BoxRec

The USA historically has owed the heavyweight division, but that has not been the case recently. The last USA born heavyweight champion was Hassim Rhaman in 2001, and his reign was a brief one.

14 years have passed. How much longer until the USA has the lineal or ring magazine champion at heavyweight? Your best guess please.

I don't think anytime soon.Wilder is our only real shot over the next couple of years.
And his odds ore slim to none.
Joshua and Fury have the best shot of being the next undisputed champions.
So I would say at the earliest 5 years from now.And I doubt it then

Wilder has a slight puncher's chance against Klitchko. Otherwise, there is nobody on horizon to do that in the next 4 years.

pound per pound wrote:The USA historically has owed the heavyweight division, but that has not been the case recently. The last USA born heavyweight champion was Hassim Rhaman in 2001, and his reign was a brief one.

14 years have passed. How much longer until the USA has the lineal or ring magazine champion at heavyweight? Your best guess please.

Shannon Briggs was WBO champ in 2006


Edit-ive just realized you mean lineal

pound per pound wrote:The USA historically has owed the heavyweight division, but that has not been the case recently. The last USA born heavyweight champion was Hassim Rhaman in 2001, and his reign was a brief one.

14 years have passed. How much longer until the USA has the lineal or ring magazine champion at heavyweight? Your best guess please.

It really comes down to whether Wilder can win it or not and that may be governed by how long Wlad hangs around for.

I just cant see Wilder beating Wlad.......every other fight is winnable. Povetkin has looked really good since Wlad. I I think Wilder kos Fury. Joshua is still a big ??? to me. Looks like the real deal tho.

It had better be wilder because there is absolutely no one else even remotely on the radar.

I give Wilder a much better chance against Wlad than the majority of people. I believe he utilizes his size very well. He is taller, longer, and faster than Wlad. I see this being a much more competitive fight than most. If they meet, I would actually be betting on the upset.

Joshua/Wilder is a different story.

[quote="Impractical Poster"]I give Wilder a much better chance against Wlad than the majority of people. I believe he utilizes his size very well. He is taller, longer, and faster than Wlad. I see this being a much more competitive fight than most. If they meet, I would actually be betting on the upset.

Me too wlads one weakness is his chin and wilder can punch and is quick plus wilder has shown that he can still punch later in the of the unlike many big punchers , don't get me wrong I still see wlad winning by ko but if wilder lands it could be lights out

Impractical Poster wrote:I give Wilder a much better chance against Wlad than the majority of people. I believe he utilizes his size very well. He is taller, longer, and faster than Wlad. I see this being a much more competitive fight than most. If they meet, I would actually be betting on the upset.

Joshua/Wilder is a different story.

The guy who got stunned by Molina is going to beat Wlad?

Keep dreaming as sometimes they do come true.

I actually think Wlad is ready to be taken.I was far from impressed with his performance against
Jennings.I think he is still the best out there but can you honestly see Jennings having any success
against Wlad a year or 2 ago?I can't.I think he is ready to fall.

Baby Face Finster wrote:

Impractical Poster wrote:I give Wilder a much better chance against Wlad than the majority of people. I believe he utilizes his size very well. He is taller, longer, and faster than Wlad. I see this being a much more competitive fight than most. If they meet, I would actually be betting on the upset.

Joshua/Wilder is a different story.

The guy who got stunned by Molina is going to beat Wlad?

Keep dreaming as sometimes they do come true.

Wilder got just as stunned by Molina as GGG did against Stevens.

When the sun rises in the west and sets in the east. When the seas go dry and mountains blow in the wind like leaves.

Are there no hot US prospects with only a few fights under their belt? George Arias?

Impractical Poster wrote:

Baby Face Finster wrote:

Impractical Poster wrote:I give Wilder a much better chance against Wlad than the majority of people. I believe he utilizes his size very well. He is taller, longer, and faster than Wlad. I see this being a much more competitive fight than most. If they meet, I would actually be betting on the upset.

Joshua/Wilder is a different story.

The guy who got stunned by Molina is going to beat Wlad?

Keep dreaming as sometimes they do come true.

Wilder got just as stunned by Molina as GGG did against Stevens.

When did Stevens buckle GGG like Molina buckled Wilder in the third? Surely you don't mean that GGG was stunned to the same extent.....

I actually think Wlad is ready to be taken.I was far from impressed with his performance against
Jennings.I think he is still the best out there but can you honestly see Jennings having any success
against Wlad a year or 2 ago?I can't.I think he is ready to fall.

Thing is that even at this point top contenders aren't winning more than 3 rounds against him. Wlad may have declined but for him to fall someone has to beat him.

If Wilder ever fights Wlad, Wilder may have a punchers chance.
But he will have to land a bomb early to have any chance at all, as once Wlad gets into his flow and starts landing right hands it will be game over.

The problem is as Burt Sugar was saying for years before his untimely death - "all the best US Heavyweights are in the NFL" - they are getting millions upon millions in their contracts, and that robs them of the hunger to succeed in the boxing ring.

Impractical Poster wrote:

Baby Face Finster wrote:

Impractical Poster wrote:I give Wilder a much better chance against Wlad than the majority of people. I believe he utilizes his size very well. He is taller, longer, and faster than Wlad. I see this being a much more competitive fight than most. If they meet, I would actually be betting on the upset.

Joshua/Wilder is a different story.

The guy who got stunned by Molina is going to beat Wlad?

Keep dreaming as sometimes they do come true.

Wilder got just as stunned by Molina as GGG did against Stevens.

Your drunk. GGG never felt a punch in that fight with Stevens. Craziness.

Unfortunately, I think Tarver at almost 50 years old is our best option. NO joke. I think Tarver knocks out Wilder right now.

I guess there are a few left that actually care about lineal titles?

As far as getting stunned, most if not all of the top boxers have been "stunned". It doesn't equate to having a weak chin. Getting stunned is a lot different than getting KO'd. People seem to forget Wlad was KO'd 3 times, so he is far from unbeatable. I think both Wilder and Joshua have a legit puncher's chance to KO Wlad. Wlad has got a lot smarter since he was knocked out, but a few big shots over the course of the fight can change everything.

Tarver KO's Wilder?

Maybe in 10 years or so. right now klitschko is the champ and while wilder is a solid prospect AJ and parker are better prospects than him and could probably take the torch from klitschko.

at some Point there will be a great american HW again but we probably won't see a total dominance (top 5 all being americans like in the 70s) again.

Crease wrote:The problem is as Burt Sugar was saying for years before his untimely death - "all the best US Heavyweights are in the NFL" - they are getting millions upon millions in their contracts, and that robs them of the hunger to succeed in the boxing ring.

That's a fallacy. Boxers are born not made. Just because someone makes it at football doesn't mean they would also have made it as boxers. The skills are completely different.

Baby Face Finster wrote:That's a fallacy. Boxers are born not made. Just because someone makes it at football doesn't mean they would also have made it as boxers. The skills are completely different.

But it is extremely plausible that big men who could have succeeded as Heavyweight have fallen through the net and into the ranks of the NFL.

Crease wrote:

Baby Face Finster wrote:That's a fallacy. Boxers are born not made. Just because someone makes it at football doesn't mean they would also have made it as boxers. The skills are completely different.

But it is extremely plausible that big men who could have succeeded as Heavyweight have fallen through the net and into the ranks of the NFL.

Anything is plausible. It's plausible that if Canadian's took up boxing instead of hockey we would have a whole lot more world champions. How many world strong man competitors have become boxing champions? You'd think that their strength would translate well into boxing but none that I know of have ever succeeded. The same with bodybuilders. You could make a whole lot more in boxing than bodybuilding but how many converted bodybuilders have succeeded as boxers? None that I know of. Plausible yes, realistic no.

Just because someone is athletic in one sport doesn't necessarily mean they would be just as athletic in the other. Michael Jordan is the perfect example. The best in basketball but very ordinary in baseball. I know a few have actually succeeded in more than one sport but those are very few and far between. The most successful boxers are those that do it from an early age. If they go into other sports there is no need to speculate what could have been as they selected the sport they liked the most. Like I said earlier. Boxers are born not made.

Baby Face Finster wrote:Like I said earlier. Boxers are born not made.

Brendan Ingle would disagree with you. And Benny Leonard learnt his trade at the elbow of Gene Tunney.

tiny_acres wrote:I don't think anytime soon.Wilder is our only real shot over the next couple of years.
And his odds ore slim to none.
Joshua and Fury have the best shot of being the next undisputed champions.
So I would say at the earliest 5 years from now.And I doubt it then

I suspect once Wlad retires we will never see the titles unified like this again.
The heavyweight division will go the way of pretty much every weight class, with belts scatted to the 4 corners of the earth, with no outright champion and the linear title meaning little to anyone other than a handful of stattos on here