The terrible state of the HW division is highlighted by the lack of activity in the first half of 2023. Ok there's a while to go until end of June but as it stands this is what we have had and what we have to look forward to (top 20 based on boxrec) .... Fury : Hasn't fought. No fight planned. Usyk : Hasn't fought. No fight planned. Joshua : Daft fight in April Joyce : decent fight against Zhang Ruiz : Hasn't fought. No fight planned. Windmill : Hasn't fought. No fight planned. Whyte : Might fight in June. Against the ferocious TBA Ortiz : Hasn't fought. No fight planned. Dubois : Hasn't fought. No fight planned. Parker : Daft fight against a Brit domestic level CW Chisora: Hasn't fought. No fight planned. Pulev: Hasn't fought. No fight planned. Sanchez : Hasn't fought. No fight planned. Bakole : Hasn't fought. No fight planned. Makhmudov : Hasn't fought. No fight planned. Gassiev : meh fight against a barely top 50 guy Ahagba : Decent fight against Shaw Wallin : Pointless fight against guy outside top 200 Hrgovic : Hasn't fought. No fight planned. Demirizen : Hasn't fought. No fight planned. Might retire. On top of this decent HWs like Hunter and Hughie Fury seem to have all but retired. That is simply woeful. There's loads of good fights to be made but greed and incompetent promotion is killing this division.
That's half true. Here's the other half: Fury : Last fight in December vs. Chisora Usyk : Last fight in August vs. AJ. Should fight soon or lose ranking. Joshua : Las fight in August vs. Usyk. Fight scheduled vs Franklin. Joyce : Last fight in September vs. Parker. Fight scheduled against Zhang Ruiz : Last fight in September vs. Ortiz. Shoud fight soon or lose ranking. Wilder : Last fight in October vs. Helenius. Should fight soon or lose ranking. Whyte : Last fight in November vs. Franklin. Might fight in June against the ferocious TBA Ortiz : Last fight in September vs. Ruiz. Shoud fight soon or lose ranking. Dubois : Last fight in December vs. Lerena Parker : Last fight in September vs. Joyce. Daft fight against a Brit domestic level CW Chisora: Last fight in December vs Fury. Pulev: Last fight in July vs. Chisora. No fight planned. Should call it a day. Sanchez : Last fight in October vs. Negron. No fight planned. Should fight soon or lose ranking. Bakole : Last fight in May vs. Yoka. Has fight coming in April 22 vs. TBA. Should fight more often. Makhmudov : Last fight in December vs. Wallish. Gassiev : Last fight 20 days ago Ahagba : Last fight in January against Shaw Wallin : Last fight in January vs. nobody. Should fight better quality fighters. Hrgovic : Last fight in August vs. Zhang. Should fight soon or lose ranking. Demirizen : Retired? So all fighters except Usyk, Ruiz, Pulev (retired?), Demirezen (retired?) have had a fight in the last 6 months or have a fight already scheduled. Most of them having fought in late 2023 (december).
I don’t know why no one ever mentions how inactive Usyk is. He’s only fought once a year since 2019 for a total of 4 fights, one of those being a joke fight against Chazz Witherspoon. And before someone tries to use Covid or the Ukraine war as an excuse, his fellow stablemate and countryman Lomachenko has fought 6 times in the same time span against better opposition, with none of them being remotely as much of a mismatch as Witherspoon.
Worst year in HW division since in many years. Hopefully the second half of the year makes up for it.
Anathema! P. S.: How about the 7% from the PPVs he offered to Joyce? He actually did the duck he accuses Fury with. 7%! You see how Usyk brainless sectarians keep silence on these questions?
The top 30 is inactive because they are all waiting for the opportunity of a fight against Fury-Joshua-Wilder and a little Usyk.
That's the main reason, why I think none of them are great. Usyk would be killed in the era, when they had fights every 3-4 months. none of his 6 months camps anymore
