By Tris Dixon
IT hasn’t always been about the dance partners in the heavyweight division.
Remember when Muhammad Ali took on comparative non-entities? Do you recall Larry Holmes cutting a swathe through Curly, Larry and Moe? And what about Mike Tyson bulldozing a set of listless contenders and fellow beltholders?
The B-side, even if they were almost C-side, were always far less worthy of consideration because the bouts were about the A-side. They were the selling point. They were the USP.
Yet without a great deal of intrigue, there was still plenty of interest. The heavyweight championship of the world was the greatest prize in sport. In all of sports. The king of the heavyweights was the king of sport, the flag bearer to all of those who fought, who ran, who jumped, who raced and who dared to be great. They were the alpha male.
And people paid to watch them. And in many cases they paid to only watch them. These were men renowned worldwide; feared, adored, admired and respected. You bought a ticket, signed up for a pay-per-view or tuned in to watch them regardless of whom they were fighting.
Times have changed.
While WBC heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder might be a star in Alabama, you could question his popularity further afield – certainly on the international scene.
When he stopped in the UK to spar ahead of his aborted fight with Alexander Povetkin last year, no one batted an eyelid.
Tyson and Ali, icons both – of course – stopped traffic. So too, many years before, did Sonny Liston.
Wilder simply has not had the traction or the fights to raise his profile to anywhere near where it has the potential to be. He’s charismatic, he can punch, he’s adored at home and he has a heartening backstory. He ticks so many boxes, yet seems to be a long way from crossing over into the mainstream.
Against the likes of Gerald Washington, whom he coasted against and then knocked out earlier in the year, he will never be able to take a step closer to that pinnacle of absolute stardom that the heavyweight champion of the world used to have. Regardless of who Tyson, Holmes and Ali fought – and latterly Lennox Lewis and Evander Holyfield – they could have drawn a decent crowd almost anywhere.
If Wilder’s backers were so sure he could, he would have had more fights in places like Las Vegas and New York. Instead, he’s been built at home with four of his last five fights in Birmingham.
Maybe it’s because the heavyweight division, for so long defined by American leaders, has upped sticks and moved to Europe in recent years. Maybe it’s because the focus on big-time boxing in Las Vegas shifted to the smaller guys; to Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao. Boxing hasn’t needed a big heavyweight scene in the US to host the big nights. And it doesn’t look like it’s about to start.
To draw big, really big, Wilder needs another A-sider, an Anthony Joshua, a Tyson Fury, possibly a Wladimir Klitschko.
Conversely, in the UK, IBF heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua scarcely needs a C-side to sell out a crowd. His tickets have been in the highest demand since he turned professional and the clamour to see ‘AJ’ live has only intensified as he’s progressed. It’s at a fever pitch, now, with 90,000 tickets sold to see him take on Klitschko in a huge heavyweight title fight on April 29 at Wembley Stadium, the home of English soccer.
“If the opportunity comes to fight in Vegas, then great,” he recently told Boxing Monthly. “But I’m not in a rush. I prefer boxing in the UK.”
But he’s been selling out lesser venues against far lesser foes, while amassing hundreds of thousands of par per views. He hasn’t needed big-name fighters or dangerous tests to create a buzz. He hasn’t even gone beyond seven rounds. His polished, manicured and highly professional set up has launched his brand into the stratosphere. Messrs Eddie Hearn, Frank Smith (Matchroom’s Head of Boxing), Freddie Cunningham (Joshua’s commercial manager), Seyi Alabi (director of AJ Boxing Management) and Anthony Leaver (Matchroom’s PR man) have created an out of the ring juggernaut, which will only be maintained if Joshua maintains his destructive ways in the ring.
Less than five years from striking gold at the London Olympics – and less than four years after turning pro, his stock is booming. He’s even well-recognised in the US. The Joshua-Klitschko press conference drew significant interest in sports sections. HBO and Showtime have been waging war behind the scenes to land Joshua-Klitschko and the Londoner’s tie in with sports clothing giants Under Armour has seen his face land in the window of sports shops around the world. He’s had 20 fights fewer than Wilder, who won bronze the Beijing Olympics in 2008.
There is speculation that Wilder will be ringside in Wembley to cover the fight for Sky Sports. It may sound harsh, but he will get a ringside seat to see what it’s like to be at a real heavyweight title fight; one that generates interest around the world, one where the winner is not guaranteed (even though many will, and should, have Joshua as the favourite) and one that will mean the victor will not be so concerned about who lands on the B-side in future fights, because their spot on the A-side, and in the consciousness of sports fans around the world, has been assured.