The 00's HW division physical state compared to now

[Cutthroat]

Just from a physical stand point you can see how much better it has become.

AJ 6'5 250
Parker 6'5 250
Wilder 6'7 230
Ortiz 6'4 240
Whyte 6'4 240
Fury 6'9 260
etc.

Even the fat asses like Breazeale and Ruiz are dangerous opponents with power and toughness. You have contenders like Ugonoh, Mansour, etc. Guys are actually in shape that aren't stationary targets, guys that are legit threats.

It's come a long way from uncoordinated stationary lumbering oafs like Valuev, Austin, Thompson, or midgets that can't punch like Ibragimov, Chagaev, Chambers etc. even Povetkin is in better shape than he was years ago although that boy is juicing up the ass.


The 00's HW division was truly the weakest it's been in decades. Even before that it was clear as day with the 80's/90's producing fighters like Lewis, Holyfield, Tyson, Mercer, Morrison, Bowe, etc.

[Poppo168]

Yep it's finally getting interesting and it will be for another 10 years or so I feel. You've got the current guys who are leading the division to fight eachother as you've mentioned & already a solid line up of Amateurs starting their pro careers too, exciting times

[Cutthroat]

I'm trying to think of the 3rd best big man from the 00's outside of Vitali and Wlad, the name that comes to mind is Tony Thompson. Valuev was another big name but idk if he was as good considering he arguably lost to a 45 year old Holyfield and John Ruiz whom RJJ schooled in his prime.

Pretty insane how much it's improved.

[iamboxing]

Lennox Lewis was better than any HW fighting today

[Cutthroat]

Lennox Lewis was better than any HW fighting today

Lewis was already past it by the 00's, I'm referring more to guys in their actual primes.

Against Vitali he hadn't fought in a year and didn't really train as evidenced by his weight gain of a whopping 7lbs of pure fat. He came in at 256 that fight, was in terrible shape. Last time he half assed his training he got KTFO by Rahman, he was 253 then.

[Cutthroat]

Can anyone else think of the most physically gifted fighters of the 00's era? I'm talking about prime.

So far all I can really think of is Tony Thompson as the 3rd best "big man" of the 00's.

[soul_survivor]

This thread died at "Even the fat asses like Breazeale and Ruiz are dangerous opponents with power and toughness."

I call troll.

[The Big Dunn]

http://heavyweightaction.com/Decade%202000s.html

I dug this up. Not going to say its a great list but when Chris Byrd and Hasim Rahman are considered top 5 HWT's then you know the era absolutely sucks.

I do think Lennox is better than anyone now and to have him behind Viatli is ridiculous.

[Dean_Razorback]

i see a lot of people saying that the HW got interesting (since fury defeated wlad in one of the ugliest fight i've ever seen). but how much better than the Klitschko's era is it? you have Joshua, who seems to be the guy that will rule from now on, fury, a fatass cokehead, then wilder whose boxing is terrible, even he himself knows it (he recently said that if you can punch as hard as he does you don't need skills) povetkin is a PED cheat, then you have guys like ortiz (a guy nobody knows how old is he) and parker (i admit i haven't seen much of him). and haye is done.

[KnockoutNed]

The division post Lewis was in the most dismal state of its entire history. 40 yr old journeyman Tony Thompson got 2 cracks at the crown as a mando, that right there in a nutshell shows you how terrible it was.