The Heavyweight Division Part 2

Evander Holyfield's first reign as champion was a bit up and down. He lost the trilogy with Riddick Bowe, losing 2 fights to 1, and he lost to Michael Moorer by unanimous decision. The biggest win of Holyfield's career is when he outpointed and beat Mike Tyson in their first fight, only to get his ear bitten off in their second encounter. During the Holyfield era there were so many different champions. This era of the heavyweight division there were more champions than any other era you had: Ray Mercer, Tommy Morrison, Frank Bruno, Bruce Seldon, Lennox Lewis, Oliver Mccall, Riddick Bowe, and a 45 year old George Foreman. Though Holyfield did not fight every fighter mentioned he fought a majority of them. Holyfield's early reigns as heavyweight champion were solid but he was somewhat undersized compared to other heavyweights. He was a cruiserweight fighting at heavyweight, he was a unified champion and there was nothing else he could do so he decided to move up. The era of Holyfield ended with a draw, and a loss to Lennox Lewis in their unification bout. Lennox Lewis would go on to have a successful reign as the undisputed heavyweight champion for two years until being knocked out by Hasim Rahman in 2001. Lewis would later win the rematch by knocking out Rahman later that year. Lewis retired after a tough bout with Vitali Klitschko which marked the end of another great era in heavyweight history. After the retirement of Lewis many people expected Roy Jones jr. to be the new star of the heavyweight division but it didnt go as planned as he went back down to light heavyweight. Mike Tyson retired in 2005, which left no huge names in the heavyweight division. After the retirement of Lennox Lewis there was a huge plethora of champions. Vitali Klitschko (who would later retire and come back), John Ruiz, Hasim Rahman, Oleg Maskaev, Samuel Peter, Chris Byrd, James Toney ( who later was stripped for using steroids), Sultan Ibragimov, Ruslan Chagaev, and current champions Nikolai Valuev, and Wladimir Klitschko. The most champions in the heavyweight division out of any era. The only dominant champion out of this group was Wladimir Klitschko who holds the most belts. Vitali Klitschko and Nikolai Valuev both hold belts as well but, Wladimir has fought the best competition out of the bunch. He came back after losing to Lamon Brewster to avenge that loss knocking out Brewster, then knocks out Hasim Rahman, Ruslan Chagaev, Tony Thompson, and Calvin Brock who were top heavyweights at the time and the first two former champions. He definately is the man at the heavyweight division now. The only problem is people complain about Wladimir and call him boring. Thats his style hes defensively sound, and sticks behind the jab. Wladimir if he beats Eddie Chambers and Alexander Povetkin will more than likely have a much longer reign than anticipated. They complain about this era of the heavyweight division but this era is no different than the Joe Louis era now that you look at it. Joe Louis held the title for twelve years and was doing this "bum of the month" fighting because he ran out of competition, how about the Rocky Marciano era there wasnt the best competition in his era but hes considered one of the greatest heavyweights of all time because he retired undefeated maybe because he was a joy to watch. Hands down the seventies era was great just full of exciting matchups, but what about the early eighties with Larry Holmes that was a very slow era. I think the Larry Holmes era is just like our current era. Larry Holmes did earn victories over James "bonecrusher Smith, Trevor Berbick, Muhammad Ali, Ray Mercer, but his era is no different than now. No prospects coming up, hes just basically fighting his mandatory, and when Michael Spinks moved up he saw a great opportunity and fought him. The same with David Haye moving up to the heavyweight division. Is the heavyweight division dead? No not at all I think its alive and well we have some good prospects and a great undisputed champion. The only problem is if these prospects jump out in the limelight too early then this could damage them. With the current shape of the heavyweight division they need only one thing and thats one champion altogether. Vitali and Wladimir wont fight each other but with both brothers beating everyone left and right that leaves no opponents for them but mandatories who more than likely arent ready and wont be tested. I believe David Haye will beat Valuev, and if he wins he'll have a great reign which will demand a unification with Wladimir Klitschko, which can be a great matchup for the division. When people think of the heavyweight division they think of the history of Ali, Frazier, and Foreman. But this era is just like the Holmes era with different champions. If there was one champion best believe it would be much better. Take a look at the division now and try to put these heavyweights against the ones from the past. match up Wladimir Klitschko and Joe Frazier, Vitali Klitschko vs George Foreman, and Nikolai Valuev and Muhammad Ali 3 out of 3 wins for the heavyweights of the past. In the eighties put Larry Holmes vs Wladimir Klitschko, Trevor Berbick vs Nikolai Valuev, and Mike Tyson vs Vitali Klitschko on both sides it can be 2-1 for current heavyweights or 2-1 eighties see where i'm getting. The heavyweights will forever be considered the biggest and most talked about division in boxing even if theres complaints or praises people will always talk about the heavyweights.