Where Have All THE Heavyweights Gone?
By Teodoro Medina Reynoso
PhilBoxing.com
Mon, 23 Dec 2024
In the land of the blind, the one-eyed is king.
It could be said that in the heavyweights now, he who can move, put punches together nicely and has the better stamina, will reign supreme in the land of modern giants.
Watching the much ballyhooed Tyson Fury-Oleksandr Usyk rematch (as in their first fight), I felt like being teleported back in the time of Jack Dempsey fighting, no make that brutalizing, the giants like of Jess Willard and Primo Carnero a century ago.
Now I know how the boxing fans of yore must have felt like-- a mix feeling of initial excitement and thrill, and later more of disgust and pity for the bigger, supposedly stronger guy, in this case Tyson Fury. as he was virtually battered from pillar to post by the efficient though not as impetuous as Dempsey, Usyk.
I don't know if we can call this progress. That of being given a series of spectacle and experience in the supposedly most prized division in boxing that remind of Dempsey and his helpless and hapless giant victims. No offense meant to Dempsey, he is really one of the greatest heavyweights to roam the square arena.
Sorry but really I am more truly thrilled by Steven Spielberg's attempt to bring his audience back in the times of real giant beasts through his Jurassic Park series.
Indeed, we can only have so much diet of Usyk against Jurrasic throwback giants of Fury and Anthony Joshua, albeit as modern varieties or versions.
We have also had our fill of the Godzilla series with Fury and Joshua against the Klitschkos and the Fury versus Deontay Wilder series before Usyk came along.
Makes me think, where have all THE heavyweights the likes of Mike Tyson, Evander Holyfield and Lennox Lewis at least, gone? Of course the likes of Muhammad Ali and George Foreman would be asking too much.
When can we have a real heavyweight contest, that of between equally sized and matched opponents?
The heavyweights, I believe, is not in dearth of fighters that meet the mentioned desired criteria that would make us truly titillated. Instead of these ad nauseum involving Fury and Wilder and Usyk and Joshua and Usyk and Fury the past four years!
Boxing especially at heavyweight should propel us fans forward in terms of viewing pleasure and experience. And not send us back to the times of huge plodding giants who could barely move and put punches together against one another.
Or against smaller but energetic foes making them such miserable pictures of inefficiency and their opponents looking like hall of famers.
Really, is Usyk that great or Fury and Joshua before him really that bad?
I surely pine for the halcyon days of Mike Tyson and Commander Vander who despite being short for heavyweights, could take on and utterly beat through their talent and brute strength heavyweight opponents approximating their size, even a head taller and several pounds heavier
The last time Usyk faced a heavyweight nearer his size and built, Daniel Dubois, he was saved by the referee who ruled that the shot that sent him excruciating in pain to the canvas was a low blow though many saw it as fair or beltline.
Perhaps demoralized by how things went, Dubois soon lost heart and went down to a later round stoppage to Usyk who was able to collect himself and regather strength from the long rest afforded by the referee.
I never imagined a Tyson or Holyfield feigning hurt from a low blow to save their ass in their time!
So verdict on Usyk as the best heavyweight around still hangs, as far as this writer is concerned, despite four wins over the giants but morose likes of Joshua and Fury.
So much for hype and publicity!
The author Teodoro Medina Reynoso is a veteran boxing radio talk show host living in the Philippines. He can be reached at teddyreynoso@yahoo.com and by phone 09215309477.
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Teodoro Medina Reynoso.
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