Lots of people say this is the worst heavyweight era of all time because Wladimir is dominating. Now, I myself am not particularly high on the current heavyweight scene but I've got to admit that in the last 10 years there were some exceptionally good, well-schooled fighters around, Klitschkos aside. Certainly the talent pool isn't do deep, Emanuel Steward himself thinks that it's a weak time following the strong 90s, but I can't see how this could be the worst era of ALL TIME. It's probably the best era sans the 70s and 90s and tied with the 80s in terms of quality.
It hasn't been very strong, but there are many reasons why it isn't exactly weak either. Hard to compare it with the ye olde days, because you'd have to put all modern cruisers, LHW's and even some SMW's to the same roster. But if we do, saying it's the worst ever is laughable because there actually were eras in wich Joe the local fireman fought for the title and actually had a chance at winning.
The heavyweight division historically simply hasn't been very strong. There's always a dominant champion and there's always a lack of competition, except for the 70s and 90s which were stacked and rightfully the best of all time.
The current HW era is average, let's be honest. There are a few standouts but not a lot. Wlad has just made it look worse than it really is. Guys like Pulev would have done OK in most eras due to size and power and willingness to mix it up. Even Fury really isn't as bad as people think he is. He has the potential to be a dangerous dude.
It's gotten better in recent years, especially after Vitali relinquished the WBC belt which led to a change and we finally saw contenders facing off against one another in decent numbers. That has led to a clearly picture as to who truly deserves to be in the top 10. Previously the division was pretty dire. When Wlad won the belt it was pretty much him, Vitali, Byrd and then you had a faded Ruiz, a shot Brewster, a faded Briggs, a still relatively unproven Chagaev, Liakhovich, Valuev, a fat Toney etc. It was hardly deep and what then followed was years of contenders being over protected so when Wlad or Vitali fought an undefeated fighter like Wach, Arreola, Pianeta, Povetkin you had no idea if they were overprotected gatekeepers or actually world class heavyweights. That combined with a generation of heavyweight contenders with eating disorders has seen a weak era.
It is about to get very good. You have a lot of young contenders who are going to be around for a few years including Wilder, Fury, Pulev, Helenius, Teper, Jennings. You also have a LOT of good young prospects including (but not limited to) Joshua, Parker, Hugh Fury, Kuzman, Granate, Wallin, Wallish, Schwartz, Brezeale, and Martin Usyk should be stepping up sooner or later as well.
1900's-1920's. Fireman Flynn had some competitive fights with the HW champions. He also KO'd Dempsey in 1. He was a fireman by profession and had 40+ losses on his record.
Look at this guy... Tyson Fury, he is 6'9 and weights 255 pounds. And he is fast as hell! [YT]YqWs-Ty4on0[/YT] [YT]SgFGfhTYhkc[/YT] [YT]P08v8728-qI[/YT]
Camarelle, Timurziev, Romanchuk never did turn pro, which did hurt the division. Add to that Mr. Solis doing so poorly with all that talent. It definetelly created a hiatus for a few years with little talent around, but after Parker, Joshua, Pulev, Glazkov, Wilder, Price, Fury, Ortiz, Ruiz, all turned pro, then the tide began to change. Right now is good and it could become very nice with the addition of Medzhidov, Dichko, Omarov and others
The current era is on the cusp of being good. And I'm not sold on Wilder or Fury. (Fury may be ok). However you still have Wlad An ATG. Then you have serious contenders in Povetkin, Jennings, Pulev. Also the winner of Helenius/Teper. Add to the fact that you have two blue chip prospects quickly on the rise in Joshua and Parker. And that makes for a pretty good division. If Fury and Wilder turn out to be more substance than hype you'll have a good top ten for the next several years. The real issue in recent years is not lack of talent it's the economic model. With so much money going to other weights, a premium was placed on fighters in the heavyweight division to not lose. So no one was really fighting each other in fear of losing out on the payday. I think with Mayweather and PAC gone soon you will see more matchups.