Are the heavyweights destroying a great year of boxing?

By Gavin Duthie - 10/01/2015 - Comments

wladimir588By Gav Duthie: As we approach the latter end of 2015 I can comfortably reflect that it has been a good solid year of boxing. As always there have been several fights that have slipped through the net but that is par for the course these days. That being said we have seen the conclusion of the Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao saga, the modern day Arturo Gatti – Mickey Ward slugfest in Lucas Matthyse and Ruslan Provodnikov, the return of Andre Ward, breakthrough years for Terence Crawford, Kell Brook and Keith Thurman as well as Al Haymon’s Premier Boxing Champions bringing us fights like Danny Garcia v Lamont Peterson and Shawn Porter v Adrien Broner.

I feel though once again the top division needs to flourish for boxing to do so and in the heavyweights we have witnessed poor matchmaking, boring spectacles and disappointment throughout the year.

Still to come

As a positive we also still have career defining fights to look forward to in the middleweight division with Gennady Golovkin fighting IBF champion David Lemieux and Miguel Cotto against Saul Alvarez. These are not just big fights but they also promise to be action packed. A great heavyweight division would have been the icing on the cake.

The heavyweights

A buoyant heavyweight division would have been the icing on the cake for boxing but sadly it has once again not delivered. Deontay Wilder’s victory over Bermaine Stiverne in January looked to be the catalyst but the flame was quickly doused. Wilder’s management now seem determined for their product to battle any competition as long as they are outside the WBC’s top ten. Wladimir Klitschko signed a contract with HBO and the viewing figures for his defence against top prospect Bryant Jennings were great but the spectacle was poor once again succeeding in disillusion for the fans.

In the summer it seemed again that there was cause for optimism as the top 4 Klitschko, Fury, Alexander Povetkin and Wilder looked like they were going to fight each other. Povetkin was installed as WBC mandatory after destroying Mike Perez in round 1 and Klitschko and Fury agreed to fight each other. Once again we have been let down, Wilder seems to want no part of Povetkin and Klitschko has pulled out of the Fury fight with a mysterious calf injury just one day after a press conference.

Disappointing

For boxing to be restored to its former glories amid competition from the increasingly popular MMA the heavyweight division needs to excite fans. Hardcore fans appreciate the skills in the lower weight classes but the casual spectators want to see the one punch knockouts. We need our best heavyweights to face each other to make this happen. I believe the division is improving in terms of quality but it isn’t doing itself or boxing any favors at the moment.



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