The Harsh Reality: Heavyweight Is A Turgid, Squalid, Lugubrious, Wretched Cesspit Of A Division.

CWs are vastly underrated.. look what Huck did to Povetkin or Breidis did to Charr or Cunningham did to Fury.. fast blubber weight Eddie Chambers even tried his hand at it & got annihilated too.. I fully expect Usyk (barring injury) to style on Del Boy too.. heck it was only a toe that kept Haye from unifying lol & Holyfield became an ATG..

 

Ruiz actually looks (for him) in shape here.. imagine if he'd have trained for Joshua II at the gym instead of the buffet?

 

Jean Marc Mormeck>Wilder.

 

There are some good heavyweights around. And a lot of lesser ones.
The past eras are often overrated though, when looking back.

I followed boxing in the 1990s and it really wasn't much better than now.
Fighters like Bruce Seldon, Jesse Ferguson, Tommy Morrison, Phil Jackson, Lionel Butler and Herbie Hide were touted as contenders in the 1990s. Actually Seldon even held the WBA title, Morrison held the WBO, Hide held the WBO twice.
Also Axel Schulz, David Izon, Shannon Briggs, Oliver McCall, Frank Bruno. None of these were much good at all.
People talk about Holyfield and Tyson but Holyfield was washed up from about 1994 onwards, Tyson's best years were before the 1990s.

 

I'd say it's historically competitive. In other words: it's good, not great. Tyson Fury is an ass for most fighters ever, Wilder is a world level puncher in any era, Joshua is a hot commodity at any point. Guys like Usyk, Hunter, Parker ect; are elite contenders, and scalps, in any era. Someone like Tyson could wind up as a top 10 HW ever. Joshua gunning for top 15, I'm looking forward to it. The top 15 HW is actually pretty good right now, lots of big physical guys who could be fighting eachother and being in awesome fights. The divide between promotions is silly and annoying, but it is what it is. Someone like Parker could be racking up good scalps and paving his way to redemption and a chance to get his title back, instead he's taking constant gimme fights vs vs hopers and is actually declining in doing so. This is reminiscent of constant hyped up fighters in the past, but the difference being that everyone today is doing it to some extent. It's annoying for a fan who wants to see massive fights and the best vs the best. Since it's not happening, my interest in the big boys is waning.

Someone like Whyte or Hunter who are willing to fight dangerous fighters when they doesn't have to shouldn't be celebrated as the anomaly or breath of fresh air, it should be the norm.

And like Chris, I'm not a stuck up knob head who hates HWs, I love the buzz of a monster HW fight(Joshua/Klitschko being apart of your introduction to boxing really does that to ya), so I'm not one to think knowledge of the lower weights makes me better than anyone else. I do have to say though, HW's are overrated. Not any in particular, just all of them. I mean in all aspects; P4P Lists, Relevance, Talent Wise, Entertainment ect. In terms of P4P ATG Lists, i mean that guys like Louis and Ali, who are clearly the #1&2 HWs P4P aren't top 10 locks. Aside from Holyfield and maybe Marciano, none of the others are locks for top 100, yeah let that sink in. As for relevance, people all ways talk about how boxing's banging when the HWs are on top. It's bollocks. The 30s is statically the time where most people were interested in boxing, at the time the division was poor, and it had been for a good 30 years beforehand. People love boxing, not just HWs. It's pretty clear that the level of talent is lesser at HW. The average world level HW just ain't as good as the average fighter even one weight class below at CW. Simply because they don't have to be, as you go up in weight the more power matters, meaning the talent pool is inherently lowered. People love it, and I can see why; who doesn't love watching people get iced? Finally, entertainment wise. I find it hard to think that someone's more entertaining, dispite less action, since they're bigger and could KO their opponents. I'd rather watch a fight where they could KO their opponent and throw more punches, with a higher skill level. Just my opinion, though. Now my rant on why HWs suck but I'm not heavyweight hater is over I can say that let a huge weight off my chest! Oh and errrr 175 >>> but yeah, my favourite division is 175, it's hardly far off HW.

Anyways, rant over... HWs right now are good. Nothing more. Some can be great, most won't be. It's like a less talented, but more sane, version of the 90s with less discipline. Hopefully we get some good fights soon, it's heating up right now.

Parker vs Hunter. It's what the people need.

 

In terms of talent and skill level, it’s putrid. Just watch highlight vids of these fighters side by side with past talent and the difference is farcical.

 

Thank god for the UK

 

Cor that’s bleak if true.

 

Carlton Cole. Come back to West Ham.

David Moyes is calling.

 

Hunter is an old school heavyweight with elite level skills and real burning ambition to be the best. No rippling steroid muscles and hiding behind governing bodies to protect your 0 like Wilder, no gorging yourself till you're sick then seeing how many punches you can take like Miller, Ruiz and Kownacki. Just straight old hard training, hard sparring and hustling for opportunities any chance you get. That's why he's my favourite American HW at the moment, and he probably never saw a sniff of the NBA or NFL. Just a born fighter.

 

Agreed. You only need to have a look at the Canelo Usyk skill comparison thread to see how a lot of people unnecessarily crap on CW as a division in a way that just doesn't happen to other divisions.

 

He's been my favourite American heavyweight for a while too. I was one of the few who picked him to upset Bakole. His ability is obvious to see if you know what you're looking for, the speed, the head movement, the work rate and counter shots, he's a class operator and the best US heavyweight in my opinion in terms of skill, it's just his lack of size and a big punch that may cost him at the top level.

Only thing I think he needs to improve is his head position when he's up close and moving out, he looks vulnerable to a counter there, but other than his size that's the only glaring weakness in his game.