By Tom Donelson
It is conventional wisdom that today’s heavyweights are the worst in the history of the sport. Boxing historian Bert Sugar and others have repeatedly written that they have not witnessed a greater display of mediocrity. I, for one, will agree that this division is not best, but the Heavyweight division has gone through similar periods in the past. There have been times in boxing history that the division has been just as weak, if not weaker.
Let’s take the 1930’s. While “Cinderella Man” brought back pleasant memories of boxing in the 1930’s and the courageous fighter James J. Braddock, the reality was that the 1930’s were a weak period for the heavyweights. The reason was two fold:
There was no dominant superstar that took control of the division in the periods between 1929 and 1937. The champions that reigned were good fighters, but not great fighters. Max Baer, Max Schmeling, Jack Sharkey, and Primo Carnera all had skills, but no one is going to mistake them for Joe Louis or Muhammad Ali.
Even the beginning of the Joe Louis era hid a division that was lacking in depth underneath the top. Joe Louis ripped through the division so easily that sport reporters at the time called it the Louis “Bum of the Month “club.
Louis fought some good fighters, but the heavyweight division during the Louis era was nowhere near as deep as the late 60’s and the 70’s. And Louis toughest fights, until near the end of his reign, were with Jersey Joe Walcott and Billy Conn, a light heavyweight. Conn was an excellent fighter in his own right but it is still a historical fact that a light heavyweight came the closet to taking Louis’ crown before Louis went into the Army during World War II.
When Jim Jefferies retired, many pundits criticized the state of the heavyweights that followed. Tommy Burns has never received his full due as a noble champion. Burns’ greatest claim is not the dozen or so championship bouts that he won over a two-year period of his reign but the fight that he lost, to Jack Johnson. Interestingly, Jack Johnson fought in an era that was not any deeper than what Tommy Burns conquered but no one will ever criticize the Johnson era in the same way that many criticized the Burns era.
One of the biggest problems that face today’s heavyweights is that the present era followed an excellent era for heavyweights with some colorful characters that had some great talent at the top. The 90’s featured some great fighters who would rank with the all time greats. Evander Holyfield, Lennox Lewis and Riddick Bowe would have been competitive in any era and Mike Tyson was the biggest draw in heavyweight history. Tyson’s charisma and skills defined the era. When Lewis and Holyfield defeated Tyson, they secured their own place in history and some very nice paydays.
While the 90’s did not compare to Ali’s era, it certainly would have compared to other eras for both its depth of quality fighters at the top. Presently, there are good fighters on the top, but no one who can match the 90’s in either skills or charisma.
The second biggest factor that works against this era is the array of championship belts. The present division is fragmented and no one knows who’s really the champ. Without a single recognized champ on top, it is difficult for one fighter to take hold of the public’s imagination. And there is one man responsible for this sad state of affairs, Don King. King controls the entire heavyweight championship arena, but one day when King allows even his own champions to fight one another; we can at least eliminate a few paper champions from the mix. As long as Byrd, Ruiz and Brewster hold their own titles, then confusion reigns. At least King can match up Byrd with either Ruiz or Brewster and begin the process of uniting some of the titles and allow one of these men to establish themselves as “the man”.
While Vitali Klitschko remains outside of King’s grasp, King will never allow any of his fighters to compete against the Ukrainian giant. As long as none of the champions attempt to unite the title, the heavyweight division remains a muddle and the reputation for mediocrity continues.
Often as years go by, history offers a different story. When Primo Carnera was the heavyweight champion, there were pundits who felt that Carnera was too dangerous for many of the other heavyweights in the division because of his size. Today, we view Carnera as one of the division’s weaker champions. When he fought Joe Louis in 1935, he was the betting favorite to destroy the smaller Louis. We know how that one turned out.
When Joe Louis retired, most boxing historians rated him below Jack Dempsey. Today, the opposite is the consensus. When Ali was at his peak in the late 60’s, very few boxing historians considered Ali a top ten all time great, but now most boxing historians rank Ali as one of the greatest heavyweights, comparable to any heavyweight in history.
The history of this era is still being written and who knows what will transpire. Maybe Calvin Brock or Samuel Peter will put their imprint on this era and we will look back at this time period as either the Brock or Peters era. If Peter is as good as many believe, he may be the one who will put the word “great” back into the division.
Today’s era is not one of the heavyweight divisions’ best, but there have been other eras that historically at the time were downgraded before history wrote its final chapter. Joe Louis had his bum of the month and the 1930’s were a revolving door of heavyweights exchanging the championship. Tommy Burns was considered the King of a mediocre group but the talent during his reign was not much different from the era that Jack Johnson dominated.
It should be noted that Johnson excluded many of the better black fighters from championship contention due to financial and competitive reasons. This certainly reduced the depth of the division during his reign. With many outstanding fighters like Sam McVey and Sam Langford not allowed to compete for a heavyweight title, the division was weakened considerably.
It is fashionable to rip today’s heavyweights but history may show that this era was merely going through a transitional period from one set of great heavyweights to another. The final chapter has not been written and maybe the chief maestro behind the heavyweight division, Don King, will match his champions against one another in order to move the division forward.
