By James P Sexton: Saturday 17th January 2015. Bermane Stiverne vs Deontay Wilder. For many young fight fans this will be the first time they see a real heavyweight champion not named Klitschko (excluding WBA ‘regular’ champs and other nonsense.)
The belt vacated by Wladimir Klitschko’s brother Vitali was won by Stiverne during a rematch with tough slugger and former title challenger Chris Arreola. Stiverne knocked Arreola down twice on route to a 6th round TKO.
The winner of this fight has to be seen as the number two fighter in the heavyweight division and for the first time in a good few years, the top ten in rounded out by several decent fighters. In my own opinion, and this is just that, an opinion, the top ten heavyweights in the world today are as follows,
1. Wladimir Klitschko
2. The Stiverne/Wilder winner
4. Tyson Fury
5. Alexander Povetkin
6. Vyacheslav Glazkov
7. Bryant Jennings
8. Kubrat Pulev
9. Andy Ruiz Jr.
10. Anthony Joshua
With these top guys and the other tough names such as Antonio Tarver, Steve Cunningham, Amir Mansour, Odlanier Solis, Christian Hammer, Carlos Takam, Erkan Teper, Mike Perez, Chris Arreola, Artur Szpilka, Lucas Browne, Ruslan Chagaev and Shannon Briggs all active and competing against one another, the heavyweight scene looks as though there may be a few tough challenges for Klitschko in the next few years, and stars are beginning to emerge which will be needed in a post Klitschko era. Wladimir is nearing forty years of age and whilst I will rate him as the best heavyweight on the planet and the number two pound for pound active fighter, I have to believe that his reign is in its final stages. Whilst I do not see anyone who is likely to beat him, father time comes for everyone and there will eventually be a point where he will retire or someone will dethrone him.
Now I may have been a little premature in placing Ruiz Jr and Anthony Joshua in the top ten, but I have reasoning behind it. Ruiz Jr doesn’t look like a man to take over the heavyweight crown, he stands at 6’2 which s a little short for the modern heavyweight and is visibly overweight. However he has had 24 bouts without a loss or draw, seventeen by KO or TKO and 7 by UD, there are no MD or SD in there. He knows how to box and because of this has been dealing with top 20 ranked heavyweights for some time and is slowly making his way into the rankings and the title picture.
Joshua on the other hand is a different story. His promoters have been brining him along at a pretty god pace. 10 fights in around a years time. All wins by KO and within 3 rounds. Whilst the opposition means it is too early to get excited and start comparing him to Mike Tyson in the 80’s. It is the most you can expect from someone who turned pro at the end of 2013. Also, when comparing the level of opposition you will see he is now mixing it up with better guys than Mike Tyson or Lennox Lewis were in the their first ten bouts. He is also fighting better guys than Deontay Wilder was well into his 20-30 fight period. In 2015 you can expect him to take on someone like a Derrick Chisora type level fighter and could well be fighting for the world titles in 2016 should his campaign to the ring continue to be successful. He already has a date set with Kevin Johnson at the end of January and a TBE opponent early in April.
With the amount of good heavyweights who have been coming through the pipeline in the last few years, many of them are now tuning into their prime periods and are ready to mix it up with the best which could prove to provide some heavyweight excitement in the next 24 months.
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