Current Heavyweights - The Era With No Name

[BadNewz]

In the land of bums, one bum has to be king by default. Heavyweight boxing is like one of those joke sports, like luge or ski jumping. Don't make me laugh by suggesting that any of these guys are elite athletes -- if they were, they wouldn't be boxing. Can you imagine Wlad on the court trying to guard LeBron, or on the gridiron trying to block someone like Jason Taylor or Osi Umenyiora? It makes me snicker just thinking about it.

[-Swizzy-]

By Troy Ondrizek - As with everything in life whether it is a dynasty or a boxing division, the person or entity in charge at that time, has the period or era named after them. We have the Ming dynasty and the era of Ali for example. However, the current heavyweights have no champion and haven’t since Lennox Lewis. Yes, a fact disclosed by scribes more often then the Bush Administration mentioned that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction. So why mention this again? Honestly, I’m tired of Wladimir Klitschko (the division’s number one contender) fighting fights that don’t matter.

Don’t get me wrong, I like Tony Thompson, he is a skilled smart fighter, but he isn’t a good enough fighter or ranked high enough to make this a real world title fight. Wladimir talks of being the best and being a great champion, and he isn’t the only one, but the heavyweights as a whole seem to want to be great but run when the chance arises. The heavyweight division is a walking contradiction. Thus we are at this point where the heavyweights have no name. [details]

Other than Haye deserving a shot at wlad right away, I agree with everything in this article. great spot on article IMO.

[Mr. Ryan]

I don't think I'd include Marciano amongst the Greats. All he had was an unbeaten mafia directed record against no-hopers and WELL-over-the-hills former greats. He isn't nearly on the same level as the others in your mentioned group, and Larry Holmes' 48-0 (before Spinks) was infinitely suiperior without being a Universal Champ. This writer is a "linear " nut, when in fact, the LINEAL champions are often not worth much. Look at Carlos baldomir, in recent days, for example.

It's the Fighter who makes the belt worthy, not the opposite. Calzaghe has been recognised as the Champ for years, holding only the WBO belt, and there are many other examples. Klitschko's quality is what makes him THE Champion, not just "A"Champion. And, although the writer harps on his weak chin, it only showed "weak" against Sanders when he kept getting up, even though Sanders was helped by massive butts. As for the Brewster fight, theres' no doubt that Klitschko had a medical condition that night. When he fought Peter, he took quite a few solid right hands square on the button, without even blinking......

There is no proof that Marciano had any connections to the mafia. Just because he was Italian that doesn't mean he was mobbed up.

Medical condition? I can name a bunch of recent fighters who had "medical conditions" when they lost.

I'm not going to argue with ardent Klitschko fans because you really can't. I just wanted to present the otherside of the coin.

[Mike Tyson77]

In the land of bums, one bum has to be king by default. Heavyweight boxing is like one of those joke sports, like luge or ski jumping. Don't make me laugh by suggesting that any of these guys are elite athletes -- if they were, they wouldn't be boxing. Can you imagine Wlad on the court trying to guard LeBron, or on the gridiron trying to block someone like Jason Taylor or Osi Umenyiora? It makes me snicker just thinking about it.

Can you imagine those guys trying to fight Wlad? Wlad would put them into a coma with a light jab. They are ***** little ****s that couldnt last 1 minuet in the ring with Wlad.

[HeartAttack]

I don't think I'd include Marciano amongst the Greats. All he had was an unbeaten mafia directed record against no-hopers and WELL-over-the-hills former greats. He isn't nearly on the same level as the others in your mentioned group, and Larry Holmes' 48-0 (before Spinks) was infinitely suiperior without being a Universal Champ. This writer is a "linear " nut, when in fact, the LINEAL champions are often not worth much. Look at Carlos baldomir, in recent days, for example.

It's the Fighter who makes the belt worthy, not the opposite. Calzaghe has been recognised as the Champ for years, holding only the WBO belt, and there are many other examples. Klitschko's quality is what makes him THE Champion, not just "A"Champion. And, although the writer harps on his weak chin, it only showed "weak" against Sanders when he kept getting up, even though Sanders was helped by massive butts. As for the Brewster fight, theres' no doubt that Klitschko had a medical condition that night. When he fought Peter, he took quite a few solid right hands square on the button, without even blinking......

The champion isn't always the best fighter. I.E. Carlos Baldomir, that fact just reinstates that on any given night a fighter is vulnerable. The fact that Baldomir was once a linear (lineal is the same thing) champion doesn't dimminish there being champions. Sanctioning bodies diminish the sport period. proof positive, I asked my local paper if I could write boxing for them (sine they don't cover it at all) and they said no. Not because of my writing abilities (they brought me on to write about major League Baseball and College Football) but they said there is too much confusion about who the champs are and that there are too many mismatches. Those are directly the result of sanctioning bodies. So what if Joe Calzaghe held teh WBO belt for years and for a lengthy period was considered the best in the division, not many people knew about Calzaghe until he fought for the recognized world title against Jeff Lacy. After he thrashed lacy, and beat Kessler and then Hopkins, Calzaghe was eve mentioned today on ESPN's Pardon the Interruption. Where Dan Lebotard stated he wanted to see more Joey C and could care less about Roy Jones. Calzaghe NEVER got that rep until he fought and became THe world champion. Klitschko's qualities means he SHOULD be the world champion and make no mistake about it, I would bet on him against any heavyweight out there, but he needs to fight Samuel Peter or Ruslan Chagaev (if Chagaev's body allows it) or whomever the number 2 or 3 heavyweight is at the time. Until then he wallows in a championless era and will be judges as such as time progresses.

[Thunder Lips]

I don't think I'd include Marciano amongst the Greats. All he had was an unbeaten mafia directed record against no-hopers and WELL-over-the-hills former greats. He isn't nearly on the same level as the others in your mentioned group, and Larry Holmes' 48-0 (before Spinks) was infinitely suiperior without being a Universal Champ.
.....

Maricano was one of the more well known champions in history and is often ranked as an all time great. Get over it.

You can just as easily rip Holmes' pre comeback record. How old and over the hill were Shavers, Norton, and Ali? Were Witherspoon, Cooney, Carl Williams, Cobb, and Weaver really great contenders?

I personally rank Holmes resume over Marciano's but you can criticize both. Holmes was not a beloved heavyweight in his heyday as many thought he was dominating a weak division...well that sounds familiar doesn't it?

The mafia protected stuff is just ****tarded, Marciano wasn't exactly considered a great prospect coming up and noone took him seriously as he was undersized, clumsy, and ****** up with career threatening injuires before he even turned pro. He wasn't even the thought of as the white hope, Rex Layne was until Marciano laid him out.

[WLAD OWNS]

In the land of bums, one bum has to be king by default. Heavyweight boxing is like one of those joke sports, like luge or ski jumping. Don't make me laugh by suggesting that any of these guys are elite athletes -- if they were, they wouldn't be boxing. Can you imagine Wlad on the court trying to guard LeBron, or on the gridiron trying to block someone like Jason Taylor or Osi Umenyiora? It makes me snicker just thinking about it.

Why the hell are you talking about football and basketball players??

This is a BOXING FORUM....Wlad would destroy all those guys you just mentioned...football and basketball players can't box or fight.

[-Swizzy-]

In the land of bums, one bum has to be king by default. Heavyweight boxing is like one of those joke sports, like luge or ski jumping. Don't make me laugh by suggesting that any of these guys are elite athletes -- if they were, they wouldn't be boxing. Can you imagine Wlad on the court trying to guard LeBron, or on the gridiron trying to block someone like Jason Taylor or Osi Umenyiora? It makes me snicker just thinking about it.

how do you know if klitschko would have or wouldn't have made a good defensive end? it takes alot more coordination to throw and avoid punches than push an O-lineman out of the way and make a sack.

[Left Hook Tua]

There is no proof that Marciano had any connections to the mafia. Just because he was Italian that doesn't mean he was mobbed up.

Medical condition? I can name a bunch of recent fighters who had "medical conditions" when they lost.

I'm not going to argue with ardent Klitschko fans because you really can't. I just wanted to present the otherside of the coin.

it has been stated that the mafia heirarchy even made an order that no mafioso make contact or get involved with rocky or anything that has to do with rocky.

marciano was beloved by the italian community and they didn't want to tarnish rocky's reputation.

[Mr. Ryan]

it has been stated that the mafia heirarchy even made an order that no mafioso make contact or get involved with rocky or anything that has to do with rocky.

marciano was beloved by the italian community and they didn't want to tarnish rocky's reputation.

Just because you're Italian doesn't make you mafioso. My Mother's family is Italian but they don't get involved with that. Such an ugly stereotype.