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Heavyweight help wanted
By Joe Nguyen
nguyejos@mscd.edu

Oh, how the mighty have fallen.

Back in the glory days, the heavyweight division was considered the cornerstone of professional boxing. Excitement and anticipation filled the air in the months leading up to a bout that unified two major titles, a fight pitting two chiseled gladiators in the prime of their careers in a 12- or 15-round slugfest.

More often than not the match ended with one man crumpling to the ground, leaving no doubt as to who was the victor.

Today the weight class is littered with over-the-hill, mediocre, dull combatants. There are four major belts, each owned by a different boxer. Fights tend to drag on for the entire 12 rounds, leaving the decision in the hands of judges. And there hasn’t been a unification fight since Lennox Lewis fought Evander Holyfield in 1999.

Of the four titleholders, only IBF champion Wladimir Klitschko has consistently defeated top-tier opponents during his two-year reign.

World Boxing Association champion Nikolay Valuev and WBC champion Oleg Maskaev have dominated undeserving, mandatory challengers presented by their respective sanctioning bodies. And WBO champion Shannon Briggs has yet to defend his belt since knocking out Serguei Lyakhovich in November.

And each one has the personality of a loaf of bread. It’s not a question of why these four are champions, but why anyone would care.

Klitschko, who’s the best of the group on paper, has the abilities and physical attributes to unite the titles. He has the knockout power to elicit oohs and aahs from the crowd, but without a rival, there’s little public interest.

Muhammed Ali had Joe Frazier. Mike Tyson had Evander Holyfield. Rivalries drive professional boxing’s popularity.

His most intriguing opponent is the 7-foot, 325-pound Valuev. Valuev has yet to face an opponent of Klitschko’s status, but he is far larger than anyone Klitschko has faced. The problem with Valuev is that he can best be described as “The Big Molasses.” He’s a slow, meandering ogre who relies almost exclusively on his jab. That doesn’t make for entertaining action.

In a time when the lightweights and middleweights garner most of the attention from fight fans, the heavyweight division desperately needs a skilled, charismatic boxer with immense punching power.

It’s depressing when 44-year-old Holyfield’s midlife-crisis comeback is the biggest story about the weight class.