The beginning of a new age in Heavyweight Boxing

[The Rookie Fan]

Klitchko - Ibragimov winner will be the first lineal Champion sice Lennox Lewis retired.

What are your thoughts on this and do you think this will lead to bigger and better times for the Heavyweights!!!

Will they reclaim their throne as the top division to watch?

[PRIDE OF BOSTON]

Klitchko - Ibragimov winner will be the first lineal Champion sice Lennox Lewis retired.

What are your thoughts on this and do you think this will lead to bigger and better times for the Heavyweights!!!

Will they reclaim their throne as the top division to watch?

You are correct in that he will be the first lineal champ since Lenox but I don't think Wlad will be the one to turn the corner for the heavyweights. As good a boxer as he is and with that head snapping jab you'd think so but I do not.

I think the world waits for a much more dynamic fighter then Wlad. He is very technical and KO's people but he's missing that thing. I don't know what it is and this just migh be be but... He doesn't enthuse me.

Again, I have no problem with Wlad and think he's the best of the Heavies but he is BY FAR the best I've ever seen.

I'm still waiting for that next big, dynamic star of the heaveyweight div.

[The Rookie Fan]

Good point, tried to rep you but apparantly I can't for some reason.

Anyways, I still think this is a first step to new beggining for the Heavies. I don't see Wlad as a major attraction in the sport but I think having a lineal champion again will help focus the fans attention on who the real champion is and sooner or later some new young gun will rise and challange Klitchko and claim the title and the new lineage will begin to take form.

I expect by the end of 2010 the heavies will be the top draw again.

[Lance Uppercut]

Klitchko - Ibragimov winner will be the first lineal Champion sice Lennox Lewis retired.

What are your thoughts on this and do you think this will lead to bigger and better times for the Heavyweights!!!

Will they reclaim their throne as the top division to watch?

Beating Sulton wont make Wlad a lineal champ. I think Sulton is Rank #4. For true recognition we need #1Wlad vs #2 Peter.

Although we are going in the right direction.

[SweetPea]

Will they reclaim their throne as the top division to watch?

Probably not. There has only been one time in history when the heavyweights were actually the best division to watch, and that was the 1970s, which was the Golden Age of heavyweights. Someone could also make an argument that the heavyweights were the best division in the early-mid 90s. Other than that, the smaller weight classes have always had the best fighters.

[El Kabong]

Probably not. There has only been one time in history when the heavyweights were actually the best division to watch, and that was the 1970s, which was the Golden Age of heavyweights. Someone could also make an argument that the heavyweights were the best division in the early-mid 90s. Other than that, the smaller weight classes have always had the best fighters.

There will be more intrest in who the winner of this upcoming fight is going to fight and there SHOULD be more attention paid by the media to this champion.

If it's Wladimir then all the better we have a big guy, a KO puncher, a good boxer, and a true WORLD CHAMPION...he is an easier sell and a better fighter...I doubt Sultan can win vs many fighters out there even if he does beat Wladimir.

[SweetPea]

There will be more intrest in who the winner of this upcoming fight is going to fight and there SHOULD be more attention paid by the media to this champion.

I don't disagree with this at all.

I was just saying that I don't see the heavyweights becoming the "top division to watch."

[Kirkland Laing]

Klitschko is a fraud and will be rightly ignored by the media. A guy who got KO'd in effectively a round by a journeyman and then wouldn't get back in the ring with him is a joke, not somebody we can take seriously. If he becomes lineal champ it just means he's the biggest joke in a joke division. In fact "joke division" may be rating the current heavyweight division too highly.

[The Rookie Fan]

Beating Sulton wont make Wlad a lineal champ. I think Sulton is Rank #4. For true recognition we need #1Wlad vs #2 Peter.

Although we are going in the right direction.

The first Unification fight in a division where the lineal title has been vacated is automatically a lineal title fight.

[The Rookie Fan]

Probably not. There has only been one time in history when the heavyweights were actually the best division to watch, and that was the 1970s, which was the Golden Age of heavyweights. Someone could also make an argument that the heavyweights were the best division in the early-mid 90s. Other than that, the smaller weight classes have always had the best fighters.

I agree, but when I said the top division to watch I meant the biggest draw which the Heavies usually are. Maybe they won't claim the top spot right off the bat but I think it is a start.

[Mikkel_K]

The first Unification fight in a division where the lineal title has been vacated is automatically a lineal title fight.

This means that the winner of Chagaev-Ibragimov would have been lineal Heavyweight champion of the world, right? Jesus...

Also, you could argue that Klitschko has already unified the IBF and IBO titles. Sure, the IBO isn't anything special, but isnt that true about the WBO as well?

[Wayne]

As much as I'm looking forward to the two champs fighting Saturday I don't think this is going to bring much recognition to the division. I think it will do marginally better than Calzaghe-Kessler, arguably one of the most important (and best) fights of last year which did zilch in the ratings.

To the casual boxing fan, who is Sultan Ibragimov? He came out of nowhere and beat a placeholder for a belt and he doesn't look like anything. It's sad, but true that perception does matter. You could show me a picture of Ibragimov ten times and I could easily forget his face twelve times. He doesn't look menacing; he looks like some guy you might walk by in a mall.

Klitschko will be the one to carry this fight. With his height and intimidating physique he'll draw some people. But I think Americans, at least, are disinterested in two white, European fighters whose names they can't pronounce.

We liked Mike Tyson because he looked menacing, was menacing. We liked Ali for his big mouth. We liked George Foreman because he was a monster. I really don't know how much of a black/white thing it is but something with those fighters doesn't translate over to Saturday's combatants.

I hope like hell I'm wrong, but I don't think people in this country really care about a foreign, non-black heavyweight. Tyson was putting butts in seats to fight glorified club fighters- had this fight been in Germany I'd bet it would have sold out, but does anyone know how many seats are left at the Garden?

You can't have a comedy with two straight men.

[OumaFan]

I don't think Klitschko (or Sultan I guess) becoming lineal will generate all that much new attention on the heavyweights. Its gonna take an exciting fighter and for whatever reason people don't get all that excited about Wlad.

Even worse if Sultan somehow won it. A supremely non-intimidating looking fighter who sticks and moves for the most part. And Russian. That's bound to generate excitement.

[SweetPea]

I agree, but when I said the top division to watch I meant the biggest draw which the Heavies usually are. Maybe they won't claim the top spot right off the bat but I think it is a start.

Depends what part of the world we're talking about.

You're right, the heavyweights have traditionally been the biggest draw. However, in the US, the reason the heavys were a big draw is because the best heavys were American. I don't see that happening again, because the best American athletes are going to keep playing football and basketball, not boxing. The Alis, Fraziers and Foremans of this generation are playing in the NFL, and that won't change.

The heavys could definitely become the biggest division in Europe though, because that's where the best heavys are coming from.

[Mikkel_K]

To the casual boxing fan, who is Sultan Ibragimov? He came out of nowhere and beat a placeholder for a belt and he doesn't look like anything. It's sad, but true that perception does matter. You could show me a picture of Ibragimov ten times and I could easily forget his face twelve times. He doesn't look menacing; he looks like some guy you might walk by in a mall.

and

We liked Mike Tyson because he looked menacing, was menacing. We liked Ali for his big mouth. We liked George Foreman because he was a monster. I really don't know how much of a black/white thing it is but something with those fighters doesn't translate over to Saturday's combatants.

Good points. FWIW I (am in the minority) who actually believes guys like Valuev are great for the sport. Exactly due to these reasons - he may not be a great fighter, but he sure looks menacing, and he is instantly recognisable. Two very important ingredients in becoming 'the baddest man on the planet', which the Heavyweight Champion of the world should always be regarded as.

Now, of course there is the small problem that Valuev will get his head smashed in if he ever meets Wlad, but you probably still get what I'm getting at.