Has the Heavyweight Championship lost its prestige?

[krazyn8tive]

It’ll regain its prestige when Fury beats wilder.

[Redd Foxx]

WTF are you talking about? People finally care about the division again for the first time in a decade. The champs now aren't even as good as the Klitschkos were but people are more interested in the division now because there's movement and interesting characters. The belts have a lot of lustre on them now and there's a lot of people talking about the div.

[Eff Pandas]

The belts dis*****g the claim of who's the real champion is the biggest problem of their being The Champion vs a title holder.

Thats in all divisions not just HW, but its hurt HW the worst cuz it was among the biggest titles in all sports for a long time & has been watered down greatly in recent decades more & more. And it'll continue to be watered down til one champion in boxing is a thing again & the standard like it was through most of boxings history.

[FinitoxDinamita]

Yea HW division has been sht for the past 20 years. I stopped watching HW when Lewis retired pretty much.

[Madison Boxing]

Lol every division that isnt dominated by Americans is apparantly dead or not what it used to be

[Grimgash]

Lol every division that isnt dominated by Americans is apparantly dead or not what it used to be

Not true. Everyone knew who Wlad was in the US. Even if they didnt watch the fights. A lot of casual fans have no idea who Wilder or Joshua are. Casuals here mostly know Canelo then GGG, Garcia, Lomachenko, Spence (Not counting recent past greats). It's all about marketing and access. If you mentioned DAZN or ESPN+ to someone with boxing in the same sentence they'd be dumbfounded what you mean. Especially DAZN.

[Kezzer]

Ever worry that the Heavyweight Championship of the World has lost some of its prestige? It used to be THE most prized title in all of sports, but now it's an afterthought.

Remember when everyone knew who the heavyweight champion was? Now you'd be lucky if a random person on the street knew who it was.

Is this because of boxing's decline in popularity, or are there other factors?

It depends where your from. Given the heavyweight number one is from uk - try asking random people in Britain? I would imagine 9 out of 10 would mention AJ straight away.

It’s obviously different in America and other countries where it’s not as clear cut they have a top dog. I know fanboys of wilder will shout up at this comment, but anyone who reflects properly will see the reality. Until wilder has started fighting top fights regularly he’ll never be known.

[Tyistall]

Wilder has devalued the WBC belt by fighting bums. And for you idiots that will say he is fighting Fury and just fought Ortiz, yeah, what about all the guys like Arreola and Szpilka just a year or two ago? The reason why no one goes to Wilder's fight, or knows who he is, is because he has fought almost all tomato cans to this point. He has never tried to unify and he has turned down the 3 contract offers from Hearn and AJ. Tyson fought a bunch of bums in his day but at least he was knocking them out within 90 seconds. It took Wilder 9 rounds to get rid of Molina and 11 rounds to get rid of Duhaupas. And that was just 2 of the bums he's faced. He has never dared to be great and so the public doesn't respond to him or his fights. On the other hand, AJ, in 22 fights, has acquired 4 belts, has fought the last long reigning champion and has fought 4 of the top 10 boxers of today. THAT'S how you get people to know who you are. Not by fighting Fury when he is not ready. Or fighting Washington but not Whyte, Miller or Breazeale.

[lopetego]

Wilder has devalued the WBC belt by fighting bums. And for you idiots that will say he is fighting Fury and just fought Ortiz, yeah, what about all the guys like Arreola and Szpilka just a year or two ago? The reason why no one goes to Wilder's fight, or knows who he is, is because he has fought almost all tomato cans to this point. He has never tried to unify and he has turned down the 3 contract offers from Hearn and AJ. Tyson fought a bunch of bums in his day but at least he was knocking them out within 90 seconds. It took Wilder 9 rounds to get rid of Molina and 11 rounds to get rid of Duhaupas. And that was just 2 of the bums he's faced. He has never dared to be great and so the public doesn't respond to him or his fights. On the other hand, AJ, in 22 fights, has acquired 4 belts, has fought the last long reigning champion and has fought 4 of the top 10 boxers of today. THAT'S how you get people to know who you are. Not by fighting Fury when he is not ready. Or fighting Washington but not Whyte, Miller or Breazeale.

I will never forget or forgive that one time when Wilder brought his buddy Malik Scott to take a dive in the ring for him. disgraceful. Was that really necessary, Wilder? Scott was very beatable, why do you have to bring shame to the sport in this way?...oh I forgot im talking about a career hypejob here

[Real King Kong]

No idea what you talking about. Heavyweight champion of the world is still the biggest name in boxing as it always has been.

So kiltschko was the biggest name in boxing during mayweather's peak?