For what it's worth, this may be a golden era for Polish heavyweights as we have seen at least a half-dozen Poles make their way in and out of the Top 10 over the last several years. But while the heavyweight talent pool in Poland has never been deeper, it's all for naught in the era of the world champion Klitschkos, where the dominant brothers, Wladimir and the now-retired … [Read more...]
Heat Treatment: Heavyweight Division Sizzles With Title Eliminators and Other Treats for 2014
by Johnny Walker If boxing's heavyweight division was, as this writer has contended, underrated in the value it provided in 2011 and 2012, there's no getting around the fact that in 2013 it did kind of suck. When even Klitschko fans can't really defend an aesthetic disaster like the world champion Wladimir 's Povetkin fight, you know times are tough. Actually, even the … [Read more...]
The Bronze Bomber Movin’ On Up: Deontay Wilder To Fight Malik Scott
by Johnny Walker He's got a bronze medal from the Olympics, and he's got 30 knockouts in his 30 professional boxing matches to date. What he doesn't have a lot of, so far, is respect. "Caddies, cabbies, ex-basketball players and bartenders" are often some of the terms used to describe the quality of rising, 6' 7" American heavyweight Deontay Wilder's opposition (and … [Read more...]
Pinned: Bryant Jennings Hands Poland’s Artur Szplika His First Loss
by Johnny Walker If there were any doubts among fans of American heavyweight boxing as to who might next step up to the world class level, Bryant "Bye-Bye" Jennings put himself squarely in the running Saturday night at the theatre in Madison Square Garden, Manhattan, by handing another rising heavyweight, Poland's Artur "The Pin" Szpilka, his first defeat. Neither man … [Read more...]
Szpilka vs Jennings: Will “The Pin” Burst The Balloon of American Heavyweight Fans’ Dreams?
by Johnny Walker It's hardly a secret that many American fight fans--and maybe American boxing networks as well--can hardly wait to see the reign of the men who have ruled the heavyweight division of boxing (until the arrival of Lennox Lewis, mostly American-ruled territory) come to an end. It's been endlessly debated in this country as to "what is wrong" with the … [Read more...]