No HBO for Klitschko

[El Kabong]

I don't think height has as much to do with it as style....I mean if there was another Tyson people would pay to watch him fight Wladimir. Eddie Chambers is talented but it's just his style is to hang back and counter, he has power but nothing really shocking.

I'd rather see Chambers fight someone else...I like the dude and I don't want his career to go all Calvin Brock because Wlad is going to KO him.

[HattonTheHammer]

I don't think height has as much to do with it as style....I mean if there was another Tyson people would pay to watch him fight Wladimir. Eddie Chambers is talented but it's just his style is to hang back and counter, he has power but nothing really shocking.

I'd rather see Chambers fight someone else...I like the dude and I don't want his career to go all Calvin Brock because Wlad is going to KO him.

but there isnt tyson, holyfield, bowe etc anymore and until the US can actually pull there finger out and start asking why these guys arent coming through anymore the klitschkos and any other world class foreign heavyweight leave the scene the division is just one big very unattractive mess.

[El Kabong]

True there aren't any heavyweight greats coming into the division anytime soon....I have high hopes for Deontay Wilder but he's 24 had only 8 fights and he's really raw. The heavyweight division imparticular goes through ebbs and flows of talent rich and talent deprived eras as well as action rich and action deprived eras and right now I see the lack of intrest in the division more as #1 nobody thinks the guys in the top 20 can beat the Klitschko's right now and #2 the personalities in the division aren't electric enough to keep the attention of the average sports fan.


I will say this, both the Klitschko's have been dominant enough to be compared to what other Great heavyweights have done but their opposition lacks the danger and their fights lack the drama that the likes of Lewis, Holyfield, Holmes, and of course Ali/Frazier/Foreman faced. It's not 100% their fault...they have to fight who is out there and right now it's not a lot. I'm surprised they can keep their focus

[HattonTheHammer]

True there aren't any heavyweight greats coming into the division anytime soon....I have high hopes for Deontay Wilder but he's 24 had only 8 fights and he's really raw. The heavyweight division imparticular goes through ebbs and flows of talent rich and talent deprived eras as well as action rich and action deprived eras and right now I see the lack of intrest in the division more as #1 nobody thinks the guys in the top 20 can beat the Klitschko's right now and #2 the personalities in the division aren't electric enough to keep the attention of the average sports fan.


I will say this, both the Klitschko's have been dominant enough to be compared to what other Great heavyweights have done but their opposition lacks the danger and their fights lack the drama that the likes of Lewis, Holyfield, Holmes, and of course Ali/Frazier/Foreman faced. It's not 100% their fault...they have to fight who is out there and right now it's not a lot. I'm surprised they can keep their focus

Ive been told many a time from those inside and outside the sport it is simply a case of boxing losing its heavyweight talent to the NFL?

Any truth in this??

[Nameless]

True there aren't any heavyweight greats coming into the division anytime soon....I have high hopes for Deontay Wilder but he's 24 had only 8 fights and he's really raw. The heavyweight division imparticular goes through ebbs and flows of talent rich and talent deprived eras as well as action rich and action deprived eras and right now I see the lack of intrest in the division more as #1 nobody thinks the guys in the top 20 can beat the Klitschko's right now and #2 the personalities in the division aren't electric enough to keep the attention of the average sports fan.


I will say this, both the Klitschko's have been dominant enough to be compared to what other Great heavyweights have done but their opposition lacks the danger and their fights lack the drama that the likes of Lewis, Holyfield, Holmes, and of course Ali/Frazier/Foreman faced. It's not 100% their fault...they have to fight who is out there and right now it's not a lot. I'm surprised they can keep their focus

Ive been told many a time from those inside and outside the sport it is simply a case of boxing losing its heavyweight talent to the NFL?

Any truth in this??

NFL, NBA are some of the causes for one obvious reason which I did read a few articles about including one made by Bob Arum: Iin country like Russia, boxing is the best chance for big guys to earn some decent bucks if they can get through. In the United States, at College, if you're good at Football or Basketball, you can have your studies all paid and make money over it... not to say that if you're good, you can even make a very good living out of it. Why would the big guys go through all the pain of boxing with all the difficulties and the pain that comes with it to make only a few bucks if you'Re lucky when the basic standard of NBA or NFL will guarantee you something like 800 000 a year? If you're becoming very good, you earn, in average (of course some rare exceptions applies) more than the average boxer without all the head trauma and the all year long intensive training that comes with it? include to that the fact that there is much bigger need for guaranteed job in these leagues than there is in boxing with a much higher payroll guaranteed (when in boxing you never know as your opponent might be injured, same for you and then no dough), the big guys prefer to try something out of these leagues sports as it is a much safer guaranteed for their future and it is easier. Russia and other countries where these leagues do not exist do not have these possibilities, hence why there is such a raise of talent in the countries from the East.

[Zilla]

Can you imagine Shaq fighting? I know it's laughable as the guy can't fight worth anything, but if he'd grown up doing it he might have been a monster. What was he, 340 at his biggest in his prime? He would have killed guys with his jab alone.

[Zilla]

I personally would have liked to have seen Ben Wallace as a heavy. 6'10", 240, always in great physical condition. He would have mauled people.

[generalbulldog]

Can you imagine Shaq fighting? I know it's laughable as the guy can't fight worth anything, but if he'd grown up doing it he might have been a monster. What was he, 340 at his biggest in his prime? He would have killed guys with his jab alone.

No I can't imagine Shaq fighting. I think Angelo Dundee said it best that the best HW's usually don't have much mass because with that much weight they are slower and lacked the lateral movement inside the ring, plus he also said something that made sense, in that the muscles requires a lot of oxygen to operate and that with that much weight they tend to tire easily. If you look at Lennox, Klit brothers, and HWs that are very large like that they tend to have a fighting style that are more conservative and not wasteful of energy. This makes a lot of sense. He said the perfect HW build would be around 215-220 and around 6'2" to 6'4", any taller or bigger then they won't have the agility or stamina to be that effective.

[Hulk]

True there aren't any heavyweight greats coming into the division anytime soon....I have high hopes for Deontay Wilder but he's 24 had only 8 fights and he's really raw. The heavyweight division imparticular goes through ebbs and flows of talent rich and talent deprived eras as well as action rich and action deprived eras and right now I see the lack of intrest in the division more as #1 nobody thinks the guys in the top 20 can beat the Klitschko's right now and #2 the personalities in the division aren't electric enough to keep the attention of the average sports fan.


I will say this, both the Klitschko's have been dominant enough to be compared to what other Great heavyweights have done but their opposition lacks the danger and their fights lack the drama that the likes of Lewis, Holyfield, Holmes, and of course Ali/Frazier/Foreman faced. It's not 100% their fault...they have to fight who is out there and right now it's not a lot. I'm surprised they can keep their focus

Its partly Wlad's fault that this fight is not going to be televised. I'd dare say mostly his fault.

Tyson could fight fucking Peter McNeeley and it was PPV ! lol

Wlad keeps winning, but he really has a safety first, methodical, boring style.

And when you combine that with a boring opponent, then nobody wants to see that.

[El Kabong]

...well in all honesty Wlad-Chambers is Wlad-Byrd III and we've already seen how that ends. I will say I had more of a problem with the Ruslan Chagaev fight not being on HBO.

So Wlad is "safety first"....he's not blessed with Evander Holyfield's chin, why wouldn't he try to protect it? It's not like he doesn't throw AND LAND a bunch of punches...it's just he stiffles his opponent's attack unlike a defensive fighter that will either block or avoid punches, Wlad just keeps you at arms length OR tied up, there's no inbetween and that's part of the reason why he's so successful

[generalbulldog]

I don't think height has as much to do with it as style....I mean if there was another Tyson people would pay to watch him fight Wladimir. Eddie Chambers is talented but it's just his style is to hang back and counter, he has power but nothing really shocking.

I'd rather see Chambers fight someone else...I like the dude and I don't want his career to go all Calvin Brock because Wlad is going to KO him.

but there isnt tyson, holyfield, bowe etc anymore and until the US can actually pull there finger out and start asking why these guys arent coming through anymore the klitschkos and any other world class foreign heavyweight leave the scene the division is just one big very unattractive mess.

There aren't going to be anymore great American HWs in the future. If I was a betting man I would bank on it. They are in the NFL, NBA, MLB. Those sports have more exposure plus more benefits in terms of getting an college education on the lower levels and then getting guaranteed million dollar contracts when they get to the pros.

But America will still produce fighters in the lower weights, because these guys are too small to play in the 3 big sports. You guys can blame HBO, Showtime and PPV for killing boxing in America. When boxing was put on premium cable channels and 50 dollars PPV it limits the exposure the sport has to potential customers and participants.