Bull

In 2003 Lennox Lewis was seen as the Man To Beat at Heavyweight. He successfully rematched Hasim Rahman, defeated him with a beatiful combination in round number four, and beat the aging ex-champ Mike Tyson. After one year of ring inactivity a match with Kirk Johnson was scheduled. But Johnson got injuried and was unable to fight. So, Lennox Lewis agreed to fight challenger Vitali Klitschko instead. It was a rough battle, a fight that people argue about till today. Vitali Klitschko got a very bad cut at the beginning of the third round by a right hand of Lewis. The bout was continued for four more rounds, not enough for Klitschko to finish the job after he had Lennox stunned for a second in the second round; Lewis came on stronger as the match proceeded, landing some huge uppercut that almsot took Vitali's head off. Neither man went down, both of them told the media afterwards they would have stopped their opponent, had the fight gone on.

Lennox Lewis was the last man at heavyweight that was the Undisputed Champion. Right now we got four champions: WBC - Hasim Rahman, WBA - Nikolay Valuev, IBF - Chris Byrd, WBO - Lamon Brewster. Six months after his loss to Lewis Klitschko defeated Kirk Johnson and was declared Lewis' mandatory. But the aging champ decided to retire rather than give Vitali a rematch. So Corrie Sanders, the second man to beat Wladimir Klitschko, spepped into the ring in order to fight Vitali for the vacated WBC Heavyweight title. Sanders managed to rock Vitali Klitschko in the first round with a big counter-left hand, but Klitschko survived and won by Technical Knockout in round number 8. His first and only title defense was against Danny Williams who impressed by deafeating Mike Tyson, who injured one of his knees in the first, by knckout in four rounds. Williams, who had lost to Sinan Samil Sam, Julius Francis and Michael Sprott before, showed a lot of courage and heart but just did not manage to hurt the champion seriously. In eight rounds he was floored four times and lost by TKO.

As mentioned previously, Klitschko had no other title defense: he had the title for eleven more months, a scheduled bout with challenger Hasim Rahman was postponed four times in total. Rahman, who was the second man to knock out Lennox Lewis, defeated Kali Meehan. This win made him Klitschko's mandatory. Another win over his good friend Monte Barrett earned him the WBC Interim Title. Klitschko retired, and the Interim Champ Hasim "The Rock" Rahman now is WBC Heavyweight Champion of the world. Rahman's winning streak consists of 6 Wins, 4 by knockout (in four rounds or less). His last loss was to former two-time WBA Heavyweight Champion John Ruiz who defeated boxers like Andrew Golota, Kirk Johnson and Fres Oquendo. In December, John Ruiz came over to Germany to defend his title against Nikolay Valuev, 7' tall and undefeated in 43 fights. He lost by Majority Decision, his trainer Norman Stone retired, his future as a professional boxer seems uncertain, atleast for the moment.

IBF Champ Chris Byrd is undefeated in nine bouts in five years. In 2002 he defeated Evander Holyfield by Unanimous Decision for the belt Lennox Lewis vacated. On the 22nd of April, Byrd will give Wladimir Klitschko the rematch in Germany. Klitschko, who defeated Chris in 2000 by Unanimous Decision, beat Samuel Peter that gave him the opportunity to either rematch Brewster, who knocked him out in five rounds, or Byrd. Klitschko chose, as many believe, the easier path. Since his loss to Corrie Sanders, a two round destruction with four knockdowns, Wladimir has not impressed many boxing fans. He beat Fabio Eduardo Moli, a boxer who had never left Argentinia for a professional match before, and Danell Nicholson, who lost to Jeremy Williams, Andrew Golota, Kirk Johnson, David Tua. After these two fights Klitschko fought Lamon Brewster for the WBO Title, vacated by Corrie Sanders. Klitschko hurt Brewster and knocked him down once in round number four but did not have enough stamina, mabye not enough courage, to keep Lamon, who can fight like a mad dog, off him. The fight ended in a TKO5 win for Lamon Brewster who now has three successful title defenses already. Against Both DaVarryl Williamson and Samuel Peter Klitschko was knocked down, four times in total.

Brewster has not been beaten in nine fights (8 by knockout) in 5 and a half years. Lamon's first title defense was against a very good friend of him: Kali Meehan. I believe Brewster did not want to hurt his friend, the family man who worked hard not only as a boxer to take care of his whole family. His next two fights happened in his opponent's backyards: he defeated Andrew Golota by knocking him down three times in 53 seconds and Luan Krasniqi. Krasniqi went down in round number eigth from a vicious left hook. The count, which in my view lasted 17 seconds, and the bell saved Luan. But Brewster finished the job the next round. On the first of April Brewster is going to box Serguei Lyakhovich who defeated Dominick Guinn by decision a year ago.

Guinn also lost to James Toney. Toney is going to challenge Hasim Rahman next month, on the 18th. So, all heavyweight world champions are busy: Rahman takes on Toney, Byrd takes on Klitschko, Brewster fights Lyakhovich and Valuev is trying to get healthy again as soon as possible. What can we expect from these fights? Rahman versus Toney will probably be the most exciting and the most defining bout of the three. Is James able to take serious heavyweight power? Will age and his weight finally catch up with him? Is Rahman serious this time? Is his right hand really that big? Hopefully all of these questions will get answered. A huge number of boxing fans probably will be disappointed to see Byrd beat Klitschko, if it happens, due to his not-so-crowd pleasing style. Chris Byrd got a very good defense but lacks punching power going along with an offensive style.

The title of this article is a question: Is the Heavyweight Division really dead? Some people think so, lots of people say so. But the division is not dead, I think only some modifications need to be done, like: better match-making. Klitschko - Peter was a very good start, although Samuel would have needed more experience. Rahman - Toney seems more than promising, it seems awesome. How about Shannon Briggs - David Tua? Well, it should happen, but Tua pulled out. Ibragimov - Brewster? There is talent around, and crowd-pleasing match-ups are possible. We need Unification. Sure, we got no Muhammad Ali, no George Foreman, no Mike Tyson or Lennox Lewis. But we got Lamon Brewster who, in my opinion, got what it takes to be unified champion: power, skill, speed, heart and rhythm. He's got a lot more than that. A Champion's personality. Lamon Brewster is not only just another title holder. He is a real champ, and he will be The Champ.

Gygax

Excellent assessment Bull as always.

One element that I think you forgot to mention is the influence of Don King. Since the heavyweight divsion is still the premier class in boxing, even with today's paucity of real talent, King will always keep tight control over at least one of the champs. Though he publicly claims otherwise I'm sure, DK will never allow a unification of the heavyweight champs unless he owns the right to all the champs going into the unification series. His ego simply will not allow it.

As to the fighters. Valuev is a fraud at best. Any quality fighter would destroy this behemoth with no punch. He beat a guy in Ruiz who was a fraud of a champ to begin with, but we've been over that many times before. The light hitting Byrd is good, but lacks the charisma and more importantly the firepower to ignite excitement in the division.

Rahman is a worthy champion, though I still have a small issue in that he was handed his share of the title. The belt should be won in the ring, not given to you because you were the interim champ. Interim championships water down the division further IMO. But Rahman certainly has the resume and excellent fight card. He has shown resiliency as well. Rahman's fight with Toney should be a heck of a match.

Which brings us to Brewster. I agree that he is probably the class of the division but its time to step up IMO. He must fight better fighters. The only two good names on his card are Andrew Golota, who for me is overrated somewhat, and the glass chinned Wladimir Klitscho. Sorry, but beating the likes of Luan Krasniqi, Kali Meehan, Joe Lenhart, Tommy martin, and Nate Joneses of the world is not good enough. Heck he has losses to Clifford Ettiene and Charles Shufford that he should be looking to avenge. But this is where the efforts of Don King come into effect trying to protect his champ. Brewster must step up in class of opponents. Even though they are not at the top of the game anymore, I want to see Briggs, Tua, Toney, guys like that facing Lamon at this point. Due to name value, I'd might even watch Brewster fight Ruiz. Maybe watch, not definite.

The heavyweight division is certainly not dead, but it may be on life support. Simply put, the best big-sized athletes look to other sports to succeed rather than the blood, sweat, and tears necessary to succeed in boxing.

lwbfl

Both of you guys sound like professional sports analyst.

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Bull

Thank you.

Don King is an important factor like all promoters are. Certainly they do not wish to risk too much. So we fight fans do not get to see great match-ups even though they would be possible.
What I would love to see is Nikolay Valuev in the ring against Shannon Briggs or Henry Akinwande. Both would beat him in my opinion, Akinwande by decision, Briggs by knockout. Or against another title holder of course.
As for Brewster, if I am informed correctly, against Clifford Etienne he hurt his knee badly in the first round. Till today he wears protection for it in the ring. Prior to the Shufford fight he was having problems with his weight (due to the knee injury, he gained weight because he could not train as he had wanted to), so he tried what Bodybuilders do: lose fat with a proteine diet, but as a boxer he needed many more carbohydrates. He had no real power.
Gygax, I believe you are underrating Krasniqi. Sure, he is no world beater but quite good (I think he would beat Brock for instance), and the fact that the bout happened on Max Schmeling's 100th birthday in Germany ..... you know. But I agree he should step up in competition (no need to avenge his losses, though: Shufford lost to Klitschko and was knocked out by McCline. Etienne is not what he used to be - sad to see, I loved the way he fought. Is he in jail again??), Briggs is a worthy challenger, Tua may be in a year from now.
I am pretty sure you would watch Brewster - Ruiz, if it ever happened: Brewster would be the second man to stop John. Well, you might choose to know the result first - then you would decide whether you wished to watch it. LOL

SeikanJudanski

I agree Luan Krasniqi is underrated.. his main problem is stamina. it seems as if he always burns out while is he winning. His fight against Brewster was not bad, I would like to see him fight some more top rated fighters.. He has had his chance in the past as well and blew it.. but I still give him respect.

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Bull

After his fight with Timo Hoffmann Luan Krasniqi claimed to have enough left to go three more rounds. If so, probably because Hoffmann didn't work the body, did he?

How do you think he would do against Sultan Ibragimov or Paolo Vidoz?

SeikanJudanski

who? na just kidding.. haven´t seen either of them fight yet.

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Bull

I see.
Sultan Ibragimov is a southpaw pressure fighter who knows to work the body really well.
Paolo Vidoz seems to be quite strong. He is the only boxer to ever floor Timo Hoffmann. Got his jaw broken by Valuev, though.

SeikanJudanski

I would have to seen them fight.. as far as I heared Ibragimov is up and coming. I am going to make sure to catch one of his next fights...

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Bull

I'd like to hear everybody's view on this: Will Samuel Peter be World Heavyweight Champion one day?

Gygax

With this hodge podge of champions, I'd say Peter is as worthy as many of them. He needs to refine his skills a bit more and show more patience. Do those, and he may be unstoppable.

Regarding those other fighters. Yes, many of them are up and coming and the fact that they had an opportinuity to fight a guy like Brewster confirms their worthiness. I did not intend to underrate them. Its simply that I am looking for Lamon to put bigger names on his fight resume, especially now that he is champ. By fighting up and comers (before they are really ready to challenge for a title) he is merely hanging onto the belt. Two of his next three fights should be at minimum against guys ranked in the consensus top 7 in the world. Its in this that I give Rahman all the credit for stepping up to the plate and taking on a guy like James Toney. Lamon needs a Tua, Briggs, or Peter in his next fight.

SeikanJudanski

Unified or a titleholder? titleholder yes, unifed.. no.

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SmashingMachine

Heavyweight divison is dead, dead, dead. Will the former glory ever return?

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Bull

When did it die?

Thrash13

I think Gygax said it best when he said it's all about match-making. In my opinion, the HW division is as deep now as it has been in quite some time. Sure, Lennox Lewis was a good champion, but I don't think he had very many high-quality challengers.

I think the core of the HW division is very solid at this time. Chris Byrd, Hasim Rahman, James Toney, Wladimir Klitschko, Samuel Peter, Lamon Brewster, Calvin Brock, etc. make up a very solid core. I know Brock hasn't really faced anyone, so he could be a wild-card. But if he gets some better competition and continues to win, he will quickly become legit.

I definitely don't think the HW division is dead. We just aren't seeing enough of these guys listed above fighting each other. We need more mixing and matching. We need more Rahman/Toney and Byrd/Klitschko fights.

If they just mix and match with the boxers above, fans will be happy and the division will regain respect.

This is coming from someone who isn't a boxing genius by any means. But I know a good boxing match and boxing talent when I see one, so I felt like giving my two cents.

Bull

Your "two cents" are well appreciated. Excellent points. Matchmaking is the key, no doubt.

SmashingMachine

About the time the last great heavy-weights (Holyfield and Lewis) retired, but even then...it was on a life line. The heavies haven't been great since the late seventies early eighties.

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Eraser2K1NIN

In my opinion it died when it lost the big name heavywieghts like Tyson, Holyfield, Lewis...

I remember thinking in the early 90's that Riddick Bowe would be the next Tyson. Boy was I wrong...lol

Bull

Are you serious? What about Mike Tyson?

Tell me something, guys: What is great about the other divisions? People complain about the state of the HW division, but let's compare it to the others. Are they seriously that better, are they any better?

You know I am a HW fan, so please explain to me whether the other divisions are better, and why. I know Mayweather is the man, Taylor is the man, Wright is, Lacy is, Manny is, but so is Lamon Brewster. Samuel Peter, James Toney, there are good and exciting fighters around.

SeikanJudanski

Well.. pound for pound.. you cannot compare Brewster, Toney and for sure not Peter to the likes of Mayweather... or some of the other champs in the lighter categories.

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