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The Light Heavyweights have done what most other divisions want to do... they've dispensed with the significance of the belts to such a degree that the three most famous fighters in the division - and the two most regarded as the best - don't hold any of the belts.
Fair enough, if it wasn't for sanctioning bodies messing them around, Antonio Tarver would currently be holding two of them anyway. But what of these "vacant belt opportunists"? What do we make of them? Can we even name them?
I'll be honest... I had to look them up. I knew one out of four. But here they are:
WBC: Thomas Adamek (Poland, 29-0)
WBA: Fabrice Tiozzo (France, 47-2)
IBF: Clinton Woods (England, 37-3-1) Clinton is the only one of the four I could name, and the only one I've got to see. A UK fighter, as I come from there it's only natural I would get more opportunity to see him. I've always thought he's a reasonable, solid pro, a kind of 6 out of 10 fighter, but maybe a little too two-dimensional and also too much of a nice guy to be in the hurt business. He looked out of his depth against Roy Jones in 2002, but then again ANYONE would have looked out of their depth against Roy Jones back in 2002. (Hard to imagine that now, isn't it?) Better were his two 12-rounders against Glen Johnson, the first of which was a draw, which many saw as controversial ("Why do they keep on doing this to me, mon?") but I thought he squeaked it out fairly, even KDing Johnson towards the end. The rematch he was hurt, and lost. His title-winning bout against Rico Hoye saw his fitness improved (he's got a nutritionist now) and his boxing greatly improved. I'd say he's a 7 out of 10 fighter now, which would make a third Johnson bout interesting, the oft-cited Tarver bout potentially competitive, and if Roy challenged him again and was in as bad a physical state as he was versus Johnson... watch out.
WBO: Zsolt Erdei (Hungary, 22-0)
Fair enough, if it wasn't for sanctioning bodies messing them around, Antonio Tarver would currently be holding two of them anyway. But what of these "vacant belt opportunists"? What do we make of them? Can we even name them?
I'll be honest... I had to look them up. I knew one out of four. But here they are:
WBC: Thomas Adamek (Poland, 29-0)
WBA: Fabrice Tiozzo (France, 47-2)
IBF: Clinton Woods (England, 37-3-1) Clinton is the only one of the four I could name, and the only one I've got to see. A UK fighter, as I come from there it's only natural I would get more opportunity to see him. I've always thought he's a reasonable, solid pro, a kind of 6 out of 10 fighter, but maybe a little too two-dimensional and also too much of a nice guy to be in the hurt business. He looked out of his depth against Roy Jones in 2002, but then again ANYONE would have looked out of their depth against Roy Jones back in 2002. (Hard to imagine that now, isn't it?) Better were his two 12-rounders against Glen Johnson, the first of which was a draw, which many saw as controversial ("Why do they keep on doing this to me, mon?") but I thought he squeaked it out fairly, even KDing Johnson towards the end. The rematch he was hurt, and lost. His title-winning bout against Rico Hoye saw his fitness improved (he's got a nutritionist now) and his boxing greatly improved. I'd say he's a 7 out of 10 fighter now, which would make a third Johnson bout interesting, the oft-cited Tarver bout potentially competitive, and if Roy challenged him again and was in as bad a physical state as he was versus Johnson... watch out.
WBO: Zsolt Erdei (Hungary, 22-0)
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