There was once a time where you could pick a stranger out of the crowd and ask them who the Heavyweight Champion of the World is and the majority of the time you’d get the right answer. If you did the same now you would not get the same kind of response. Does this mean that boxing has lost its popularity or is it a problem with the division?
For the best part of this decade the welterweights and middleweights have taken charge. Oscar De La Hoya, Mayweather and Hatton are perhaps the best known names in the business. They are common names with most sports fans, but do they resonate to the non-sport loving public?
It is perhaps no longer possible for a boxer to have global appeal like an Ali did. You could argue that Hatton is known in the public domain in the UK but not globally. There has most definitely been a lull in the global appeal of boxing but this is down to the lack of creativity on the promotional side, not a lack of talent. The problems in the Heavyweight division are down to a lack of depth in world-class boxers.
So who is the World Heavyweight Champion? Well, that in itself is not a straight forward question, are you talking about the WBA World Heavyweight Champion, the WBC Champion, WBO? IBO? IBF?
The original Heavyweight Title, was the WBA Title. This was the historic title held by Louis, Liston, Ali, Frazier, Foreman, Tyson and Lewis. Who holds this title at the moment? Nikolai Valuev. Now if you want to start thinking about the problems with the Heavyweight division then Nikolai Valuev is a good place to start.
Over 7 foot tall, well over 300 pounds but to call him a boxer is a shame to the sport. Case in point, his fight with Evander Holyfield. Evander Holyfield, at the age of 46, was a slow, powerless man and yet he ran circles around Valuev.
Valuev stood there like a punching bag, on occasion pulling out a jab or two. Holyfield won the fight with ease in the eyes of the Swiss crowd and in the eyes of anyone bored enough to watch the fight. The judges, somehow, called the fight in favour of Valuev. It was, for me, the night Heavyweight boxing died. It put forward an interesting question, who would you rather have hold that title? A slow, talentless, 36 year old giant or a clumsy, once great, 46 year old?
It must be said that Valuev is by no means the best heavyweight currently out there. There are two very good fighters in the Klitschko brothers. It could be said that in a different era they would have challenged for titles still and be given the respect they deserve. It is also interesting to note that since Lennox Lewis, British boxing has not produced a Heavyweight of note. Could it be that without a serious British or American contender that we are living in a bubble? Perhaps the world outside America and Britain does still care about Heavyweight boxing.
But all that is about to change with Britain’s David Haye. The undisputed Cruiserweight Champion has taken on the challenge to resurrect the Heavyweight division. A proposed fight with one of the Klitschko brothers fell through with an injury to Haye, but this actually opened up a more prominent fight with Valuev. David Haye now has the opportunity of 12 rounds with a punching bag, it is a guaranteed world title and it will finally dispel the Valuev myth.
He has declared war on the Klitschko brothers with a refreshing confidence and when, not if, he beats Valuev he will set up the biggest Heavyweight contest since Lewis-Holyfield. So take note of the date, 7th November 2009. It will be the date Heavyweight boxing was brought back from the dead.
