DaTruthBoxing.com

It is no secret that the heavyweight division is, and has been, in trouble for quite some time now. It used to be the gem of boxing, standing in the spotlight representing the best of the sport. There were times when the best got sullied and knocked down by the worst things that went hand in hand with the game, but the best was always able to get up, dust itself off and proudly continue to represent. Well it is still sort of under the lights, but only as the doormat you use to wipe the dirt and grime off your feet before entering the house of boxing to feast off the other divisions that carries the weight, while shining under the lights, these days. How it got that way is anyone’s guess, but there is certainly enough blame to go around and then some. The fighters, promoters, MMA, fans, sign of the times. Take your pick. There’s plenty more to pull out the bag of tricks. Recently things seemed to hit rock bottom when HBO honcho, Ross Greenburg, expressed a lack of interest in the Klitschko brothers, particularly with what was then to be, IBF and WBO champion Wladimir (54-3, 48 KOs) taking on Alexander Povetkin (19-0, 14 KOs). The look-alike brothers were flabbergasted to find out that Greenburg had berated them as being boring despite the fact that they drew good ratings for the network, but the big money lies in PPV sales and even though the brothers do big time on the other side of the ocean, HBO knew that they would lose out big time with their bread and butter, the American audience, who for the most part, shares Greenburg’s sentiments. Are the champion brothers that good, or is the current crop of fighters that bad? There are competitive matches involving other heavyweight fighters, but when they go up against the behemoth brothers it is downhill for the opposition. Since when do such dominant fighters take such a bad rap? Many feel that with their size, the Ukrainian wrecking crew should be explosive on every outing rather than acting as though mixing it up might cause them to catch a new social disease. There was a press conference and Povetkin took on the role of many established fighters, by not showing up. This left the champ peeved and the IBF insulted to such an extent that they decided kick Al to the curb and promote Samuel Peter, into the lofty slot. Although he is undefeated it wasn’t really good for business that Povetkin’s trainer Teddy Atlas was publicly saying that his charge wasn’t ready for the big time. Most last saw Samuel Peter have his biggest nightmare when he lost his WBC championship to Vitali, who was in his first fight upon returning from a lengthy absence due to injuries. That loss was followed by another Peter defeat at the hands of Eddie Chambers, whose last fight just so happened to be against Wladimir, who went on to pop fast Eddie in the 12th round. Once upon a time Samuel was considered to be one of the best heavyweights around. That is until he entered the ring against, Wladimir, who was coming off a rough time where he suffered a couple of knockouts and it was actually suggested that he should concentrate more on his academic pursuits. That fight had Klitschko looking like a deer caught in the headlights as he was down twice in the 5th and once in the 10th round, but Peter was unable to bid him goodnight, and tired severely down the stretch. A little less tired Wladimir was able to pull out the victory. After
Samuel’s loss to Chambers, he reeled off four straight knockouts against unheralded opponents and he has dropped over twenty pounds since his encounter with Klitschko that might help him stamina-wise. Interestingly enough, the last time the champ had any real difficulty in a fight was against the Nigerian strongman. So there is a lot going on in this fight that’ll make fans take notice. Other than Chris Arreola against Vitali or Arreola against Tomasz Adamek this is the only other anticipated heavyweight encounter in recent memory, but it remains to be seen if people care enough to go into their pockets. This should be a freebie. The heavyweights need a boost. If the fight turns out to be a good one it would benefit the many who would tuned in and might have returned, instead of the few who probably pay for most so-called boxing events. The heavyweight division can become big again. Perhaps it will never return to the glory days when a heavyweight championship fight was the biggest thing going down in sports. All it takes is nurturing. Look at MMA. It really got big once it began to make the public familiar enough with the product to buy into it. That isn’t a new formula. It is one that was made successful by boxing when it invested in the long term instead of short windfalls, which continues to get shorter until you have the very people that run the thing chewing it up and spitting it out. It isn’t rocket science. It’s all about commitment and dedication.