This is an interesting quote I've heard. Even Mike Tyson said this. When the H.W division is exciting, Boxing prospers - the whole sport prospers. But when the K2 era came, most believe it to be boring, so Boxing struggles.
Well, the truth is that the HW is special and it doesn't get the respect it deserves, largely due to bad promoters focused on easy title shots & payoffs- and hopefully this will change. The HW was always the most exciting to regular spectators. Its a division where the biggest & most dangerous fighters go in the ring with no regard for weight limits, size differences, or physical advantages. You have smaller men like Povetkin/Chagaev/Adamek fighting the Klitschkos today- Evander Holyfield facing Riddick Bowe or the monolithic George Foreman etc etc All while boxers in lower weight divisions argue about 3-4lb differences, catch-weights and bull**** like that.
heavyweight has historically been the glory division of the sport, so that quote at one point in time, and because of the history of the sport and the time period it came about, probably made sense. 2013, however, is a prime example of that quote's inaccuracy. we've had one of the greatest years in recent boxing memory.
Once this saying may have been true but not anymore. The heavyweight division has been overlooked by most markets in recent years yet fighters like Pac and Mayweather have become household names world wide, set PPV records and earned purses that outstrip anything any heavyweight has ever earned. Fact is being the heavyweight champion of the world no longer means what it once did.
True, unfortunately. It used to be - quite rightly - called "the most prestigious title in sports." I was watching a short video clip the other day with Wlad signing some autographs, and a person off camera could clearly be heard asking who Wlad is. It's quite sad really.
