Boxing-What Happened to the Heavyweight Division?

[People's Champ]

Let me run a list by you guys.
Joe Louis
Muhammad Ali
Jack Johnson
Rocky Marciano
Sonny Liston
Larry Holmes
Joe Frazier
Evander Holyfield
Mike Tyson
Lennox Lewis

As a boxing fan, think about that list. Those are some incredible fighters. Many argue that Joe Louis was the greatest Heavywegiht ever. He had it all. Speed, power, accuracy. He was the complete package. Of course, Ali is also arguably the greatest. Though not great technically, he was vastly superior athletically, with incredible speed, chin, and unbelievably quick reflexes. And Ali fought the best of the best. Yes, we could go on and on about these great fighters and what made them great. But the point is they were great. Many make the top 20 pound for pound list of all time greatest boxers.

Fast forward to now. Look at the heavyweight division.
Wladimir Klitschko
Vitali Klitschko
David Haye
Alexander Povetkin
Tomasz Adamek
Ruslan Chadaev

Um, not really names that make you think "I gotta see these guys". In fact, unless your a real hardcore boxing fan, you probably don't even know half of these guys. The Heavyweight division is extremely weak. Outside of the Klitschko Brothers, no one cracks the top 25. Heavyweights, all the way up to Tyson and Lewis, had great skills. Ali, Louis,etc. all had speed to go with their power. Not today. We see a lot of out of shape, fat Heavyweights. These guys can go 2 maybe 3 rounds before we start seeing some sloppy action. What has happened to the Heavyweight division?

Let me make sure I clear up exactly what we are discussing in this thread.
THIS IS NOT A DISCUSSION ABOUT THE GREATEST HEAVYWEIGHTS OF ALL TIME, NOR A DISCUSSION ABOUT THE EFFECTS OF THE HEAVYWEIGHT DIVISION ON BOXING TODAY. THIS IS TO DISCUSS THE DECLINE OF THE HEAVYWEIGHT DIVISION AND THE CAUSE OF IT.

So I'd like to hear your answers and what you think has caused the deterioration of the Heavyweight division in boxing. Has it been the rise of MMA? Is it the fact that boxing's Heavyweight division has been dominated by the Europeans, making it less attractive, thus less talent? There are many ideas, theories as to the reason behind it. Some don't believe its as bad as made out to be.

So what's your take on the Heavyweight division? What do you think has caused decline of this once great division?

 

[Boxer38]

What do you think has caused decline of this once great division?

Quite simply, Vitali and Wladimir Klitschko. These guys have dominated the heavyweight scene for about, 6-7 years now. I wouldn't really say it's entirely their fault, I think it's some of the type of opponents that has been handed to them, not so great boxers. Most of the guys they beat were, well, nobodys.
Which makes every fight that the're in, in way, not exciting.

There can't be to many interesting fights made anymore in the heavyweight devision. The reason being, like I wrote above, everybody is getting dominated. The only fights right now that could bring some more attention to the heavyweights right now are: Vitali Klitschko vs. David Haye, (possible)
Wladimir Klitschko vs. David Haye (In The Works), and finally, the biggest fight that could be made in the heavyweights is:
Vitali Klitschko vs. Wladimir Klitschko (NEVER going to happen).

Well, that's what I pretty much think is wrong with the heavyweights.
I might have to edit some things. I don't think I gave a logical response..

 

[jmt225]

I think first and foremost, people got a taste of just how entertaining the little guys are. You could argue it was Mickey Ward vs. Arturo Gatti, or Manny Pacquiao vs. Juan Manuel Márquez... either way, these fights, aired late night on HBO, I personally feel changed the sport forever.

The fact of the matter is, Heavyweights cannot put on a show like the little guys can. Not today, not even yesteryear. You watch the old Heavyweight fights on ESPN Classic, they're not entirely entertaining. In fact, some of Muhammad Ali's fights are just unbeatable to watch, especially in his latter years.

The other big problem is that the one thing Heavyweights have to offer that the smaller guys don't, none of the big names seem to have it. What am I talking about? Devastating knockout power. Look at those big names PeoplesChamp88 listed... when was the last time you saw any of them have this big devastating knockout against a GOOD fighter? I can't think of any, because most of those guys wins come by decision. And most heavyweight fights going 12 rounds is simply not fun, most of the time.

Lastly, the other big problem, there's not a popular American Heavyweight. Every great Heavyweight 'era' had at least one dominating, popular American. We're missing that today, and it's hurting not just the division, but the entire sport of boxing as a whole. There needs to be a another Tyson now more than ever. Unfortunately, however, we won't be getting that any time soon, most likely.

 

[klunderbunker]

I would think the problem is the splitting of the titles. Think of Ali, Foreman, Tyson etc. They were the Heavyweight Champion of the World. You didn't have co-champions of this guy is this organization's champion and he's one of 4 world champions. That just sounds stupid. You could point to one guy and say THIS is the best heavyweight fighter in the world. There are I believe three or four world champions at the moment? How am I supposed to know who the best is if they all can say they're the world champion? It waters things WAY down and you can't get behind someone.

Second, Pay Per View/HBO/Showtime. People simply weren't interested in paying 50 bucks or whatever for a one night fight, especially when Tyson started knocking everyone on the planet out. When's the last time a big fight was watchable by the masses? Look at UFC, the undisputed champion of fighting at the moment. They throw out some PPV caliber cards for free. It's a great taste of what UFC is. UFC is there year round whereas heavyweight boxers fight what, twice a year? There's Friday Night Fights and that's it. Put some big time boxing on TV and see how it does. The money will come in advertising. There are others but those are your big ones.

 

[People's Champ]

Nice to see KB come in with some of his boxing knowledge.

In all honesty, my opinion was pretty much stated from both KB and JMT. To me, it seemed when we started seeing exciting fights in the smaller divisions, like a Gatti vs Ward or a Pacquiao vs Marquez, we looked at the heavyweight division and saw....nothing. While Heavyweights may have never had that knockout power, they did put on great fights. At least in their prime, which happens to all boxers. But now, the Heavyweights just don't give us anything exciting. I think our level of excitment went up when saw those great fights, and the Heavyweight class just doesn't have the talent to give us that.

The other big thing is what KB said, and that's the fact that we don't have a true undisputed Heavyweight champ. We have the WBA, WBC, WBO and IBF titles. Too many belts for one division which is not rich in talent. I think that having so many belts and having them seperate has kiiled interest, because we don't have a true champ.

 

[8thwotwATG]

I think that there's a couple of reasons for this decline in the Heavy weight division. The first thing that comes to mind is that the same problem that existed years ago still exists today, and that is that because there are less men in the world of heavyweight dimensions than there are of average sized men. There are only so many of these larger men that are going to have any kind of talent, or inclination to fight, therefore shrinking the pool. This is nothing new, this was evident even back during any era in boxing you can think of. However, I also think that now a great many of the men that might have gone into the boxing game have decided to channel their athletic ability into team sports like football or baseball, where the earning potential is FAR greater. I believe that eventually there WILL be another dominant big man in the business that will have more talent than either one of the Klitchko brothers, but as for the moment, we will have to wait. The risk is high in the boxing game, but the rewards are few and far between, unless you have great talent. That is why I say that anyone w/ enough talent to excel as a heavyweight in the boxing game would probably much rather participate in a team sport.

 

[TheAnimal]

If you look around the division, some of the guys are big guys, not very mobile who grind out fights, Tyson, Ali, Lewis and now even Haye are more mobile fighters. Lower weight divisions are flourishing, maybe this is why. The quality of the fights themselves may have declined. In England we have some crap Heavyweight fighters, Audley Harrison springs to mind, he doesnt have it in him to fight in the great style of the others. Maybe it was due to Ali and Haye stepping up from cruiserweight to Heavyweight is a reason for their mobility in fights? The others are big guys who are basically boxings Great Khalis! lol

 

[Ice Cold]

Two words: DON KING. Seriously, this guy is to blame for the decline of boxing in general. He has given the sport so much negative press, as well as his boxers it's really no shock that things have went the way they have. While he is also responsible for some of the biggest fights in history he is also responsible for the biggest rip-offs and episodes that I think has contributed to the radical decline of boxing. Obviously there is more to it, but this is one of the major things I didn't see anyone mention that I think is pretty relevant. I am probably the biggest boxing fan there could be and it has been very hard to watch the Boxing world take a back seat to MMA.