By Ciaran O’Malley: The heavyweight division has not looked so alive and brought such excitement to boxing fans in almost 20 years as the current crop of fighters are at the moment. Not since the days or Lennox Lewis v Evander Holyfield in the late 90’s or Lewis v Vitali Klitschko in early 00’s has there such a buzz around the “Glamour Division” of boxing.
There are two main reasons for the cold spell in the division, one being the fact the Kiltschko brothers were reigning supreme and there style although mostly Wladimir was seen as boring and extremely negative. But also the fact there just wasn’t the talent or competition to dethrone the hall of fame bound brothers.
But on the 28th of November 2015 the heavyweight division was blown apart and set alive once more when Tyson Fury out-boxed, out-classed and out-witted Wladimir Klitschko in Düsseldorf, Germany. With Tyson wining the WBA, IBF, WBO and IBO world titles there was a new champion, but between vacating the IBF and having to relinquish the other belt due to his inactivity all the belts have come up for grabs in recent times and bringing excitement with them.
Anthony Joshua and Wladimir Klitschko just recently put on the best heavyweight fight in recent times in front of 90,000 at Wembley Stadium in London and there is much more fights of this scale and magnitude to follow. Currently negotiations are going on between the two camps for a rematch, which is a mouth-watering bout for both the hard-core fan and the casual as all were captivated by the first fight. Also Tyson Fury is on the early stages of his comeback trail and no doubt is looking for a mega-fight further down the line after some warm up bouts to ease his way back into the big time and an all British Heavyweight showdown between Fury and Anthony Joshua would be one for the ages.
Deontay Wilder is another big name in the division, the WBC champion is currently 38-0 with 37 of them wins coming by way of knock-out. Wilder would be a tough task for any off the top contenders but many question his boxing ability and technique, but what is clear to see about the 2008 Olympic bronze medallist he packs a punch and has a very long reach. There are currently negotiations ongoing between Wilder’s camp and Dillian Whyte for a match-up later this year most likely in London, £7 million plus a PPV percentage is what the Wilder camp are looking for, with the WBC belt on the line. The winner would then mostly likely go on to fight the winner of the Joshua v Klitschko fight in a mega unification bout sometime next year.
The current WBO champion Joseph Parker (23-0) of New Zealand is seen by many as the weakest of the champions. Parker’ first defence was due to be against Hughie Fury on May 6th but Fury pulled out of the fight with a back injury, in stepped former sparring partner Razvan Cojanu in what was a lackluster affair and a poor performance by Parker in his homeland. The fight with Hughie Fury may still be made as Hughie is his mandatory defence and the Fury team are keen on making the match up in coming months. This would see two young and promising stars of the division face each other in an even match up.
Outside of the elite in the division there are some dangerous contenders such as Kubrat Pulev (25-1) who’s only loss came at the hands of Wladimir Klitschko in November 2014 and would be a tough fight for any of the champions. The same could be said for Luis Ortiz (27-0) although 38 years old and his activity is not what you would like it to be Ortiz would be more than a handful for anyone division. Both of these men are in line for a shot at Joshua, Pulev is mandatory for the IBF and Ortiz mandatory for the WBA belt.
In the next 12 to 18 months we are in line for some very good exciting match ups, with the belts spread among fighters the best must fight the best. These unavoidable fights are something for all boxing fans to look forward to.