No Heavyweight Title Unification in Sight

[jaws]

If Wlad wanted to make any kind of statement or pull at a legacy beyond physical talent and a suspet chin, he should go out of his way to unify. Ibragimov, Maskaev, Chagaev may be the three worst HW champions in history (besides Briggs) and bringing clarity to the division can't be a bad thing for the sport, or for Wlad's mainstream pull either

[Feint]

ESPN reports that Ibragimov's handlers have mentioned either Brock or Holyfield could be possible first opponents for him.

[Steelhammer86]

If Wlad wanted to make any kind of statement or pull at a legacy beyond physical talent and a suspet chin, he should go out of his way to unify. Ibragimov, Maskaev, Chagaev may be the three worst HW champions in history (besides Briggs) and bringing clarity to the division can't be a bad thing for the sport, or for Wlad's mainstream pull either

I think Chagaev is a genuine top heavyweight, as we'll see in his title defenses, although he's a tad small. Ibragimov is a decent fighter, but not top notch. Maskaev is actually very good, and might have been a great one, but he started too late as a pro. His early losses came as a result of moving up too fast (his 7th fight was with Oliver McCall and he was KOed) but he later improved greatly and has won 12 in a row against mostly decent opposition.

There's been far worse heavyweight titleholders than those three, such as Ruiz, Akinwande, Briggs and Hide, to name a few. The division is much better now than it was a few years ago, but some people are reluctant to accept non-Americans as the top fighters and so complain about it being bad. It will likely continue to improve, with talented young boxers such as Boytsov, Dimitrenko, Platov and Povetkin coming up.

[Steelhammer86]

ESPN reports that Ibragimov's handlers have mentioned either Brock or Holyfield could be possible first opponents for him.

There's an WBO eliminator scheduled for July to determine Ibragimov's mandatory, between Thompson and Krasniqi. Sultan has a good chance against either of those two. For his voluntary defense, either Brock or Holyfield would be an interesting choices. I think Calvin Brock would be the most likely to defeat Ibragimov, so he wouldn't be a wise choice as a voluntary defense.

[jaws]

I think Chagaev is a genuine top heavyweight, as we'll see in his title defenses, although he's a tad small. Ibragimov is a decent fighter, but not top notch. Maskaev is actually very good, and might have been a great one, but he started too late as a pro. His early losses came as a result of moving up too fast (his 7th fight was with Oliver McCall and he was KOed) but he later improved greatly and has won 12 in a row against mostly decent opposition.

There's been far worse heavyweight titleholders than those three, such as Ruiz, Akinwande, Briggs and Hide, to name a few. The division is much better now than it was a few years ago, but some people are reluctant to accept non-Americans as the top fighters and so complain about it being bad. It will likely continue to improve, with talented young boxers such as Boytsov, Dimitrenko, Platov and Povetkin coming up.

Well we'll have to agree to disagree about Maskaev. History and the future will tell us that he is a decent fighter with average skills and a bad chin. Chagaev fought Ruiz evenly IMO, and Ruiz is certainly not one of the worst HW champions, he does fight like a disgusting Judo lover, but he is effective and has some quality wins.

Ibragimov does nothing out of the ordinary. He has average power, average hand speed, but he's champ because Shannon Briggs is worse than he is. Besides Klitschko the division is extremely poor, regardless of what up and coming talent may get here soon

[Steelhammer86]

Well we'll have to agree to disagree about Maskaev. History and the future will tell us that he is a decent fighter with average skills and a bad chin. Chagaev fought Ruiz evenly IMO, and Ruiz is certainly not one of the worst HW champions, he does fight like a disgusting Judo lover, but he is effective and has some quality wins.

Ibragimov does nothing out of the ordinary. He has average power, average hand speed, but he's champ because Shannon Briggs is worse than he is. Besides Klitschko the division is extremely poor, regardless of what up and coming talent may get here soon

Chagaev decisively defeated Ruiz, even John acknowledged it, although he didn't acknowledge his loss to Valuev (which actually was close fight). One Hispanic judge was biased in favor of Ruiz so the Chagaev fight became an official SD. After the fight with Chagaev, Ruiz correctly predicted Chagaev would defeat Valuev.

Ibragimov actually has above average hand speed and power, he's not a superstar but he's well above average.

I just wish everyone would be good sports and give the current titleholders credit for being as good as they really are. I'm sick of people saying how bad the heavyweight division is, but if it was 4 Americans there, the same people would say it's great! There will be even more negativity about the division now that there's not even one American titleholder...

[-Antonio-]

Chagaev is legit. He is a good fighter.

Matter of fact every heavyweight titlist right now is a skilled fighter imo.

[damian5000]

I think there's more politics involved than a boxer just wanting to fight a boxer from another organization. It sounds like you guys think the boxers themselves can just decide to unify the titles.

[duffgun]

I think Ibragimov will fight brock next, brock was gonna step in if briggs pulled out.

[Steelhammer86]

I think Ibragimov will fight brock next, brock was gonna step in if briggs pulled out.

Calvin Brock is MUCH better than Briggs, and would have a very good chance of defeating Ibragimov and taking the WBO title. Some people underrate Calvin because of the loss to Wlad, but he's one of the top five heavyweights.