Boxing

[RichC]

Actually Ali has stated many times that he regarded Robinson as the best boxer/fighter of all time.

He often came out with a line that went something like this "I used to call myself the Greatest, but Ray Robinson was the greatest of all time"


Did not know there was a piece on Robinson on Sky today, was it a new piece or a repeat of an old one?

He certainly professed to being the greatest before fighting Liston regardless Im sure he thought SRR was.

It was one I'd seen before but still a good watch

[RichC]

Sounds like Klitschko might be taking on Fury next.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/boxing/32471527

[Doc_Piptorious]

Sounds like Klitschko might be taking on Fury next.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/boxing/32471527

Well there won't be any problems in terms of Klitschko ducking the fight. His style of boxing may not be appealing to many, but he has not ducked anyone to date. The division may not be what it once was, but pretty much every top challenger has been faced by Klitschko.

Must admit I did find some of the reporting of last night's bout a tad amusing.

Many were on about how Klitschko is slowing down and about how well Jennings did. I scored the fight as Klitschko having won 9 of the 12 rounds and it would have been 10 but for a point being deducted in the 10th round.

Jennings did not disgrace himself and fought hard at times, but it was still a very one sided victory for Klitschko against a fighter who was undefeated before last night's bout. I think Klitschko was generous in his praise of Jennings after the fight, but the outcome was never really in any doubt.

[RichC]

Don't enjoy heavyweight boxing these days tbh but you have to admire the job Klischko has done over the years, fought all comers and beaten them all pretty convincingly. The only one left is his brother and that'll never happen for obvious reasons.

Tbf to Fury his size could make this a more awkward bout than most for Kitschko but I still fully expect the usual outcome

[Doc_Piptorious]

Don't enjoy heavyweight boxing these days tbh but you have to admire the job Klischko has done over the years, fought all comers and beaten them all pretty convincingly. The only one left is his brother and that'll never happen for obvious reasons.

Tbf to Fury his size could make this a more awkward bout than most for Kitschko but I still fully expect the usual outcome

Would agree on there being a lack of enjoyment when it comes to watching the heavies nowadays (and for some years if truth be told).

Wlad Klitschko is a bit of a throwback in many ways. He has fought all comers and unusually for a modern era top level boxer he is pushing towards having been in 70 pro fights.

Eventually a younger fighter will catch him due to age finally slowing Klitschko down enough (although he is still a fantastically conditioned athlete) or through Klitschko retiring, but what does it say about all the younger fighters (between 23 and 30 years of age) who like to talk so much about how great they are when a 39 year old man is still the dominant force in the division.

I would even feel confident of Vitali still being able to make an impact on the division if he was able to take 10 to 12 months to get back into fighting shape and Vitali is 43 atm.

A strong heavy division is by far the most exciting division in boxing for my taste (middle and super middle coming close), but it has been some time since we saw a genuinely strong heavy division. In the past decade or so we have really only seen two genuine top tier boxers in the heavyweight division and they are Wlad and Vitali. The last top tier heavyweight that was not a Klitschko was probably Lennox Lewis

[Bender]

This should be renamed The Heavyweight Clown Division

[Doc_Piptorious]

Scary thing is that there are no real stand out young or youngish heavyweights (again in the 23 to 30 bracket) making a mark for themselves at the moment in terms of being the next set of top tier heavies.


There are plenty of guys out there who are being hyped by the media and/or their own PR folk, but I cannot name one young heavy that I would be confident in saying that he might become top tier let alone pick one that I would be fairly sure of becoming top tier.

[RichC]

Thing is with the Klischkos surely near the end of their careers do you need to be top tier to be heavyweight champion at this moment in time ? Once the brothers have gone the likes of Fury or Joshua could well have decent stints at the top due to the genuine lack of quality out there - not saying those two in particular will but in all likelihood the Hw championship(s) will be held by fighters who really shouldn't be near the belts due to circumstances

[Doc_Piptorious]

Thing is with the Klischkos surely near the end of their careers do you need to be top tier to be heavyweight champion at this moment in time ? Once the brothers have gone the likes of Fury or Joshua could well have decent stints at the top due to the genuine lack of quality out there - not saying those two in particular will but in all likelihood the Hw championship(s) will be held by fighters who really shouldn't be near the belts due to circumstances

No you would not need to be top tier or even the tier below that again to be the heavyweight champion if Wlad Klitschko was not around.

A very average pack of fighters will must likely fill the void at that point and the division will become even more irrelevant that it is today.

I am not bemoaning the fact that most of the upcoming fighters in the division are either nowhere near top class or just hype jobs, I am instead bemoaning the fact that a once great division, and it was truly great on a global level for a long time, looks to be heading towards possible it's worst period ever in terms of lack of genuine talent.

Take Wlad away and I bet you would struggle to find any current heavyweight that you could see troubling the better heavyweights of 15 years ago let alone the better ones of further back.

I can honestly say that there is no pairing from the current top 20 heavyweights that would have me thinking it was a must watch fight for me and even less chance of me finding a pairing between any two from numbers 2 to 20 that I would regard as making me feel like I was watching a genuine quality heavyweight bout.

In my lifetime I have never seen such a poor crop of heavyweights and I really do wonder if we will ever see a time again when there are between 5 and 10 fighters in the division at the same time who are all top tier or at the very least the level just below it. Maybe someone young and very special will burst out of nowhere before the decade is out, but remove the Klitschkos and the 2010s have been very poor.

[RichC]

No you would not need to be top tier or even the tier below that again to be the heavyweight champion if Wlad Klitschko was not around.

A very average pack of fighters will must likely fill the void at that point and the division will become even more irrelevant that it is today.

I am not bemoaning the fact that most of the upcoming fighters in the division are either nowhere near top class or just hype jobs, I am instead bemoaning the fact that a once great division, and it was truly great on a global level for a long time, looks to be heading towards possible it's worst period ever in terms of lack of genuine talent.

Take Wlad away and I bet you would struggle to find any current heavyweight that you could see troubling the better heavyweights of 15 years ago let alone the better ones of further back.

I can honestly say that there is no pairing from the current top 20 heavyweights that would have me thinking it was a must watch fight for me and even less chance of me finding a pairing between any two from numbers 2 to 20 that I would regard as making me feel like I was watching a genuine quality heavyweight bout.

In my lifetime I have never seen such a poor crop of heavyweights and I really do wonder if we will ever see a time again when there are between 5 and 10 fighters in the division at the same time who are all top tier or at the very least the level just below it. Maybe someone young and very special will burst out of nowhere before the decade is out, but remove the Klitschkos and the 2010s have been very poor.

Yup real shame tbh.

[marcus50bucks]

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R5gEjs5jfHw"]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R5gEjs5jfHw[/ame]

[Doc_Piptorious]

Yup real shame tbh.

Who I feel somewhat sorry for are the younger kids who are getting into boxing and who are growing up with hyped up fighters as their generations champs.


Take a 40 something guy, If he liked the heavies when he was a kid then he grew up with names like Larry Holmes, Mike Tyson, Riddick Bowe, Evander Holyfield, and Lennox Lewis.

And when we look at that guy's second or third tier heavies we get names like Moorer, Tucker, Smith, Ruddock, Morrison, Berbick and so on.

Who has really been there over the past 10 to 15 years to catch the imagination? If we discount the brothers then who do we end up with as the "superstar" heavies for those growing up with the heavies from the 2000s to now.

Byrd? Haye? Fury? Briggs? Peter? Ruiz? Chagaev? Wilder?


The closest we have right now to an eye catching heavy is Wilder and the jury is still very much out on him despite him being a world champion.

[Doc_Piptorious]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R5gEjs5jfHw

Man I am a sucker for any of these shows. Nothing beats a few old war stories. Am going to enjoy sitting back and watching it now.

[meffin]

Not really a boxing fan, but reading up on this one- they are wearing 8oz gloves. Is that normal in boxing, i always though boxing gloves were generally much bigger than that?

[Vermilion]

The higher the weight class, the more the weight. Heavyweight gloves are 10oz, middleweight are at 8oz. Flyweight are at 6oz. for example.

I think HW even used to use 8oz back in the day.