In a span of less than eight weeks, the prospects for a continued heavyweight rebirth in the post Tyson-Lewis era took two brutal body blows with the abrupt retirement of Vitali Klitschko and the recent twelve round points triumph secured by the new WBA Heavyweight Champion, Nikolay Valuev over the two-time titleholder John Ruiz.

If it wasn't for bad luck the heavyweight division would have no luck at all. With the ascension of Valuev, the retired Klitschko looks like Larry Holmes. Ruiz, a pretender champion on his best night, was muscled around the ring by the Russian giant, seeing an early points advantage wither away.

The decision was suspect, yet the final removal of Ruiz is the one clear benefit gained from the developments of the past two months. With the exception of his success against a long past prime Holyfield, Ruiz was the worst claimant of a portion of the heavyweight championship in ring history. Bar none, Marvin Hart and Leon Pinks notwithstanding, Ruiz was so inept that he would have struggled to occupy a spot in the top twenty 1970 contenders. At least with his size coupled with the slight possibility of an improvement in his ring skills, Valuev may be able to make a successful defense or two before his inevitable defrocking. [details (http://www.boxingscene.com/?m=show&id=2833)]

can someone tell this idiot that byrd holds a victory over vitali not wladimir, wladimir gave byrd a beating and won a one sided decision , this idiot thad made this article says that byrd holds victories over both klitschkos and that byrd is the best heavyweight, this article sucks....

can someone tell this idiot that byrd holds a victory over vitali not wladimir, wladimir gave byrd a beating and won a one sided decision , this idiot thad made this article says that byrd holds victories over both klitschkos and that byrd is the best heavyweight, this article sucks....

The guy made a mistake, no need to call him an idiot for it.

The guy made a mistake, no need to call him an idiot for it.

actually ppl in the forum, like us, make mistakes and they get insulted.

if a writer bases his article on a mistake, being insulted is the least he should expect.

Moreover, he does not even mention James Toney, to tell us how great a boxer chris byrd is, this reeks of agenda from a mile

People in the forum shouldn't be called idiots for making mistakes either.

I do admit the guy could have researched it better, but I'm willing to believe it was a typo.


Ah, the Hell with it - it was badly researched pap.

Maybe he shouldn't give up his day job. lol

why are people so pissed about the bum ruiz losing his title?

valuev just did the boxing world a huge service by removing one of the most undeserving, unskilled, unexciting, unworthy title holders ever.

im not saying valuev deserves the title either, but its glad to have ruiz gone from the championship picture.

yeah this article sucks a fat one. how the hell can you choose byrd out of all of them as the guy to step to the front, by his own admission he has a fight or two left before retirement.

i did like the use of the term "defrocking" when used in reference to valuevs surely short championship reign. thats something he can build on.

i really dont think pinklon thomas or mike weaver or tim witherspoon would be any more successful today than they were in their day, i cant see any of those guys beating brewster or klitschko and probably not toney, rahman or byrd either. i think this guy woke up on the wrong side of the bed...