Heavyweight - The British era: it's quite good, isn't it?

[Cyclops]

Don't you think this sometimes maligned era of heavyweights, amongst all the politics and paychecks and promoter squabbles, we've actually seen some corking fights with real drama, real "oh my god that never just happened?" moments that we so sorely missed during the previous Eastern European dominated era?

There has been at least 5, in my humble opinion, genuine classic world title fights in front of massive audiences.

Joshua vs Wlad: Real up and down evenly matched battle. Left London looking like there had been an enormous street party the next day.

Wilder vs Ortiz 1: Again, a see-saw fight where one fighter who looked to be the loser turned the fight around.

Fury vs Wilder 1: A relatively cagey affair but Fury's 12th round resurrection must surely count as one of the most mental things seen in the ring in the past 20 years.

Joshua vs Ruiz 1: nobody could have foreseen the one- sided hiding handed out by the unassuming Ruiz to the Adonis giant AJ. Dramatic stuff.

Fury vs Wilder 2: Again, even those who picked Fury by stoppage could not have predicted the ensuing one beatdown. Fury rag dolling the puncher and drinking his blood.

Then there have been some absolute corkers in the lower tiers: Dillian Whyte vs Joseph Parker, Whyte vs Chisora 1, Chisora vs Takam... Not historically significant but great fights to revisit all the same.

With all the belts in the UK right now, this surely will be defined as the British heavyweight era? If you think about it we really have had some exciting fights. I was a teenager throughout the 90's and so didn't really get the chance to see or appreciate much of it at the time. The Eastern European dominated one after that was RUBBISH. I think this era will be remembered as a great one on this side of the pond at least.

[Stuarty]

Winner of Dubois Joyce to come through as well and make a challenge. Looks alright.

[Cyclops]

Winner of Dubois Joyce to come through as well and make a challenge. Looks alright.

Got my tickets

[Stuarty]

Winner of Dubois Joyce to come through as well and make a challenge. Looks alright.

Got my tickets

Nice one mate

[Boxerbeetle]

Yeah it’s been decent to be fair. A million times better than when the Klitschko’s were dominating. The current era has been much more interesting, even though the overall quality remains pretty poor.

[Delta Jay]

It’s funny because according to everyone they’re all shite.

It’s always better to be positive about what we have instead of moaning about how it could be, so I’ll say I agree and it’s been great the past few years.

I’ve grown up in the Klitschko era and maybe that’s why I don’t even really like heavyweights, but I’ve found my self getting excited for the fights more than ever before lately.

[dookus]

It's been pretty great to be fair, the last five years! Not quite up there with the 90s (which for the sheer breadth of quality heavyweights at world level outdid the 70s in my view - if not for cultural significance) but a lot of great nights nonetheless.

[margaret thatcher]

Ya, it's great that an actually good boxer like our Gypsy King and Josh were around to beat up some Klit. Prior to that of course we had Len on top and cutting up some Klit as well, British boxers are the best heavyweights in the world for years now.

[chinarich]

I think it’s a decent era for the Brits. Dubois is still an unknown quantity, he could either get found out or push on; really anyone’s guess there. Until then we have Fury and AJ ruling the roost.

[fanman]

Great thread by the o.p. I agree 100%.

Whilst one could say that aj v Wilder not happening, whilst they were undefeated was a monumental missed opportunity, there have indeed been some greatly dramatical fights.
With AJ v fury being the potential culmination of events, it's looking good.

Just ranking British heavyweights:
1. Fury
2. Joshua
3. Whyte
4. Joyce
5. Chisora
6. Dubois
It's mightily impressive. In fact ring mags top 3 are all British!

[oogiebe]

Certainly better than the US. We have hardly anyone at all who is a even year or two away, if anyone.

[coneye]

What makes the heavyweight scene good ,, is'nt that there are great fighters around , such has your Ali's , Its the fact that although there not great boxers the top a team and even the lower B team are all evenly matched

When you get evenly matched fights you get good fights ,Put together 2 evenly matched guys who can't fight , has long as they think they can fight , then they will have a fight and you'll get an entertaining fight

[chinarich]

What makes the heavyweight scene good ,, is'nt that there are great fighters around , such has your Ali's , Its the fact that although there not great boxers the top a team and even the lower B team are all evenly matched

When you get evenly matched fights you get good fights ,Put together 2 evenly matched guys who can't fight , has long as they think they can fight , then they will have a fight and you'll get an entertaining fight

Exactly this. There have been some really entertaining heavyweight fights in the last few years, not every bout has to be for a major title it just has to be well-matched

[Fray Bentos]

I remember back in the eighties when Hughroy Currie vs Funso Banjo was a highlight - and I remember the headlines when Horace Notice - I think it was against Dave Garside - was the undercard fight of Herol Graham and I think it was Sumbu Kalambay and it was the first time a British heavyweight title fight had been a supporting bout and not top of the bill.

Back then, we hadn't had a world heavyweight boxing champion in around 100 years and up until the advent of Frank Bruno no real contender for one - the country was massively disappointed when Bruno was stopped by Tim Witherspoon - I mean, that was the best chance we had of getting a world heavyweight champion since Bob Fitzsimmons - I thought then it will never ever happen - and look what we have now, except I don't give two shits anymore

I remember being really excited about Alex Garcia in the early nineties as a Hispanic heavyweight hope and then came along Andy Ruiz a couple of decades later...

[Bard of Boxrec]

It’s great times and I’m having a ball watching it all. Still some amazing matchups to be made and Dubois potentially being the next champ.

I can see the rivalries in 5 years time, it’s going to be Dubois, and then the world scene of Ajagba, makhmudov, maybe Usyk could still be around having grown into heavyweight.

Edit . Ok maybe not , he’s 33

[Autobarn]

Great times. Looking back I respect the hell out of Lennox but at the time I never connected with him. He’s pretty much incomparable but he was stubborn and his career was frustrating. Losing at very bad times in shocking circumstances. Plodding through that fight with Ray Mercer, not raising the pace when his whole career was on the line.

And I never enjoyed the Danny Williams era. Always felt I wasn’t seeing his best. He, Audley, Skelton, Sprott looked like they were walking through swamps vs each other.

This era, I’m enjoying it so much. Joshua and Fury both beating Wlad. Then, both heading into dramatic rivalries, with Ruiz and Wilder. Both in thrilling US bouts.

Joshua’s been in some wild and dramatic fights. And Fury’s been in a few scrappy slugfests or bouts punctuated by high drama.

And the “2nd Tier” fights have been freaking awesome. Mostly staged by Eddie Hearn. Nice idea to use international contenders and fringe guys like Povetkin, Takkam, Hunter, Rivas and maximise hard nut gatekeepers like Chisora. And Whyte’s run from domestic threat to world title contender has been very dramatic.

[Cyclops]

Great thread by the o.p. I agree 100%.

Whilst one could say that aj v Wilder not happening, whilst they were undefeated was a monumental missed opportunity, there have indeed been some greatly dramatical fights.
With AJ v fury being the potential culmination of events, it's looking good.

Just ranking British heavyweights:
1. Fury
2. Joshua
3. Whyte
4. Joyce
5. Chisora
6. Dubois
It's mightily impressive. In fact ring mags top 3 are all British!

AJ and Wilder not coming to terms for whatever reason just meant that we got the Fury-Wilder fights which have been my favourites, and the two AJ Ruiz fights which were both good, the second still being entertaining and proving Joshua can switch up his game. I enjoyed it. We all know that the great heavyweights fought each other in rematches and trilogies so I'm coming around to the idea of the third Wilder fight. Hopefully they'll all still fight each other.

This year it already seems as if we're going to get Dubois-Joyce, Chisora-Usyk, Whyte-Povetkin, Fury-wilder 3, AJ-Pulev. All of these are good fights. I wouldn't be surprised to see an upset or two in there. I still think Joyce does Dubois.

[jameswilson]

Similar to Carlos in that I got into boxing just as Lennox retired and had to endure the Williams, Sprott, Skelton and Harrison years. Granted none of these guys were sh1t but if you matched 2 of them it would be the worst fight out of the bunch of heavyweight fights we have coming up.

When David Haye moved up he was a very clear level above all of these guys and this led into the Fury and Price era before Fury’s rise to World champ and the Joshua/Fury era that we find ourselves in now.

Fu ck all of the whingers I’m loving it and will happily stick my £20 in the boxers pockets to watch them.

[dr_devious]

We're probably sticking most of the £20 into Eddie's / Allegedly's / Sky / BT pockets but I get what you mean, I fork out too.

Bit of a p1ss take when Whyte-Povetkin is PPV though

[Fray Bentos]

Similar to Carlos in that I got into boxing just as Lennox retired and had to endure the Williams, Sprott, Skelton and Harrison years. Granted none of these guys were sh1t but if you matched 2 of them it would be the worst fight out of the bunch of heavyweight fights we have coming up.

When David Haye moved up he was a very clear level above all of these guys and this led into the Fury and Price era before Fury’s rise to World champ and the Joshua/Fury era that we find ourselves in now.

Fu ck all of the whingers I’m loving it and will happily stick my £20 in the boxers pockets to watch them.

We were strong for Aud in those days, James! I think we were driving the bandwagon over the cliff!

I thought he was going to become world champion - I would have bet a substansial amount of my Giro on it actually - in fact, I had a bet with an American on WeBL that Audley wouldn't be a world champion by - I think it was 2003 - and the bet was to wear a Pittsburgh Steelers shirt and put it online but where the hell was I going to find a Pittsburgh Steelers shirt in Wigan?

[polecateddy]

The two best British heavies for the 5 years after Lewis retired were Akinwande and Hide, it's just they were nearing the end of their heavy weight careers (Hide then dabbled at cruiser weight) and sadly didn't have many commercial opportunities. Particularly Akinwande, who was totally avoided by most. And neither had a huge interest in fighting Danny Willams, Michael Sprott, Audrey Harrison or Juliuis Francis.

[THEBUTCH]

I'd take this heavyweight era as much as any we've had previously. Everyone is entitled to their opinion but there are a lot of rose-tinted glasses being worn when yesteryear is remembered. The top guys don't avoid each all the time nowadays, which I hear a lot, and eagerly anticipated fights are being made on a regular basis.

[Terminator666]

I bet the yanks hate it- yet when it’s been the other way round, dosent bother me- I’ve enjoyed some of their domination of the heavyweights too

[oogiebe]

I bet the yanks hate it- yet when it’s been the other way round, dosent bother me- I’ve enjoyed some of their domination of the heavyweights too

Of course some on both sides of the pond have resentment when domination occurs. For me my all time fav is Lennox Lewis, so I just care about having HW's I love to watch.

[HeavyHitters]

The British have a good crop of heavyweights in this current era, but in my opinion, nothing compared to what the heavyweight division as a whole was like back in the 90's. You had Riddick Bowe, Mike Tyson, Lennox Lewis, Evander Holyfield, Michael Moorer, Ray Mercer, Donovan "Razor" Ruddock, Tommy Morrison, George Foreman, Larry Holmes, Alex Stewart, Bert Cooper, Oliver McCall, Frank Bruno, Tony Tucker, Henry Akinwande, Shannon Briggs, Herbie Hide, Andrew Golota, Michael Bentt, Ross Puritty, Axel Schulz, Lou Savarese, etc....

And the beauty of that era was..... Most of them fought each other! And not just once, but several times! Matchups like Lewis vs Holyfield I, and II, Bowe vs Holyfield I, II and III, Bowe vs Golota I and II, Tyson vs Bruno I and II, Holyfield vs Moorer I and II, Lewis vs McCall I and II, Holyfield vs Tyson I and II. Back then there was lots of action and plenty of great matchups that were made! Although fans were denied great matchups such as Bowe vs Lewis, Foreman vs Holmes, Morrison vs Bowe, Tyson vs Bowe, most heavyweights were not afraid to fight each other.

For the current British heavyweight landscape to be considered great, the top heavyweights have to NOT be afraid to fight each other. And the upcoming bout between Daniel Dubois vs Joe Joyce is a good start!