IMO, the Heavyweight division is REALLY holding the spor back. thoughts?

3 years ago Lennox Lewis retired and the Heavyweight division officially sucked. But before that, all your heavyweight stars were fading. Tyson, Holyfield, Bowe, Golata a bit later. So about 7 years ago u know, we all talked with our friends and stuff about how we hoped boxing looked in a decade. Well, IMO, this is how i hoped boxing would look below the heavyweight division. A decently talented Cruiserweight division, that is probably among the most exciting, fun, and interesting divisions in boxing. Mormeck and Bell have produced 2 of the most exciting fights of the last 2 years. Throw Wilson, Banks, Macc, Haye, and cunningham into the mix... (B-) A much more talented Light Heavyweight division then was the case in 2000. Hopkins moved up and is still fighting. Chad Dawson is coming up and he seems great. The division is still old and obviously needs work. But it can still produce big fights and interesting matchups. (C+) The supermiddleweight division is very deep. Calzaghe is fight Kessler, Lacy is still around. Andrade is always exciting, allan green is still good, lucian bute is on his way up, and sakio biki who is on the bottom of the top 10 is still fun to watch. And Edison Miranda has plans to move to this division. (A) The Middleweight division is GREAT, especially considering the weak, empty division we had years back. Pavlik and taylor are fighting, Winky Wright plans to return, Arthur Abraham is very good. Sturm and Castillejo are good fighters. Sam soliman and Mora are at least entertaining, if not good fighters. (B+) The Junior Middleweight division is weak. Mayweather is down at Welterweight again, as is Oscar De La Hoya. Kassim Ouma is moving up i think to fight mora. Ike Quarey is also moving down to welterweight... so this division is practically deserted, and much worse then it was in years past. (C-) The Welterweight division is absolutely LOADED. DLH, Mayweather, and Quartey all have plans to move down to this division, and hatton with a one fight plan to move up. Cotto is good and exciting, williams is good and exciting, margarito is good and exciting, cintron is good and exciting, clottey is good and exciting. If Zab Judah cant make it in the division, you must know its stacked. (A+) The Junior Welterweight division is great, probably the most underrated division in boxing. Hatton moving up for only one fight to fight mayweather. But even if he left you have Witter, harris, Ndou, Lazcano, D.hop, Holt, and Ngoudjo. May not be teh most talented division, but thats a very exciting division. (B-) The Lightweights. Probably my favorite division in boxing. Joel Casamayor is a great fighter. You have future superstars in there, like Juan Diaz, Mickael Katsidis, and Anthony peterson. And great fighters like Campbell and kid diamond. but you also have Zaheer Rahim, which brings it down a point! lol (A-) Jr. Lightweights. Another GREAT division with some of boxings brightest starts. manny pacquiao, JMM, Barrera, Guzman, Valero, Barrios, Soto... Just a great division (A) The Featherweight division is also pretty good. It invites anybody from the Junior Featherweight division to move up for some good money fights. Chris John, Robert Guerrero, Jorge Solis, Jorge Linares, and Rocky Juarez. (B-) The Junior Featherweight division just held the best fight this year, and a third one that promises to be just as good if not better. Israel Vazquez, Rafael Marquez, Somsak, Ponce De Leon, Bautista, and Manuel Medina. (B) Below that there are some great fighters. Like Edgar Sosa, Ulises Solis, Brian Vilaria, Omar Nino, Donaire, Martin Castillo, Cristian Mijares, Ivan Calderon... etc. A whole bunch of unkowns and bad fighters in the mix though (C+) But the Heavyweight division i would grade the WORST. I would give it maybe a (D) if i was nice. The up and coming heavyweights may be exciting, but none are particularly talented and lets me honest, how much of a chance do they really stand agains the 7 foot giants the division holds at the top. I cant stand the Heavyweight division, its most talented fighter, wlad klitschko, is no where near exciting and isnt all that talented either! And considering the fact that the Heavyweight division is like the leadrole in a play, and takes that spotlight with it whereever it goes, Boxing is be brought down because of this division. If its ever repaired, which may take decades, and the divisions below it are as good as the are now, how could boxing not be back? below the heavyweight division, boxing is what it should be, as the best are now starting to fight the best

Comments (20)

Haven't really followed the Heavy's since Evander and Tyson. How many champions to these muthaphuckas have, 12?

18y ago

XionComrade

Man Boxing isn't going nowhere, MMA can't take it over because that shit is annoyingly boring. The heavyweights are doing great, they work hard and their is good potential in that division, stop all of this crazy talk!

18y ago

Thoth

There's so much hate in this thread I love it. You know i'm kind of glad the heavyweight division hasn't recieved the attention people think it "deserves". IMO people are watching the heavies for KO's, plain and simple. And while a KO is sweet as hell, i'll take a brutal 12 rounder at bantamweight anyday. In the immortal words of William Munny: "Deserves got nothin to do with it." The smaller guys have always been more talented and they tend to fight harder as well. The majority of the public is still boggled over Mike Tyson anyway. Oh what could have been... hah!

18y ago

_Mr_Soprano

I don't know why you hate Wlad. He's got the best jab in all of boxing, by a fucking mile, and KO power in both hands, and terrific handspeed, and he improves with every fight. Chagaev is the best pure boxer for a natural superheavy in a LONG LONG time. Peter is a fucking monster, and contrary to popular misconception, not a crude brawler. Povetkin is a good boxer that can beat anybody other than the above-named. Ibragimov is interesting, although very vulnerable. Boytsov is the most talented small HW to come along since . . . . . I won't say I'm a bit late into the thread.. and I stoped reading here (second post) great post! Enough said :friday:

18y ago

Thunder_Lips

I thought Brock/Wlad was a decent fight. Not an all time classic but much better than my initial expectations. Brock fought a smart fight and stretched things as far as he could before Wlad's superior talents and power overwhelmed him. Good action, fairly competitive in the early rounds, and a great knock out. Not a bad fight at all in my book. People shit on Brock all the time now but he was really a good fighter that hopefully isn't completely done. Hell, Chag/Valuev actually had some decent exchanges and was fairly competitive. Not a bad fight either.

18y ago

Kball15

If no one else will admit it, I will. I haven't been interested in the heavies since Lewis retired. He's not American, but he's black. I do like Klitschko, but not nearly enough to buy a PPV. Americans need their own heavies to root for and most of them are not competitive on the world stage. Right now the white, Euro's are running things in the heavy division and try as I might I'm just not that excited. Anyone who say's race and nationality has nothing to with people complaining is fooling themselves. Personally, I find the Euro's talented, but boring. Maybe, its because we don't get the coverage and interviews of Euro heavies? The BOLD part is the reason im not into the heavies. nothing to do with race. My favorite fighters are white, Ricky Hatton. I like Vazquez and Mormeck. Both different races then me. Hell, i even like Ibragimov a bit for what its worth. But the last exciting heavyweight fight was Brewster-Lyko, and before that what? Lewis-V.Klitschko? Good heavyweight fights are unlike any other fight. They are awsome. But they are few and far between these days

18y ago

rudement

its very true that most of the athletes are going to other sports. Boxing isnt near the same money maker it used to be....Why would athletes want to get punched in the head when they can throw a football and get insane endorsment deals.... + in highschool and hell even junior high in most schools there are football programs/basketball whatever but do you see boxing programs? Football players make alot more money than boxers do now except a few superstars in boxing perhaps, but people get reebook shoe deals or whatever and in boxing they get everlast deals and you tell me what sells more to the average person....is that simple MONEY is what it is all about to people and it has always been... Boxers along time ago made alot more $ than football players then made, hell football didnt start getting really big till probably the late 80's to now

18y ago

Antonio

Yes it is. I dont think the division is as bad as most people say, and I do think the top guys are talented. Its just not deep at all. After the top six or seven guys the talent level drops drastically. There is rarely any entertaining bouts, and I can count the amount of great fights I've seen over the past two years on one hand.

18y ago

oldgringo

There are several reasons why the division is average. If the fighter is supremely talented, he's a puss and doesn't engage his opponent (ala Wlad who really doesn't need to because of his disgusting size advantages). If he's somewhat talented and will risk trading leather, he's inconsistent and looks good against the middling sorts (Ibragimov, Lyakhovich). If he is a monster with a big punch, he is crude, lacks activity or just flat out sucks (Sam Peter, sucking referring to Briggs exclusively). After that it seems like there is just let down after let down in the match making process. I'd actually leave Wlad out of this conversation of match making because he has fought 3 of the bigger names in the division as of late in Peter, Byrd and Brewster. The fans still want to see exciting TITLE fights (uhh, the last exciting HW fights on any level were Minto/Maddalone, Toney/Peter I and Brewster/Lyakhovich:( ). Wlad jabbing someone to death for 6 rounds and then blowing them away with a right hand is nice for HIS fans, but it sucks for everyone else. Ibragimov/Briggs, Chagaev/Caveman, Maskaev/Rahman II, Wlad/Austin, Wlad/Brewster, Lyakhovich/Briggs...I mean all of them just flat out blew goats. I guess we just have to wait and hope some of these champs start taking each other on. One can only hope.

18y ago

toyboy33

Heh, it's obvious Wlad is ducking the new savious of american HW scene --- Holyfield. Hahaha I wont even throw my e-cash away on a Holyfield winning against Vlad bet. Vlad wins by assault on the elderly.

18y ago

Ironside

Heh, it's obvious Wlad is ducking the new savious of american HW scene --- Holyfield.Haha, good one.

18y ago

kayjay

If no one else will admit it, I will. I haven't been interested in the heavies since Lewis retired. He's not American, but he's black. I do like Klitschko, but not nearly enough to buy a PPV. Americans need their own heavies to root for and most of them are not competitive on the world stage. Right now the white, Euro's are running things in the heavy division and try as I might I'm just not that excited. Anyone who say's race and nationality has nothing to with people complaining is fooling themselves. Personally, I find the Euro's talented, but boring. Maybe, its because we don't get the coverage and interviews of Euro heavies? Thanks for your opinion and your honesty, toyboy. A lot of our regulars think like you do but don't have the balls to say it (even to themselves). They're self-hating whites and naively racist blacks. I spit on pussies like that. But an honest man who can admit his prejudices, him I accept. I've no problem with your view. If you're gonna be a racist or a xenophobe just say what you think, don't pussy-foot around like so many of these bitches do. You know who you are if I'm talking about you.

18y ago

toyboy33

18y ago

beez721

such good points. If they were just terrible, that would be one thing. But the fact that they're terrible AND don't want to unify makes it downright embarrassing. My friends who don't watch boxing seriously laugh at the heavyweight division. They don't give a shit who the champs are. They see Wlad fight and they leave laughing. It's downright embarrassing right now. yea,,,,I've found myself doing the same thing lately after watching him destroy 2 guys in a row with just one hand. best left hand in the biz bar none :boxing:

18y ago

Ironside

my thoughts exactly. YOu can appreciate a talentless fool who tries his hardest to do whats best for his sport, then a guy with all the talent in the world but avoids the best fighters and doesnt unify... ALL THE WHILE talking about fighting the best and wanting to unify I hope you're not talking about Wlad, he's made the best matchups he could, how does he avoid the best fighters, according to most people, Peter is #2 and he already fought and beat him, Wlad just came out of a fight and all of the other belt-holding champs have their own fights to worry about, there is nothing Wlad can do right now about unifying.

18y ago

Kball15

such good points. If they were just terrible, that would be one thing. But the fact that they're terrible AND don't want to unify makes it downright embarrassing. My friends who don't watch boxing seriously laugh at the heavyweight division. They don't give a shit who the champs are. They see Wlad fight and they leave laughing. It's downright embarrassing right now. my thoughts exactly. YOu can appreciate a talentless fool who tries his hardest to do whats best for his sport, then a guy with all the talent in the world but avoids the best fighters and doesnt unify... ALL THE WHILE talking about fighting the best and wanting to unify

18y ago

DiegoFuego

it amazes me how at least 75%+ of these posters that are all negative about the heavyweight division are black. hmmm,,,,get over it people :bottle: how do you know they're black?

18y ago

DiegoFuego

no reason? what reason IS there to appreciate the heavyweights when NONE of them seem to want to unify or improve the division or the sport. What positivie thing have todays heavyweights done for boxing? The most positive thing was when Lamon Brewster knocked out Wladimir Klitschko, and then gave us an awsome fight with Lyko a few years later. such good points. If they were just terrible, that would be one thing. But the fact that they're terrible AND don't want to unify makes it downright embarrassing. My friends who don't watch boxing seriously laugh at the heavyweight division. They don't give a shit who the champs are. They see Wlad fight and they leave laughing. It's downright embarrassing right now.

18y ago

adamk1304

not the best boxers, but ull certainly find the best athletes in soccer over in europe. thats a fact. And we're talking heavyweights, soccer players are much to small to be heavyweights. NFL starts are regularly over 200 pounds most centre-backs are 6ft/200lbs plus.

18y ago

DrDepravity

It seems that most of us expect one dominant guy at Heavyweight, so that in itself my be hard for the fair weather fan to get his / her head around. But the competition in the Welterweight division should more than make up for it. Really this is a great time in that division for the sport. Its a shame more potential fans don't get to see them fight.

18y ago