The current Heavyweight Division is one of the best eras ever

Yes, evolution applies to all aspects of life, including boxing.

There is a cool video on youtube of Tyson being asked about whether he could beat he Klitschkos (I think he was probably one of the few that could) and his reply was spot on.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BF-sxSipAMs

 

The truth is painful to yanks,but the klits would beat any of their past heavyweight greats and Vitali is the toughest guy to ever wear the heavyweight crown...everyone knows he retired a very lucky Lewis.

 

well wlad would beat them in a running race true.

that is, running from a 38 year old retired unfit never contender corrie sanders, that is. I honestly cant see any of the past lineals running from such an opponent in fear. hardly any of them, perhaps none, would even select such a poor opponent to begin with, let alone get destroyed by him instantly.

right words wrong order, he was lucky lewis retired.

 

Yeah totally agree, these new guys have it all. I mean look at Wlad, he can throw every punch in the book, he can come forward cutting the ring off and fight on the inside better than anyone I've seen.

He doesn't need to clinch his opponents or use any illegal tactics either, he's just a pure fluid boxer who's delicate feints and combination punches are a sight to behold.

His main asset however is his iron will, iron chin and killer instinct. I'm just glad I got to see him perform in the most fundamentally skilled era of in shape heavyweights.

 

The division is currently the worst ever no doubt, the only fighter that could hang at any other time is Vitali, Wladimir would be easy to beat. Tyson in that interview was just being humble, he knows he would knock Wladimir out with ease and give Vitali hell inside.

 

Gee, sarcasm! How effective! Uh, have you ever seen pictures of Ali and Frazier? They were not in good shape at all and along with Foreman (later to be in bad shape) were the top fighters of their era. The champs of this era are probably the best conditioned we've ever seen.

 

this is an idiot statement - how can you tell if someone is unfit just by looking at them? you cannot tell the difference between a skinny unfit bloke and a marathon runner just by looking at their photos.

you can tell frazier and ali were fit because they fought 15 rounds intensely. watch the boxing, not google pictures - but why am I having to tell you that? current wlad is much less conditioned than them - though he used to be very fit, he struggles today into the late single figure rounds.

Only when people carry true excess weight can you really say this affects their fitness.

 

I'm not really thinking about this in a H2H standpoint, regardless of how good K2 and company are or whether or not they would obliterate the previous generations I just don't think this era is very exciting so calling it the best ever is beyond exaggeration. It's absurd.

Most of the top contenders avoid each other and even a shot at the championship sometimes. It took Povetkin YEARS to grow a pair. You can barely consider Haye a professional fighter at this point. Wilder is a hype job of epic proportions. The list goes on and on.

 

Let me translate to what you really mean: "the modern era's fighters are fat because I don't like them, and the past era's fighters were in shape because I do like them. I have no rational arguments to back up this belief, so I'll make unsupportable statements like 'they were in shape because they fought tough 15 round fights' and somehow pretend without any rational arguments that made them more in shape than modern fighters".

 

Fair enough, this is the most legitimate criticism. I don't think its as bad as you make it out, but it is true that contenders are less likely to face each other or even take a championship fight than in the past.

 

Mike has been around the brothers many times at camp and such. he has always said exactly what he just said in the interview.

Tyson, one of my fav fighters of all time and is very very friendly with both brothers

 

Yeah maybe a bit harsh but this forum sometimes makes you want to go all or nothing to get your point across .

 

Yeah, understood, I do the same.:good

 

It's funny how the only time I hear that we are in a "great" heavyweight era, it's using theoretical arguments about the advancement of sports science and nutrition in general. It's basically, "athletes across the board are bigger, stronger and faster than ever, so OF COURSE that has to hold true for boxing as well".

The problem with that logic is that the athlete has to take advantage of all of those advances to benefit, and one look at your average heavyweight should tell you all you need to know about that. Most fighters don't have strength and conditioning coaches; most of them use the same pool of guys who have been around for decades and use the same training regimens that have been around for decades.

As for advances in techniques and tactics - that's also not something you see represented in boxing, at least not at the heavyweight level. Wlad, this era's dominant heavyweight, doesn't dominate because of his awesome repertoire of offensive and defensive moves. He has a fantastic sense of distance and employs it spectacularly. But he really only has two moves - the jab and the straight right. Every so often he'll use a left hook, but you're not looking at some sort of "next level" boxing here. You're looking at a few highly refined basics employed by someone who generally has an overwhelming physical advantage.

And finally, the strength of a division goes beyond its champion. Wlad and Vitali are great fighters; even the most jaded of haters are beginning to acknowledge that. But a great champion can exist in a weak division. And you know a division is weak when your most highly touted fighters are beaten to a pulp by old fighters a full decade past their peak. Fighters who took up boxing only a few years prior with no amateur background because they washed out of the sport they preferred are finding themselves highly ranked. Why is that? Because Deontay Wilder is such a prodigious talent that he was able to develop skills that didn't exist in previous eras? Or is it simply because the heavyweight division is so historically weak that anybody with a punch, a few lessons at the YMCA and the cellphone number for Al Haymon can get a title shot?

I'll go with the latter.

 

fuc- it. im a klitschko fan :good