I was just looking at a clip of Tyson talking about the current boxing scene and he mentioned how fighters aren't entering the ring to win any more. As long as boxing will be around, there'll always be mismatches but what happened to all the valiant losses that you would have seen a few years ago? In the last few years, Wlad's best wins have been against Haye, Chagaev, Ibragimov and Chambers, yet not one of those fighters tried to win. They all fought to survive and not get brutally knocked out. They would probably have lost if they had tried their best anyway, but the lack of effort is something I can't understand - this was the biggest night of their careers and they all mentally folded. Looking at the whole of Wlad's title reign, there are only a couple of fighters who showed genuine heart and determination to win; Peter in their first fight was seriously outboxed but he didn't once give in. Corrie Sanders fought with heart and bravery, and that paid off for him. Even Wach, as usless as he is, was trying to win but these fights are rare. Pianeta will be another Rahman or Mormeck when that mismatch happens, and he'll show no desire to compete. Vitali has faced more determined fighters, such as Chisora and Arreola, but the lack of effort that Johnson, Solis (in the gym), Peter, Gomez etc., put in is odd. If you lose, you lose, but at least take the risk! This isn't just about fighters being outclassed, it's the lack of desire and effort that the opponents show. Haye, for example, hurt Wlad in the 12th round of their fight but it was far too little too late. Had he started with an aggressive mentality from the first round, like he did against Chisora, maybe he would have stopped Wlad, because he certainly has the power to do so, but he wasn't willing to risk it. Guys like Ibragimov and Chagaev came into the fights as 'world champions' yet they weren't just outclassed, they gave the fight away from the first bell by showing a clear disinterest in winning and instead, focused on survival. Those fighters are a lot better than Wach but at least he had the balls to try to win and, even though he's a lumbering, cheating oaf whose punches can be timed in minutes, it worked for him and he hurt Wlad in the 5th round. Whatever happened to contenders like Jerry Quarry, Razor Ruddock, Buster Douglas, Ray Mercer, Bert Cooper, Tony Galento, Jim Braddock and Ron Lyle? They weren't great fighters but at least they came to win. What happened to even the Peter McNeeley's or Ron Standers'? The division is lifeless, boring and shallow, but if there was a few opponents out there who had the balls to try and win, at least it might provide a few interesting moments.
Whilst I don't agree the division is lifeless I do agree with a lot of what you have said and think your post is very good. The reason for the dilution of great fights in the division is, in my opinion, due to politics. TV channels, promoters, different titles, etc. The Klitschkos are very good at making fighters look ordinary as they are so good.
I agree with you Jack. The modern heavyweight division does not seem to be a risk taking division whatsoever. The contenders very rarely fight each other. If Thompson genuinely does fight Wilder over here I'll give my kudos to them both, but it doesn't happen enough. Fury and Price should have fought. Wilder, Jennings and Mitchell should have fought one another. Pulev and Helenius should fight. The list I'm sure could go on. It may be promotional issues, but I see that as an excuse, not a genuine reason, for undefeated contenders not to fight. It seems to me a lot of the up and coming heavy's these days are sacrificial lambs being manufactured for a Klitschko slaughter. No wonder they aren't prepared to fight when they get in the ring with Wlad, they have barely been in a fight!
There are two groups of contenders really. There's the one group who are fighting stiffs, waiting for the Klits to retire and then will make their move, and the other, as Bazza mentions, who win a few fights, take their inevitable execution and ride off into the sunset. What I don't get though is why these guys aren't fighting each other more regularly. Instead we've got guys like Sprott, turning up half arsed on occasion, being content to take the guy the distance and pocket the cash.... three months later, rinse and repeat. Compared to divisions like 140 or 168, where there are stacks of contenders fighting each other regularly to establish a pecking order, HW and to a lesser extent 160 we aren't seeing that at all.
Both of you are spot on and the frustrating thing is if you take the Klitschko's away there's actually some really good fights to be made. If Arreola, Jennings, Haye, Pulev, Povetkin, Boytsov, Wach, Banks, Abdusalamov, Fury and the like fought each other you'd get some fun fights. There's a number really interesting matchups you could make by pitting these guys against each other. What instead happens is the younger guys are fed either journeymen or old, faded names to pad their record up. They're all taking the path of least resistance. A lot of them seem to think 'yeah I can beat a Klitschko' but want to get that fight without actually proving anything. And this is hurting the Klitschko's as well because they have no real, viable challengers available to them. Someone with a bit of momentum who's toppled a few of the guys in the top 10 so they have to settle for guys like Pianeta and Wach.
I think it's a career longevity issue. Whilst it isn't the Klitschko's fault, they can only beat who is in front of them, they have unwittingly had a hand in the decline of heavyweight boxing. Fighters get a title and then don't want to travel to defend it. They'd rather make a few hundred thousand in their home town, than go to Vegas for a million or 2. Who can blame the way heavyweights are developing? Cover up, box at range, lose and then come back again for another shot in a few years. In Wlad's case, he had to cover up and rebuild, following his KO losses. Same with Vitali and the cut situation. They have become unbeatable and Wlad in particular has grown in confidence with his 'robotic' methods. Other fighters are seeing this and employing it. David Price has tried it, the new Tyson Fury is doing it and I get the feeling that promoters aren't interested unless the heavyweight is 6'3"+. Mike Tyson was exceptional for a man under 6 foot, and he came to fight. Holyfield wasn't huge and he was a top, top sturdy heavyweight, almost unmovable. The common denominator there is Lennox Lewis, got chinned a couple of times and became more 'robotic', you could argue that Lewis/Steward laid out the blueprint.
