The State of the Heavyweight Division – Boxing
April 13th, 2009
By Adam Fillingham: I think everyone will agree when I say this, the heavyweight division is currently the worst division in boxing. It comes to something when seven out of ten people in Great Britain can’t name the heavyweight champion of the world. Now I don’t think Nikolay Valuev is the most memorable name but he is the WBA heavyweight champion of the world.
To prove my point even further just look at the top five heavyweights in the world:
Vitali Klitschko (37 (36) – 2 (2) – 0) Some boxing fans and pundits say Vitali is the best fighter in the division but he is seriously starting to slow down now-a-days and his stamina could be a lot better as seen in his last fight against Juan Carlos Gomez. Vitali isn’t going to be around much longer in my opinion at least, due to his tender age of 37.
Ruslan Chagaev (25 (17) – 0 (0) – 1) is a reasonably good fighter as he has shown with his unbeaten record but he does look less than impressive in fights. In both fights with John Ruiz and Nikolay Valuev were both close split decisions. Also he didn’t wipe the floor with Matt Skelton and Skelton is hardly the greatest fighter. His other problem is that he can’t stop getting injured and eventually this could push him into and early retirement.
David Haye (22 (21) – 1 (1) – 0) It shows how bad the heavyweight division is that someone like David Haye who has only had two ventures into the heavyweight division should be ranked in the top five. Don’t get me wrong, Haye is a great fighter but whether he can take a heavyweight punch is still yet to be answered. Although Haye is powerful, fast and agile for a heavyweight, we will have to see if he has what it takes, on the 20th of June.
Nikolay Valuev (50 (34) – 1 (0) – 0) is one of the most flawed champions I have ever seen. Valuev wasn’t the fastest fighter in the world but now with age he is getting slower and slower. He can’t even make up for his lack of speed in power because he doesn’t have a lot of that either although he has a reasonably good KO ratio. He is now becoming a laughing stock in boxing due to a close decision against a past his best John Ruiz and a very ‘dodgy’ decision against a 46 year old Evander Holyfield.
So why is it that only seven out of ten people in Great Britain know the names of the heavyweight champions of the world? Do the TV companies take some of the blame? In Britain the Valuev/Holyfield fight wasn’t even televised on any channel. Who has Setanta? Who can afford Sky Box office? This is the heavyweight champion of the world! He should be up there with the likes of Ali, Tyson and Forman. If nobody can watch the fights how can he gain any fans? How can he gain any support? The answer is he cant and neither can any other fringe heavyweight until they can get TV time and get right into the limelight.
Tags: Wladimir vs. Haye, Wladimir-Haye ,David Haye, Nikolai Valuev, Vitali Klitschko, Wladimir Klitschko15 Responses to “The State of the Heavyweight Division – Boxing”
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The Boxing authorities can get more involved, Put caps on how much things cost so the greedy cant outprice people.
they can also take more charge of organising fights instead of leaving it all to the promotions outfits.
Then fairer purses can be made and better fights too.
Im a Haye fan, im happy Haye is taking on the Klitchkos, i think he will lose to Vlad but imhappy none the less.
But i agree that there are boxers more deserving and have worked harder to get a title shot like this. The authorities could make sure that the deserved get their shot if they took more conttrol
nice comment there ste :@.
I think you hit the nail on the head at the end there Mr Fillingham, the TV companies just arent as interested as they once were. The fact that all the champs are European makes no difference, Setanta happily showed the Marquez vs Diaz fight plus Pavliks last two in the UK and i for one watch them all, and will watch whatever i can find on TV.
Because there are that many TV companies that could battle for the rights, the price goes up and up until the only one left that can afford the fight needs to be one that can charge for it to make money back. And as you say, who can afford to pay for it. European and American fights just dont get catered for in the UK, im not sure who decides on what gets shown but whoever it is needs shot.
Boxing has become a popularity contest on TV now, the most popular gets shown and most likely on PPV. Just look at Khan, he has been built up and grown a fanbase (more or less capitalised on momentum from the Olympics where he was widely supported)and now he is on PPV, regardless of titles or standards. Its a sad day for the sport when the Heavyweight world champs dont get a look in over some overhyped ducking boxer like Khan.
Haye winning against Wlad will make little difference to anything, apart from the fact he has a deal with Setanta (deal being he is likely to be working for them when he retires), he doesnt intend to stick around long.
Solution wise, hell, who knows. There should maybe be a dedicated channel for boxing, or maybe a channel dedicated to big fights. There is a wresting channel out there on Sky, Setanta have a golf channel built into their package, football teams have dedicated channels, so why wouldnt a worldwide boxing channel work? Surely there is enough support for the sport and not just individual fighters to make this work.
Its a shame with comments like that about Wlad. He is the one fighter that doesn’t walk around saying he’s the best that’s exactly what he doesn’t do. More credit to him. And no I don’t believe he would have been any worse a “FEW” years ago. he has been up there for a bit longer than that. He has been around for almost 10yrs at the top, been down then back up, good on him, and he is still at the top, plenty of time to give everyday a shot.
Don’t spoil your argument with names banded about because they are just as floored. Tyson, one of my favourites, KO everything on the way up but they were nobodies. James Tillis and Mitch Green took him the distance and they weren’t greats by any stretch of the imagination. Good fights to watch.And Buster Douglas told us all, anything is possible. In those days everybody got to watch HW boxing it was everywhere. Not now. And if Haye does not win how is the health of HW boxing then? You are putting to much responsibility on the shoulders of one man who has had two HW fights. Some CV.
it just sickens me that fighters such as the above mentioned can have the same recognition in the belts department that fighters like tyson,lewis,ali just to name a few,once had…it really is sickening..i see ppl like wlad walking around calling himself the best when realistically,he’d be nothing but a journey man in the days of a few years ago…someone should do something to change it…group of boring fat idiots calling themselves champions…for the health of boxing alone i hope haye wins
If the division is bad then why do we keep talking about upcoming Heavyweight boxing matches.Because it’s not a bad division.There are many exciting matcups that can be made.If the Klitschkos were British you bias fools would be touting them as the best thing since Joe Louis.If the Klitschko’s were American the press would be doin the same.But their not,they KO 90% of the opponents they face and theirs nobody out their that can matcup to their size,speed,power,stamona,and boxing skills.David Haye will be the next moron givin an old fashioned beatdown on June 20th.I really don’t think the Klitschko’s give a flyin fk what you Brits think of them.They dont even acknowledge that you exist.So sorry.Same with us Americans.We don’t have anybody that can compete with them so why come to America to fight?Their fans in theother parts of the world have stuck by them through thick and thin and the Klitschko’s will stay loyal.
The division isn’t that bad actually. How would HWs of the past have coped with a peak Vit/Wlad jab? Or their ring generalship? They may bore you to tears – but so what – the sport isn’t about giving as good as you get – the sport is about winning. Ultimately – you win by hitting and hurting your opponent more than they hit and hurt you – which Wlad and Vit are very good at.
Wlad Haye is a great matchup, Wlad Povetkin another great matchup, Arreola vs anyone interesting. The only remaining question is what Holyfield is going to do with himself – there should be a rematch of the Valuev fight – but Chagaev is in first it seems.
Doctor – nothing new, same ‘ol. Stablemate. Unless they put energizers up their asses
What I’m getting reading this one is that it’s about the condition of top division of boxing, not boxing overall.
It’s about the state of heavy weight division, but not about what what can be done.
Probably not much.
the longer this continues, the more people will shift towards MMA. but of course it’s another matter. This days HBO is not interested in title fights, because it would bore viewers to death, and bring no return on investment. So people won’t be fooled and the title fights will happen in European and Asian locations, with free view local tv, like RTL or whatever they got there.
I think it’s quite a good business in Germany, a lot of people will watch it, whilst Amercian, British and the rest of Europe don’t give a rat’s ass about all these “fights”. This is what it is regardless who we like, and what we wish.
some people try to do something – like bringing athletes from other sports to try boxing etc. But honestly there is more money in other sports than in boxing
But what happens if Haye loses what does that make the Klitschko’s? and what does that make HW boxing.
Yes the heavyweight division is terrible!! least if Haye wins,he will be the first good champion since Lennox lewis.
Just hope he wins for the sake of the heavyweight division!
The heavyweight division is dull but i think that the Klitcskos will go down the same road as Larry Holmes, be slated throughout their careers and it wont be until they retire that people will see their talents, Chagaev had potential but injuries have held him back, I like Arreleo, he’s not dull to watch but against Vitali he would get boxed into a late knockout, the same with wlad unless he caught him early. Haye is a force but time will tell @ heavy, as for Kevin Johnson he is a waste of time
Thank the lord for mr haye a breath of fresh air lets just hope he wins and retires the robots ………………
A lot of it is truth. Not many a man knows who they are, not only in Britain but anywhere exept Ukraine and probably Germany. Klitschko brothers or a sort of celebrity there, one of them even tried in politics. But besides that – there is a huge void.
I agree it’s the worst division in boxing. Let’s hope it’s going to get better.
Some will say the fatty boy Arreola is a big hope.
What’s poor is the standard of debate, and this is getting boring. Should the HW division not be to your approval follow another one, if you don’t like it, talk about something else.
I agree however with your first point about the lack of knowledge concerning the name of a Heavy Weight champion but that is more to with Nationality and lack of terrestrial TV cover. If the Champ doesn’t come from the States or Britain most don’t want to know. And that applies to fans as well. Shame isn’t it.