[Michael]

Right, I know that most of us can agree that the heavyweight division has seen one of its biggest lull in history over the last decade. In 2003, Lennox Lewis retired after his hard fought win over Vitali Klitschko, and subsequently emerged as most people's number one in the division after. He solidified his claims with dominant wins over some solid contenders. Injury then forced his four year sabbatical from boxing in 2004. After this, decent, but far from great fighters like Valuev, Ruiz, Brewster, Byrd, Liakhovich, Maskaev and Rahman then battled for dominance in the division, yet none could make a serious claim above the others and none of them ever unified. This coincided with the divisions descent into a state of serious decline for a period of time.

Wladimir Klitschko, who's reputation and standing was left in tatters after big upset losses to Sanders and Brewster, began to rebuild his career during this time too. He eventually won a title with a very good knockout over Chris Byrd, and then defended his title in dominant, but uninspiring performances against mediocre opponents. Things changed somewhat around 2008 though, as Wlad began his unification of the division, an exciting new contender in David Haye appeared on the heavyweight scene and Vitali Klitschko returned to introduce much needed class to it with a win over Sam Peter and a title belt. Over the last few years both Vitali and Waldimir have continued their dominant reigns and the likes of David Haye has been, and still is making a lot of noise. Wlad in particular has really cemented his place as the No 1 guy, taking every belt baring the WBC, and beating some solid fighters along the way.

Another thing which added to the standing of the weight class is the number of quality fighters which are emerging there at a quick rate. Right now we've got young prospects prospects and contenders like Price, Fury, Glazkov, Pulev, Boystov, Jennings, Wilder and several others have all been coming up and advancing in the rankings. It will be only a matter of time before these guys start getting in the ring with each other and Wladimir, who doesn't look like he's going to slow down anytime soon.

So anyway, rather than me just babble on about the division's current state, whats your opinion's on it? Do you think that its improving currently or not? And what do you think about the future potential of the division?

 

[Lunny]

Shite. We've had 2 dominant champions at the same time, not fighting each other. They're brothers so I don't blame them but it's still a shit way for it to be. 2 people sharing a division.

Their contenders are fighting nobodies leading up to a Klitschko payday rather than fighting each other.

Then you've got Haye who chats a load of shit but is essentially doing what everyone else is by fighting nobody then wanting a Klitschko, fair one he fought Chisora for the dollar but now he's back into retirement unless a Klitschko comes along. He could have had a very good career at heavyweight but he's not interested.

Then there's Adamek whos always been shocking at the weight (imo) but had a load of hype around him due to many Americans on the East coast thinking they're Polish. Chambers and Cunningham got jobbed.

Then there's Povetkin who many people think is the next best after the Klits who looked shite against Huck, a lighter man who I don't think is even that great at cruiser.

Respect goes out to the Klitschkos, they're certainly very talented, especially Wlad (Vitali is well past it now, if not retired). The division as a whole is awful though in my opinion.


Right now I'm enjoying the domestic heavyweight scene far more. It's been good watching Price and Fury try and work their way up and a fight between them would be great. Then there's potential matchups with Chisora and even Haye (if the money's there he will do it). I'm enjoying that far more than the world stage at the moment.

 

[Roe]

Agree with everything @Lunny said. :good

I have to say I'm not that sold on the domestic scene though. Price and Fury are interesting and it's definitely a fight I'd like to see, but it's not something that really excites me. I see it as more of a fight for the general public really if I'm honest. And it doesn't look like it'll happen anyway. Other than that their careers don't interest me in the way that previous upcoming heavyweights would have.

 

[Jay]

For me you have 3 guys who are clearly the top 3, then a pretty big gulf between the rest. I don't think it's quite as bad as people make out - but in the climate of a single loss means the end - few people seem willing to take a risk incase they lose and with it the privilege of being knocked out by a Klitschko. Haye is in that discussion as one of the top 3, but as Lunny said - he's not really interested, which is a shame as he is actually capable of really making a stand and I'd pick him over Vitali. A lot will change after they retire, but I think it'll be another 5-10 years before we consider it a deep, strong division again.

 

[Michael]

Fair points lads, what do you think about the young guns coming up though? A few of them look like they could possibly be the real deal in a few years

 

[Robney]

The current up and comers are pretty good, although often ignored because they're mostly eastern Europeans and so not liked by the historical big boxing nations.

the biggest problem is like said, they won't fight eachother and one of the reasons many fans seem to forget is that they themselves are partly responsible for that situation. Because once two of those prospects face eachother the loser of that fight is almost automaticly labelled a "bum", and has to rebuild his career before he can get another shot at a big payday. UNLESS HE'S FROM ONE OF THE HISTORICALLY BIG COUNTRIES!
And they can use the pretty sad cop-out "I don't have to fight him, because I'll beat that ....-bum anyway", wich is facilitated by most of their fans who agree (or act like they agree) with their heroes.

So I think a mentality change from fans and boxers is required to revive the division, but that might be too much to ask

 

[Nyanners :sad5]

Kevin Johnson.

Single handedly taking boxing to lower depths.

There can only be one to surpass him.

:audley

^ love how he lines up with my avatar :lol:

 

[Indigo Pab]

Agree with @Lunny and @Robney really, I find myself more interested in the up and comers of the division rather than the upper echelons of it. I've never been all that interested in the modern heavyweight division but the progress of the likes of Pulev, Fury, Price, Glazkov etc intrigues me, even if they'll never be as decorated or talented as the men they're aiming to replace.

The Klitschko's dominance is certainly admirable, and mighty impressive, but I can't say it has me brimming with anticipation to see one of their fights. Just ends up feeling like the same continuous cycle of them taking out underwhelming - but completely acceptable for the most part due to the overall quality and depth of the division - contenders time and time again. Occasionally you'll have a Haye type who can garner some hype, or a Thompson or Chisora who can take maybe 2 rounds of a fight, but that's about it. Same repetitive trend mostly.

 

[Danny]

In agreement with @Lunny largely. As he said, it's a division split in two with no chance currently of having a 'real' #1 (even though we all know it's Wlad) because the top 2 won't fight each other. Unless Haye beats Vitali, but A) it seems unlikely that the bout would come off and B) Wlad already dominated Haye, so it takes most of the buzz out of having the #1 meet the #2 when they've already met and it was one-sided.

And mostly, as he said, contenders aren't fighting each other and people are sitting around waiting for a Klitschko shot. Look at Fury, he's beaten nobody of note bar Kevin Johnson, who basically turns up and tries to survive for 12 rounds, has never really beaten anybody of note himself, and somehow that puts you in a position to get a title shot.

Thankfully, guys like Pulev - rumoured to be facing Adamek despite already being IBF #1 - and Glazkov - facing the dangerous, unbeaten Malik Scott - seem to be changing that a little bit. Fury-Boytsov would have been a really good fight between two contenders too but sadly it wasn't to be. The fact Price-Fury won't happen speaks volumes about the heavyweight division, a fight with huge interest between two of the top prospects/contenders in the HW division, yet it won't happen because they both just know they have to keep winning and eventually they'll both get seperate title shots.

 

[Scotty]

I don't think you can shove all the blame on the Klitschkos as you don't need to have a world title on the line to make exciting fights.

The problem is once guys are on the list of" possible opponents" for the brothers, they are pathetically matched until they get their payday. We could have Adamek v Fury, Arreola v Chisora, Price v Solis but we probably wont.

Look at the amount of unbeaten fighters in the Boxrec rankings that won't fight each other or dare I say fight another top 10 guy to actually earn their title shot.

1 Vitali Klitschko 1228 45(41)-2(2)-0
2 Wladimir Klitschko 1106 59(50)-3(3)-0
----------------------------------------------------
3 Kubrat Pulev 570 17(9)-0-0
4 Tomasz Adamek 567 48(29)-2(1)-0
5 David Haye 561 26(24)-2(1)-0
6 Alexander Povetkin 549 25(17)-0-0
7 Tyson Fury 487 20(14)-0-0
8 Odlanier Solis 441 18(12)-1(1)-0
9 Robert Helenius 432 18(11)-0-0
10 Johnathon Banks 420 29(19)-1(1)-1
11 Tony Thompson 385 36(24)-3(2)-0
12 Vyacheslav Glazkov 358 14(10)-0-0
13 David Price 338 15(13)-0-0

 

[O59]

Meh, it's lacking in the quality needed to create fighters good enough to hang with Wlad, but it's on the up. You've got men like Fury, Price, Glazkov, Pulev, Abdusalamov, etc. Coming up. Hopefully Wlad can beat Povetkin and Pulev in 2013, would be a good year for him if he did that. Then Price and Fury, followed by a well-earned retirement.