Heavyweight Division On The Cusp of Greatness

Heavyweight Division On The Cusp of Greatness

By Matthew Dean 

This coming Saturday in LA a massive heavyweight fight will be contested. It will occupy much of the national and international press and a multitude of tv adverts in a bid to increase the buys in the final build up. The undefeated WBC champion Deontay Wilder versus the undefeated former lineal champion Tyson Fury, recently having regained his licence.

In my perspective Deontay Wilder beats Tyson Fury and then becomes the lineal champion. Wilder and Anthony Joshua sign to fight in another “undefeated” segment. Joshua beats Wilder then goes after the now once recently vanquished Fury, in an all Brit spectacle. Joshua then looks to sets up a clash with Usyk who should be settled at the weight then. Once more two undefeated champions will fight each other. However there is a real point here which seems to crop up time and time again.

This isn’t about being undefeated. This is a trivial matter for the hardcore fight fan. This is in essence real fighters, signing up to real matches and us, as the fans, able to sit and enjoy genuine spectacles.

We are on the verge of a truly exciting period for the heavyweight division. A division which has in the recent past lacked the excitement and buzz of yesteryear. I am not talking of the days when Ali, Frazier, Foreman, Norton and Holmes stalked their foes around the squared circle. But any fan of the fight game should be kicking their lips at the prospects of what may lie ahead. This weekend seems to be the doorway to that very place and these three names (hopefully four if Usyk settles at the weight) will accompany us on the journey in the right direction.

We can’t watch fights on terrestrial tv anymore and begrudgingly we fork out our hard-earned cash for these “super-fights”. Clearly we long for matchups, which are not foregone conclusions even before the fighters have inked their names. Services such as DAZN are working to address the exorbitant fees for the PPV events. But we still need value for money as this isn’t free to see either.

What I want to see, what fight fans want to see, what they want to hear is big fights being made. Not that Mr/Mrs Whoever has been paid $100 million to fight an opponent who has zero chance of seeing the bell at the end of round 2

Real fights, genuine risks, that’s what makes this sport we will all adore, so much more appealing.

Who has the bottle to walk the walk.

It doesn’t interest me that 6 weeks of legal wrangling inside an office yield nothing. Fighters are there to do just that. They aren’t meant to talk of fights against who or what might have been. They need their management teams to get the deals signed and to protect their fighters, but they need to do this in the right way by looking after their health and safety inside the ring and protecting them in their lives after boxing. This doesn’t translate into guaranteeing an “0” at the end of their career as this can devalue our entertainment.

Looking at the past when we talk of the “ Greatest of all time” we aren’t interested in whether that boxer retained a perfect record, it’s how and who they fought. Ali fought against 8 inductees of the International Boxing Hall of Fame. He won and lost some of those never to be forgotten epics but he isn’t measured by the fans for win / lose..

Jack Dempsey lost 4 fights before he won the heavyweight title.
Joe Louis lost once before he won the title.
Did we care that Sugar Ray Robinson lost 19 times in the course of his career? No the fans watched because he would fight anyone no matter the threat. Sorry to span divisions but the point here begs to be made.

Greatness is about fighting all comers

Obviously fighters will always be measured to a degree to the perfect 49-0 of Rocky Marciano. Look at the furore around Floyd Mayweather when he contested for that record. But ultimately the stand out feature which defines greatness is the willingness to step inside a ring and go toe to toe with all comers regardless of risk.

Great fighters need each other.

The legacy of greatness in boxing is not linked to the perfect “0” tag and equally so, neither are great fights.

The world is watching and waiting with baited breath as the ride starts to get faster.