Light Heavyweight Division Making a Comeback in 2017?
By Ralph Rimpell
PhilBoxing.com
Tue, 06 Jun 2017
Michael Spinks.
Do any of you boxing fans remember Michael Spinks, Dwight Muhammad Qwai, Eddie Mustafa Muhammad, and Marvin Johnson? These fighters were light heavyweight champions that fought in the late 1970s and the 1980s in what was described by some writers as the ?Golden Age? of the Light heavyweight division.
Spinks bested the other three and everyone else in his way and ended up at top of the hill and become the Undisputed light heavyweight champion (WBC, WBA, and IBF Champion*). He then moved up to heavyweight and upset the great Larry Holmes in 1985 for the IBF Heavyweight title.
With the abdication of Spinks titles, the other fighters retiring, and/or declined in skill level, fighters like Prince Charles Williams, Michael Moore, and Virgil Hill tried to fill the void in the Light heavyweight division. The problem was they never fought each other. Virgil Hill avoided Williams and Moore like the plague. Moore left light heavyweight division for greener pastures in the Heavyweight division and ended up winning the Heavyweight title twice before retiring.
We saw an occasional ?big fights? from fighters like Thomas Hearns and Iran Barkley, but nothing compared to what this writer calls the ?Spinks era? where the best of the best fought each other. Then came the arrival of Darius Michalczewski who at one time held all four major belts (WBA, WBC, WBO, IBF) and was the first in the light heavyweight division to do so since the inception of the WBO*. Roy Jones Jr. would later unify three of the major titles (WBA, WBC, and IBF). The fans wanted to see both fighters face each other in a Superfight. Problem was Michalczewski fought all of his fights in Europe and at the time Roy Jones fought all his fights in the USA and neither fighter would budge as to the fight location. That being the case, there was no known reports of alternative countries suggested or offered for the proposed bout to take place at the time. Canada could have been a neutral and ideal location. That would?ve been a ?no brainer? if this writer was involved in trying to make Jones-Michalczewski. Didn?t Sugar Ray Leonard (USA) fight Roberto Duran (Panama) in Montreal? Much to the dismay of fight fans, Roy Jones Jr. and Darius Michalczweki never fought each other.
Now fast forward to 2017. The Boxers who are at the top of the division are Andre ward (IBF, WBA, WBO champion), Adonis Stevenson (WBC champion), and Sergey Kovalev. Kovalev lost a controversial decision and his light heavyweight titles to Ward back in November 2016. The two will rematch in less than two weeks.
Kovalev has been calling out Stevenson for over two years, Stevenson has said he wants the winner of Kovalev-Ward. The Kovalev-Ward winner versus Stevenson will surely be an exciting fight. Boxing fans know Kovalev wants to fight Stevenson. Should Ward prevail against Kovalev will he fight Stevenson? That would be an exciting fight as well. Then there is always the possibility that Gennady ?Easy Work? Golovkin could someday move up to the 175lb division after cleaning house at 160lbs and at 168lbs. The light heavyweight division could definitely heat up again as long as the top fighters are willing to fight each other.
*WBO did not come into existence until 1988.
Boxing Notes
For the second time in a row we saw a fight involving Kell Brook stopped or because he quit because of an eye injury. In both fights he was performing beautifully before the fight was stopped. First against Gennady ?Easy Work? Golovkin and then two weeks ago in a fight he was doing even better against American Errol Spence Jr. that he could have won. Could someone give Kell Brook Sugar Ray Leonard?s phone number so Leonard can explain to Brook why he didn?t quit and how he defeated Thomas ?Hit Man ?Hearns with a detached retina?...Mikey Garcia-Adrian Broner? Sounds great, but didn?t Broner lose his WBA Jr. Welterweight title on the scales because he couldn?t make weight for the Theophane fight? He didn?t even try to go and lose the couple of extra pounds to save his title. His last fight was at 147lbs against Adrian Granados which he won by split decision victory. Now he backtracks and says he owns the 140lbs division where he will fight Mikey Garcia. Is Broner serious about owning the 140lbs division? Garcia camp better have a penalty clause in the contract if Broner doesn?t make weight?Some controversy regarding Kovalev trainer, John David Jackson who happens to be one of the best trainers in boxing, approaching the Ward Camp to defect from the Kovalev camp. Having considered all the information available to the media and from a confidential source, Jackson was wrong to offer his services to the other camp while stilled employed by Kovalev. Not saying Jackson does not have valid complaints against Kovalev, but there is a professional way to handle problems. Inquiring boxing minds can only wonder how long Jackson will remain a part of Team Kovalev win, lose, or draw against Ward. Smart move by Team Ward for not hiring Jackson. ?If he did it to him (Kovalev), he can do it to you (Ward)?, as the expression goes.
Contact Writer: RLuvsboxing@aol.com
***Ralph Rimpell is a writer based out of New York and is a Boxing Correspondent for Philboxing.com. Ralph holds an undergraduate degree from City University of New York. He has been a Boxing Writer for over ten years having written for several top boxing websites on the World Wide Web. Before becoming a writer, Ralph's passion was for professional wrestling until he realized professional wrestling was entertainment and not a real sport. It was at that time the 1984 US Olympic team made up of future stars such as Evander Holyfield, Meldrick Taylor, Pernell Whitaker, etc. entered the professional ranks and signed with promotional outfit Main Events.It was also at that time a young exciting Heavyweight originally hailing from Brooklyn named Mike Tyson also turned professional and became the face of boxing. Young boxing fan Ralph just couldn't get enough of boxing as a large part of it was being broadcast on "free TV". As time went on, Ralph felt boxing writers were not being forthcoming with their boxing coverage, opinion pieces, interviews, etc. So Ralph decided to write an article and submitted it to a Boxing website thinking it would be deleted and ignored by the Editor. To Ralph's surprise his article was posted on their website and the readers embraced it. The rest is history.
"I thank God for the Internet because it has created opportunities for writers like myself who likely would not have been given an opportunity to write for print publications. I hope someday soon to expand my role in Boxing on different levels." -- Ralph Rimpell
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Ralph Rimpell.
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