There was a time, long ago, where the Heavyweight Champion of the World reigned supreme in American culture. Guys like Dempsey, Louis, Marciano & Ali would all be mobbed in public by thousands of adoring fans. The Heavyweight Champ was typically the most recognizable and beloved figure in all of sports. They had the love of the common man and every young boy wondered what it would be like to one day be "The Baddest Man on the Planet". Compare and contrast today's Heavyweight scenario. The Giant Valuev and Ruslan Chagaev could walk through your local shopping mall holding hands with the Klitschko Bros. and do so in relative anonymity. All but about 2% of the public would think anything but "look at those big scary Russians!" Few would identify that fearsome foursome as the "Baddest MEN on the Planet". Many have spoke out about their beliefs that the best Heavyweight boxers in the world are currently in the NBA or NFL. This may very well be true and the current state of affairs does nothing to correct this situation for the future. What young man aspires to be one of four unknown champions when the 6th man on the Los Angeles Lakers has a $50M sneaker contract, a house featured on MTV Cribs and international recognition? Good, bad or indifferent, the welfare of The Sweet Science is largely dependant upon the condition of its flagship commodity. As the Heavyweight division goes so goes Boxing. You and I know that there is a wealth of talent and a bevy of exciting and competitive bouts but none of that matters to "Joe Six Pack". Boxing NEEDS a savior. In the form of an undisputed Heavweight Champion. At this point I don't care if it's John Ruiz. UNIFY!
Thank Don King for no unification. He had all 4 belts and then 3 of the 4 belts a few years back and did not make one unification fight. Not one. Now, he won't risk his only HW belt against Wlad. We are as close to unification now with Wlad holding two belts as we are going to get.
As soon as Lewis got the belts together, it was thanks to King that they got split right up again. I really don't sense the kind of "let's get this done" attitude among the boxing orgs, that they had back in 1986-87 for example. There have been some bitter moments between them and it's a very tough ask indeed. You could unify 3, and then two of the belts want you to fight two different guys or be stripped. Hopeless. Did you know the last time we had an undisputed HW champion defend his title was Holyfield vs Holmes in June '92...sixteen years ago? That's just so sad.
"Many have spoke out about their beliefs that the best Heavyweight boxers in the world are currently in the NBA or NFL" how lame is that.
the best thing to do would be to unify the titles and then have that fighter drop all of them. That would render all the ABC belts worthless and that way everyone would know who the Champion is and they would not get stuck making worthless mandatory fights and could fight whoever they wanted. Plus, they would save on those criminal sanctioning fees the ABC's charge it would be more money in the fighters pocket. :good
Those aren't my words, many have come out and said this. It does hold some water though. There are probably a dozen or so linebackers/safeties that if nothing else have the raw speed, power and athleticism to be dangerous. Of course there are sport specific intangibles that we'll never know until they step inside the ring but you can't help but wonder how certain high profile athletes would fare. I always wondered how Ken Norton Jr. would have looked in the ring.
It is lame because it tries to make an excuse for one country. The best that you can say is that the US Amateur system is hurting that there is very little public support for professional boxing in the States. Any country with the right support and interest will churn out good fighters.
HW unification isn't as important, as the titles are all meaningless. I think the public recognizes "The Man that Beat THE man" Someone has to become THE MAN to beat at HW and capture the public imagination. Someone needs to fight on TV lots, be somewhat charismatic and we'll have a champ. You can't have ridiculous decisions, like Lewis v s Holyfield I, especially with Rip-Off PPV prices! Come on, people thought Kimbo was for real in both MMA and Boxing! That shows how easy it is to build up a HW champ! Nobody cared about the belts really. Besides, the WWE belts look much cooler anyway! ;-)
I'm sure in their part of the world the Klitchko's are recognised and mobbed as you said, did you see the show they put on in Germany for Vitali? I don't think it's that important at the moment, everybody recognizes the Klitchko's as the best, there have never been 2 brothers at the top of the division so I'm not complaining.
I would consider this a global issue as many of the best athletes, particularly in the NBA are Euro, Asian, African, etc; There is more global appeal in the alternate sports (football, basketball, baseball, hockey) Why risk getting your face smashed in and working your ass off for a chance to make a couple of hundred thousand dollars when you can rake in millions and millions doing something else? Pop quiz...Anyone know who Nick Fotiu was?
