21st Century Heavyweights

By Tom Donelson / Member Boxing Writers Association of America (BWAA)

Tyson Fury easily beat Dillan Whyte as he ended the fight with a right-hand uppercut.  I look at the 21at century and while this may be heretic to many boxer historians but since 2000, we have seen three great heavyweights.  Wladimir and Vitali Klitschko dominated the division from 2004 to 2015 and Fury since 2015 has been the best heavyweight.

When Fury defeated Wladimir Klitschko, it was assumed that Klitschko failure to get off punches was due to being 39 years old but seven years later Fury finished off Deontay Wilder in the conclusion of their trilogy, we found out that Fury was actually a good boxer and not easy to hit.  In his first fight with Wilder, Wilder had trouble connected but Wilder power nearly ended the fight with a shot in the twelfth round that would have ended any fight with any other heavyweight.  We found that Fury had a chin as he got up and earned a draw. (Most boxing pundits and experts had Fury actually winning but I agreed with the draw based on the two knock downs by Wilder that created two 10-8 rounds.) 

Fury won the second fight easily simply dominating the fight from the opening rounds to TKO victory in seventh round before they concluded their trilogy with one of the better heavyweight fights as Fury put Wilder down in third round, tenth and in the eleventh-round while Wilder put Fury down twice in the fourth round and almost won the fight right there.  Fury came through with an eleventh-round stoppage.  His fight with Whyte was a typical Fury as he out boxed Whyte easily.  He connected more than double punches than Whyte and Whyte only connected on 17 percent of his shots.  He connected mostly air when attacking Fury and Fury was more accurate with his punches, in particular his power shots.  Fury greatness may depend upon cleaning out the rest of the division, but despite missing three years of his prime to personal problems, he is now the king of the heavyweight. 

Vitali Klitschko along with his brother dominated the heavyweight division from 2004 but his first attempt at a title was a loss to Chris Byrd as he retired with sore shoulder in a fight he was winning.  In 2004, injuries sidelined him for four years but the one fight I remember him and showed he was for real was his loss to Lennox Lewis in Lewis last fight.  Lewis connected with a nasty right that open up a cut over Klitschko’s eye and this cut would stop the fight, a fight that Klitschko’s was leading.

He came back in 2008 and joined his brother in keeping the heavyweight title a Klitschko affair.  While they would never fight each other, they dominated the rest of the division. After his comeback, he won ten fights, seven by stoppages.   In 2012, he retired from boxing and entered life in politics in his native Ukraine, where he is the mayor of Kyiv and in the midst of a battle for survival against the Russian.

Wladimir Klitschko proved to be a record setting heavyweight as he had the longest reigns which lasted 4,382 days.  While he won his first title in 2000, he lost two bouts to Corrie Sanders and Lamon Brewster by knockout that nearly derailed his career. When he combined with Emanuel Steward where he learned to combine his boxing skills and power.  From 2004, till he lost to Fury in 2015, he was the co-King of the division with his brother until his brother retirement. 

Klitschko’s record is impressive and may never be matched. Yes, he lost bouts but once he put it all together, he was great, and the number of championship bouts shows that.  His fights from 2004 till he retired, were against contenders after contenders.  He fought the best of his generation other than his brother and both brothers made it clear, they would never fight each other.  Both fighters also attracted big audiences that could fill out soccer stadiums and their PPV attracted half of billion fans.  Klitschko’s brothers fought most of their fights in Europe and were able to make a bundle of money and most Americans fans hardly even knew how great of fighters they truly were.

It is hard to compare different generations.  Athletes today are bigger and stronger, regardless of the sports.  Many linemen in the NFL were 250 pounds and today they are three hundred plus with more flexibility and speed.  In the NBA, we see six feet ten inches players who can dribble like guards and many heavyweights today are six feet four inches to six feet nine inches and many of them have good mobility.

Joe Louis did defeat bigger fighters like six feet six inches Buddy Baer twice by knockouts and Ali outboxed the bigger Ernie Terrell but neither Baer or Terrell had Klitschko’s brother’s athlete skills or Fury boxing skills.  This is not to say that Ali or Louis could not defeat the Klitschko’s brothers or Fury but to observed that Klitschko’s brothers and Fury have skills that would have made It tough for the great but smaller heavyweights to defeat these modern fighters.

Ali greatness came as much of the fighters he defeated as he defeated some of the greatest heavyweight including Joe Frazier and George Foreman and Louis dominated his era.   Fury biggest win was over Wladimir Klitschko and while many pundits will remind you that Klitschko was 39 years old, Fury victory was still impressive as he entered the fight as the underdog and his trilogy with Wilder would put him in position of a boxing great but his career still progressing.  The Klitschko brothers’ career is over and now they engage in another fight, a fight for survival of their nation. 

One thought on “21st Century Heavyweights

  1. Fury is the king of his era. Food for thought imo is that Wilder, not a boxer, dropped him heavily in more than one fight. Whyte earned his shot beating a better set of challengers than any other contender. Usyk has proven that smaller HW’s with skills can compete today. I think that men like Ali, Louis, Holmes, Foreman, Lewis, Frazier, Bowe, Tyson at his peak, could likely beat Fury. I think punchers like Shavers, Quarry, Elmer Ray, Mar iano, Dempsey, Witherspoon all could potentially beat him as well.

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