March 22, 2009

The Heavyweight Division: Is It Improving?

-In recent history the Heavyweight division has been a joke, overweight fighters who stumble around the ring. The last Heavyweight Champion of the world was Lennox Lewis but that was and he retired in 2003. The home of some of the greatest fighters in history have been in the Heavyweight division. Ali, Frazier, Liston, Spinks, Holmes, Marciano, even the young Mike Tyson, this was the toughest division in boxing. With the emergence of the Klitschko brothers there might finally be some good caliber fighters in this once renowned division. The question is, can the Klitschko's save this division?
-Vitali Klitschko beat Juan Carlos Gomez in a sound fashion this past Saturday, March 21. Klitschko retained his WBC title by scoring a TKO in the 9th. After a four year layoff he is looking very solid. First he handled Samuel Peter and after handling Gomez, he is back among the top of the division.
-Ruslan Chagaev is another top fighter in the Heavyweight division. With this said his last three fights were over a span of three years. HE stopped the 7-foot tall, Nikolay Valuev and most recently Carl Davis Drumond. He looks solid but needs to fight better competition. Alexander Povetkin would be a very good opponent for Chagaev. Whoever would win, would cement themselves as a top contender in the Heavyweight division.
-David Haye was the number fighter in the Cruiserweight division before he made the jump into the Heavyweight division. His first fight in the division was with Monte Barrett which he won with a good TKO in the 5th round. The "Hayemaker" has a monster right hand that might as well be an anvil. He drops his opponents with authority. Monte Barrett is 6'3'' which is the same height as David Haye. If Haye fights one of the bigger and taller Heavyweights then it might not be so easy.
-Wladimir Klitschko, the younger of the two brothers, is top fighter in this division. He hasn't lost a fight since early 2004 and this is why he has the IBO, IBF, and WBO title's.
-Can the Klitschko's save this division? I'm not sure. They are doing their job and fighting the best competition but the competition just isn't that good. Should the brothers fight each other? Everyone wants them to but they both said it would never happen. Nikolay Valuev has the WBA title, most recently beating Evander Holyfield last December. On March 27th Samuel Peter is fighting Eddie Chambers, which he should win. On April 4th Alexander Povetkin fights Jason Estrada, who doesn't have much experience. If these two fights go well then there could be some good fight opportunities coming up. Only time will tell if this once great division will be the powerhouse of the sport it once was.

2 comments:

  1. To be honest, I have never seen a boxing match before. For this reason, I like how you gave a full description of each fighter’s qualification in the Heavyweight Division. Who won on the March 27th fight between Samuel Peter and Eddie Chambers? Was it a good fight? Did you expect that individual to win?

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  2. In reply to the previous comment, Eddie Chambers won an ugly fight and I thought Samuel Peter would fight better. Eddie Chambers beat a once great Heavyweight, he just did in a bad fashion.

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