, I think we PROBABLY WILL see the two best heavyweights of this era fight.

OR MAYBE we already have seen the two best fight, several times.

Depends on how they all finish up in the next couple years.

 

It barely got out of Act 1.

 

Nice post.

 

This era is much better. Better pool of talent, and while there is a lot of avoidance going on at the top, no one fought each other in the Klitchko era. The contenders to the Klistchkos got there shots by feasting on bums until they were a mandatory. Rarely did ranked contenders fight each other. Then you had the Klitschkos tag-teaming, so it split the already poor pool of contenders in half, with the added benefit of protecting the other brother though match making.
All of that not even taking entertainment value into account. Wlad was talented but he fought nothing but stinkers until his very last fight. Pretty much killed off heavyweight boxing in the states.

 

If The klitschko Era was so bad why did the lesser contenders stay relevant and top 10 well into their 40s fighting the current crop of fighters ? The fact is this is the weakest point in the history of the heavyweight division.