Is the heavyweight division in America dead?

All the money prospects are in the Middle East now, so I don't see any more big fights being held in Vegas or MSG for many months to come.

Let's just admit the UK is the main Mecca of heavyweight boxing currently. The Saudis will eventually get out of it. I have worked there and their main sport is soccer. You'd see them dancing in the streets and honking their cars in the middle of the night when their team wins.

The HW needs another Mike Tyson.

HW is dead in the US, but not in Europe. The Saudi Oil Money exacerbated the problem.

Fox Sports had a trial run for 2 years and they eventually quit boxing last year. In their last year, they took over Wilder's last fights when Showtime was no longer able to afford carrying them. Now that both networks exited boxing, HW in America seems even bleaker than ever.

Frank "The Dancing Star" Sanchez can't possibly resurrect the division. The guy is boring to watch with all that posing, switching poles, disengaging... oh man. He's not even American.

Ya even Jared Anderson is saying stuff like he wants to retire at 17. Maybe Torres can do something. Those 2 are the best hope going forward.

Any chance at all Wilder who is getting paid $20 million per fight, according to dubious sources, able to resurrect the heavyweight division in America? Is Wilder vs Ruiz truly dead?

When will we have that kind of event in Vegas? That was some star-studded event is that part of the globe. The Saudi leaders seem to be hell-vent on changing their cultural landscape.

When will we have that kind of event in Vegas?

Do you guys know that Zhang -Joyce rematch was the only fight at hw in 2023 with both guys entering the fight as top 10 by the Ring?

Unless there's some 6'5 Mexican American with talent n power n a chin out there then yeah it is. Most Americans view MMA over boxing all honesty added in more importantly if your 64 or taller in American your probably trying another sport football or basketball where you can land a scholarship to college just of size n if your good can go pro make more than you would boxing unless your the #1 p4p boxer. So it pays off shh you don't make it big you get free college at a real university shh you can't get from combat sport. If your elite you'll make more. If your avg you'll make more like kennard (NBA avg player at best) makes 15m a yr wilder doesn't make 15m a yr now if your elite your making 60m a yr +better endorsement deals look @ mahomes Jordan LeBron. Any boxer not named Mayweather could only dream of touching LeBron $ but LeBron eclipses Mayweather in wealth

There are only 1,504 rostered players in the NFL, 903 in the NHL, 750 in MLB and 450 in the NBA. Leaving it limited to those 4 sports, thats only 3,607 great athletes that those team sports are "stealing away" from the athlete/fighter talent pool. With 8,061,550,000 living people, there's bound to be some left over who can fight better than they can play Football. Moreover, if Marc Gastineau, Budda Paris, Too Tall Jones, Lyle Alzado, Ray Edwards, LaVeon Bell, Adam Braidwood, Tex Hamer, Mike Balogun, Alonzo Highsmith, Eddie Blake, Tony Faeth, Tom Zbikowski, Jack Torrance, Ray Richards, Earl Nolan, Al Nesser, Leif Larsen, Craig Wolfley and George Linberger are any indication of how those guys would do; boxing isn't missing a thing. In Boxing, being a great athlete is vitally important, but being a great natural fighter matters 10 times more. A soft, pasty scrapper beating the snots out of a perfect beach physique....if I had a nickel for every time I've seen it. ​ I would say Larsen was the best of the bunch and he was ways off from a true contender. One thing though all of these guys less Tommy Z. started boxing post NFL and who knows what was left physically.

Of course it's dead, didn't you just witness the American champ Wilder get spanked 3x by Fury? And it will be dead for a long ass time unless another guy the same size as Fury, or bigger, arrives.

Muhammad Ali was a global star in pre-internet era. He had fights in USA, Germany, Philippines, Perto Rico, Zaire, Malaysia... Today, in internet era, Wilder and Joshua are pretty much known only in Europe and USA. The division needs popularization and globalization. We should get Joshua - Bakole somewhere in Africa, Fury -Zhang in China, Wallin -Hrgovic can be made in England/Sweden/Germany or Croatia, we should get for example Wilder -Makhmudov in Canada. These are only examples. Much more could have been done for the division. Good point. Nowadays leaving home and fighting abroad is a huge deal with American boxers and their fans. You both have good points but one reason could be that since people are now only after the money, the money is no longer there in these international locations. Saudi's putting in the money so they are moving there whoever gets the chance. Is anyone willing to put up the money for a Joshua-Bakole fight in Africa? or will it be a commercial disaster? Is China giving a site fee for Fury-Zhang? most Western media won't broadcast in China and vice-versa. Does Canada generate interest and money for Wilder-Makhmudov? Remember that in those days, boxing was a thing which is why Kinshasa and Manila were willing to host the fights. Post the pandemic and global inflation, I think even the US and the UK won't generate as much money as before. It will take time for boxers to start demanding reasonable fees or boxing will die down slowly. For the moment, only the Saudi money will make some of the big fights but without these being made on home soil, the interest will be less.

The US needs a Tyson Fury and a few good HWs to rekindle the interest of the common folk. Right now, they have only Wilder and he too is almost done with boxing and wasn't as good as Fury (both boxing and promoting wise) to begin with. Right now, it is almost dead. The good thing is that the HW division is the most interesting division in the sport so whenever a few guys come along, the interest can easily be rekindled. Looking right now, the new generation of HW boxers does not look promising even internationally once the current top 4 guys (Fury, Usyk, Wilder, and Joshua) retire. I am not only talking about boxing skills but also the charisma and self-promotion.

Muhammad Ali was a global star in pre-internet era. He had fights in USA, Germany, Philippines, Perto Rico, Zaire, Malaysia... Today, in internet era, Wilder and Joshua are pretty much known only in Europe and USA. The division needs popularization and globalization. We should get Joshua - Bakole somewhere in Africa, Fury -Zhang in China, Wallin -Hrgovic can be made in England/Sweden/Germany or Croatia, we should get for example Wilder -Makhmudov in Canada. These are only examples. Much more could have been done for the division. Good point. Nowadays leaving home and fighting abroad is a huge deal with American boxers and their fans.

Muhammad Ali was a global star in pre-internet era. He had fights in USA, Germany, Philippines, Perto Rico, Zaire, Malaysia... Today, in internet era, Wilder and Joshua are pretty much known only in Europe and USA. The division needs popularization and globalization. We should get Joshua - Bakole somewhere in Africa, Fury -Zhang in China, Wallin -Hrgovic can be made in England/Sweden/Germany or Croatia, we should get for example Wilder -Makhmudov in Canada. These are only examples. Much more could have been done for the division.

Frank Sanchez vs Charles Martin would be fine with me. As opposed to the usual Frank Sanchez vs TBD (to be decided), TBA (to be announced) showcase fights.

Any upcoming heavyweight fight you see happening in the US that could at least have a semblance of it's still breathing?