Has the heavyweight era really...

[Cloud]

Was there actually any proof of said injury? I'm not sure but a cuffing right hook certainly grazed his temple area & appeared to throw his equilibrium off.

I was glad to hear though Solis plans on keeping active and coming in in better shape, he is very good talent.

IIRC there's a picture floating round somewhere with Solis sat in a hospital bed and a picture of the knee. Something like that anyways.

He did get hit on the temple though.

[1g5a22]

Many people on boxing sites are it seem's unsure as to who the klitschko's (especially vitali) have beaten! So let's take a closer look at the men who worked there way into a shot at these two great post millenium heavyweight's, starting with Vitali klitschko's (44-2) signature win's:

-WBC champion sam peter who was 30-1. Peter had previously defeated james toney twice and also beat oleg maskaev,jeremy williams and jameel mcline (who incidentally was coming off of dominating victories over shannon briggs and michael grant.

-Kevin johnson who was 23-0-1. An excellent defensive fighter who will no doubt pick up a belt upon klitschko retirement.

-Shannon briggs who was 51-6-1. A former WBO and lineal champion best wins include liakhovich, mercer and foreman (foreman fight was a debateable win but not a robbery by any means unlike schultz vs foreman) i dont understand why vitali gets **** for this fight, vitali is the same age as briggs, it was a devastating performance...

-Herbie hide who was 31-1 and a two time WBO champion, holds stoppage wins over tony tucker and michael bentt.

-Danny williams who was 32-3 holds wins over old tyson, the mighty audley harrisson, michael sprott, julius francis and john mcdermott.

-Larry donald who was 39-3-2 noteable victories include tim witherspoon, tyrell biggs, ross purrity, bert cooper and evander holyfield, donald lost a competitive decision to rid**** bowe in 94 (larry also won bronze at Super heavyweight at the 92 olympics).

-Kirk johnson who was 34-1-1 noteable victories include oleg maskaev,ross purrity and larry donald.

-Timo hoffman who was 22-0. Noteable wins include zuri lawrence, michael sprott, ross purrity, a draw with luan krasniqi and a debateable SD loss to henry akinwande.

-Southpaw juan carlos gomez who was 44-1-1NC. A Cuban amateur star gomez was a former WBC Cruiserweight Champion (the great james toney declined a title shot against gomez when he was mandatory) gomez holds two wins over an ageing (late 30's) but still dangerous oliver mcall (one win was overturned though due to gomez testing positive for coke) Sinan Şamil Sam was also beaten by gomez.

-Thomasz adamek who was 44-1. He is the former WBC LHW heavyweight Champion and the former IBF and ring CW champion. Noteable wins include golota, michael grant, arreola, cunningham, oneill bell, jason estrada and jonathan banks.

-Derrick acorah who was 15–3. Best known for his Tko's wins over danny williams, sam sexton, his girlfriend, david haye's smirnoff ice and his dodgy loss to klitschko heir apparent robert helenius.

-Corrie sanders who was 39-2. Sanders was the WBC heavyweight champion having just upset a young wladimir klitschko, he also beat purrity.

-Odlanier Solís who was 17-0. Solis won the Olympic Gold medal in 04 and was a three time winner at the world amatuer championships.

-Chris arreola who was 27-0. Arreola was coming off of a brutal ko over jameel mcqueef and went onto give us an epic vs adamek.

-Orlin norris who was 51–7 1NC. A former WBA cruiserweight champion who As an amateur won the golden gloves.. norris holds easy points wins over respected challengers renaldo snipes, jesse ferguson and ex-world champion greg page. Norris also beat oliver mcall in 1990 and has two memorable fights with tony tucker winning one via SD and losing one via SD. He also drew with vassily jirov. Norris is a very overlooked fighter, a bit like chris byrd....

-Jose ribalta 38-14-1. Ribalta is best known for his close/debateable fights with tim witherspoon, bonecrusher smith and michael dokes and his first round stopage of leon spinks. He has been in with the likes of Tony tubbs, bruno, holmes, donald, byrd, schultz, ruddock, klitschko, tyson etc you name them ribaltas fought them!

Now onto the better brother and kingpin of this era wladimir klitschko (57-3)....

[1g5a22]

wladimir:

- Sam peter who was 24-0 and 34-3. Peter had previously defeated james toney twice and also beat oleg maskaev,jeremy williams and jameel mcline (who incidentally was coming off of dominating victories over shannon briggs and michael grant) his only loss prior to there second bout was to vitali.

-Ruslan Chagaev who was 25-0-1. Ruslan won the WBA title in 2007. He also won a gold medal at the world amateur championships in 2001 @ super heavyweight (has amateur wins over the great felix savon) noteable pro victories include ruiz and valuev.

-Chris byrd who was 31-1 and 39-3-1. Byrd is a former WBO and IBF heavyweight champion. Byrd remained undefeated for his first 26 fights, knocking off then-notable opponents like phil jackson, uriah grant, bert cooper, jimmy thunder, undefeated elicier castillo and ross purrity. He beat holyfield for the vacant IBF belt after lewis refused to defend it, won the WBO belt after vitali klitschko retired from the fight due to a shoulder injury, beat david tua in a masterful performance, fought to a draw with golota, split decisioned jameel mcline and beat former prospect DaVarryl Williamson.

-Eddie chambers who was 35-1. Noteable wins include calvin brock, alexander dimitrenko, ross purrity and sam peter.

-Calvin brock who was 29-0. Brock had a notable amateur boxing career. He was the National golden gloves HW champ 1998. In 1999, he won the U.S amateur championship at 201 lb.Noteable wins include jameel mcline, timur ibragimov and zuri lawrence (in a KO of the year fight).

-David haye who was 25-1. Haye is a former WBA HW Champion. He is also a former unified CW Champion, holding the WBA, WBC, WBO and THE RING Cruiserweight titles. He hurt his toe though....

-Southpaw tony Thompson who was 31-1. In 2004 Tony handed undefeated Cuban amateur star yanqui diaz his first loss. He also beat former repeated title challenger vaughn bean.

-Eliseo Castillo who was 19-0. His biggest victory came against former Heavyweight champion michael moorer (moorer incidentally went on to stop vasilly jirov the only man ever to do so) He beat the former champion by a unanimous decision in their 10-round bout.

-Lamon Brewster who was 33-3. Brewster is a former WBO HW champion. Noteable wins include stoppages over golota, wladimir and luan krasniqi.

-Hasim Rahman who was 45-7-2 and 1NC. Rahman is the former lineal, WBC, IBO, & IBF heavyweight champion. He won the titles in 2001 with a shock defeat of lennox lewis. He also beat sanders and purrity and is scheduled to fight povetkin next.

-Ray Austin who was 24-4-4. Best known for beating up an old golota and his draw with sultan ibragimov.

-Danell Nicholson who was 46-4. Holds wins over john ruiz and jesse ferguson.

-Sultan Ibragimov who was 22-0-1. Sultan is a former WBO heavyweight champion. He fought to become a unified world champion in February 2008 with wlad but lost. Iggy won a silver medal medal as a heavyweight in the 2000 olympics. Best known for beating shannon briggs and holyfield in 07 and absolutely twatting lance whitaker.

-Ray Mercer who was 30-4-1. A Olympic Gold Medalist and former WBO heavyweight title holder. Noteable wins include witherspoon and tommy morrison.

-DaVarryl Williamson who was 20-2. Williamson after losing to wlad went onto beat oliver mcall in 04.

-Axel schultz who was 26-3-1. Best known for his win over james bonecrusher smith in 94 and his robbery to old foreman and SD loss to michael moorer.

-Monte Barrett who was 23–1. Barrett was coming off of wins over phil jackson, the much overlooked jimmy thunder and greg page. He also went on to beat an ageing tim witherspoon.

-Jameel McCline who was 28-2-3. Mcline had just defeated shannon briggs and kayoed michael grant in 1 round.

-Phil Jackson who was 42-8. Best known for challenging lewis for the WBC Heavyweight Title in 1994.

-Paea Wolfgramm who was 18-1. Olympic silver medallist holds wins over jorge luis gonzalez (who is best known for fighting rid**** bowe) and former IBO champ jimmy thunder (who holds wins over witherspoon, crawford grimsley, trevor berbick, tony tubbs and a debateable SD loss to john ruiz)..

[New England]

this era has two great HW boxers
they cant fight eachother

yes, it's that bad.

[dan_cov]

Wow thanks for the breakdown, as highly as I rate both I think even myself may of overlooked some of their wins.
Its not as if they have just beat these guys either, these guys have been destroyed and many have never been the same again.

''Kevin johnson who was 23-0-1. An excellent defensive fighter who will no doubt pick up a belt upon klitschko retirement.''

I agree with this and think he has a very good shot at lifting what will be the toughest Prizefighter yet & making a name for himself once the Klitschkos hang them up. Hes a very skillful fighter & hugely underrated IMO
America should be proud of him, I strongly believe he is the best HW they have right now & maybe have for some time.

[1g5a22]

Wow thanks for the breakdown, as highly as I rate both I think even myself may of overlooked some of their wins.
Its not as if they have just beat these guys either, these guys have been destroyed and many have never been the same again.

''Kevin johnson who was 23-0-1. An excellent defensive fighter who will no doubt pick up a belt upon klitschko retirement.''

I agree with this and think he has a very good shot at lifting what will be the toughest Prizefighter yet & making a name for himself once the Klitschkos hang them up. Hes a very skillful fighter & hugely underrated IMO
America should be proud of him, I strongly believe he is the best HW they have right now & maybe have for some time.

Americans never never faced fighters from a different school of boxing such as the Eastern European or Soviet school of boxing. They never travelled in eastern europe where the crowd would be hostile to fight against a giant ala Klitschko. Times have changed ppl! Lennox Lewis came and changed it all, he showed the world how to take advantage of your size and physical tools to dominate the HW division in the sport and from now on Eastern Europeans will.

So let's not fool ourselves:

-David Haye
-Ruslan Chagaev (who beat the LEGEND Felix Savon x 2)
-Eddie Chambers
-an in shape (atg amatuer) odlandier Solis
-a motivated (multiple gold medallist) alex Povetkin
-the 240lb likes of and kevin johnson, sam peter and southpaw tony thompson
-adamek (who has the potential to be a 3 weight world champ)
-defensive whizz chris byrd
-the ever dangerous herbie hide
-the intelligent/talented southpaw sultan ibragimov
-monster punching southpaw corrie sanders
-the massive talent that is juan carlos gomez
-the underrated lamon brewster (who could fight his heart out and give anyone a scrap)
-the undefeated calvin brock (a fine fighter)

Let alone olympic gold meddalist wlad and the iron man himself vitali klitschko (who in his 40's is still as good if not better than ever!)

etc etc ARE ALL FINE AND ELITE boxers who would have been pretty good in every era, they look bad simply because they don't have the physical tools to compete against the "new breed" of heavyweights that the Klitschkos are.

I was reading the other day how Wladimir ***** himself, asked Russian Olympic federation to create new boxing programs in Russia that specialize in Pro boxing. Russians from now on will allow their boxers to turn pro faster, so for every kid who is over 6'6 and 220 lbs will participate in just one Olympics and then follow special programs to turn pro as soon as possible. Everybody can see how boxing changes drastically except delusional stuck in past boxing fans.

[nomadman]

The problem with the past decade (2001-2010) was a lack of excitement I feel. The right fights weren't getting made, contenders weren't fighting enough or challenging themselves against one another. Fighters were turning up to fights in horrible condition or just generally not putting much effort into things. Too many contenders played the waiting game, padding their records with sub-par opposition till they got a title shot, with predictable results. It was all just a very messy, boring situation.

I personally think we're entering a new era now. Stal***** of the past decade like Peter and Dimitrenko are on the way out, and there has recently been a new influx of fresh blood. Guys like Jennings, Mitchell, Price, Perez and so on look promising.

[nomadman]

If they beat say Tua, he would of been fat and too short, a Lewis victim.

Ike Ibaebuchi would of been green, raw and mentally unstable.

Do you mean if the Klits fought Tua and Ike in their primes? Yeah, you might hear a few grumbles, but it was clear that both guys were tremendous specimens and top class pugilists. Tua's power alone would have turned heads whatever era he was in. Analyzing a fighter in isolation is hard but it isn't impossible.

[1g5a22]

I strongly believe he is the best HW they have right now & maybe have for some time.

Thompson, chambers and johnson are probably all on a par weith each other. They are all fine fighters that would do well in any era, maybe they would not be at the top of the tree but nor are they in this! Byrd, brock and brewster are some of the very good american fighters throughout the klitschko reign too, the HW division is a global era now:

-we have/had cubans like like gomez, solis, the castillo brothers etc

-the eastern euroes like klitschko, povetkin, maskaev, chagaev, ibragimov, boystov, chakiev etc

-brits like haye, hide, wiliams, lewis

Nigerian peter, nordic robert helenius, american seth mitchell, canadian kirk johnson etc etc B

Boxing is not so insular now i mean look at pacqiauo, martinez, calzaghe, michalkewski, tszyu, adamek etc Even the best amateur boxer on the planet is lomachenko (a ukranian) the 3 best hw's are eastern european, the best p4P fighter is asian etc Americans think they have a god given right to supremacy in the sport and when things don't go there way they **** on it!

Of course there will always be great american fighters....you have a huge population and a massive heritage in the sport, but the competition is more diverse and daunting than ever before! There is no american championship now, im just waiting for the cubans to join the party!

[nomadman]

Don't forget to include the half dozen cruiserweights that got heavyweight title shots because there just enough worthy contenders.

This is one criticism that has no teeth. How many heavyweight champs from the eighties back didn't fight and defend against guys 200 and under? I doubt there's a single one. You want to criticise any of the modern guys for fighting cruiserweights then apply that criticism across every era and see what you come up with.