Where is the Talent???

Partly inspired by something of a boxing extravaganda last night I felt prompted to write this. Has there EVER been a period in boxing with such a lack of talent amongst the big men??? I do not limit this solely to the heavyweights, which must be at almost its worst ever. But filter down the next couple of levels. Cruiserweight. Rubbish. Not even going to discuss there. Light heavyweight? Maybe the worst ever light heavyweight division in history? Stevenson the number 1 light heavyweight? Old Hoppo still stinking around at almost 50years old has a title. Dawson? Cleverly? Cloud? Campillo, Shumenov, Murat?

The heavyweights out there are so painfully limited and one paced. The Klitschkos have been champions there for almost a decade without being much more than good athletes with solid fundementals. Half the heavyweights dont even look in shape. I saw Chisora beat a hopeless German guy for the European title by just endeavoring to plug forward. His opponent couldnt do anything. He couldnt jab, he couldnt move, he couldnt fight on the inside, he couldnt even spoil. On one occasion he actually landed a punch which hurt Chisora and didnt even follow up. Just plodded around aimlessly. Eventually I think the ref stopped it due to the total pointlessness of the bout - a European title fight. The fight seemed to sum up the division. Haye is considered the Gatti of the heavyweights and a fight with Tyson Fury a PPV bonanza.

But it the scary thing is it doesnt get much better at cruiserweight or light heavyweight. Theres nobody even capable of stepping up and challenging. A Spinks, a Holyfield or even a Moorer or a Jones. Where is all the talent gone?? In the past you had guys who wasted talent. Some couldnt stay off the booze, the drugs or out of the fridge. But at least talent existed and was on occasion displayed. Has there ever been such a lack of talent amongst the big divisions??

I actually think the Cruiserweight division is pretty damn decent, but asking a 190lbs to pack some weight and fight 250lbs monsters is unfair imo. Size eventually makes a difference. As for Light HW, well the two biggest names there, are 48-year old Popkins and Stevenson who is really just an overweight Super middleweight.

Alot of the cruisers weigh in at about close to the 200lb mark now so they shouldnt be too small for the heavyweights. I just dont think they are good enough. Haye was considered an outstanding cruiserweight and he looked like he didnt know how to slip a ajb against Valuev and Klitschko. Plus alot of the heavyweights that are 250lb monsters are actually just fat. The commentator last night was going on about how Chisora was in the shape of his life and he still had moobs and a gut. I think lack of talent in the divisions is the problem. Definately in my lifetime since I began watching boxing the talent is at an all time low. Compared to the 80s and 90s its shocking.

catchweight wrote:Alot of the cruisers weigh in at about close to the 200lb mark now so they shouldnt be too small for the heavyweights. I just dont think they are good enough. Haye was considered an outstanding cruiserweight and he looked like he didnt know how to slip a ajb against Valuev and Klitschko. Plus alot of the heavyweights that are 250lb monsters are actually just fat. The commentator last night was going on about how Chisora was in the shape of his life and he still had moobs and a gut. I think lack of talent in the divisions is the problem. Definately in my lifetime since I began watching boxing the talent is at an all time low. Compared to the 80s and 90s its shocking.

Haye slipped the jab pretty well against both I thought, suffered no significant damage in either bout.
As to your original title, the athletic talent is most likely in other sports, particularly in the heavyweight division where America has declined to the extent that it is unrecognisable as the powerhouse it was. Various factors mean that boxing is not mainstream anymore, and therefore it has been missing out on a great deal of the best athletic talent for a while now.

catchweight wrote:Alot of the cruisers weigh in at about close to the 200lb mark now so they shouldnt be too small for the heavyweights. I just dont think they are good enough. Haye was considered an outstanding cruiserweight and he looked like he didnt know how to slip a ajb against Valuev and Klitschko. Plus alot of the heavyweights that are 250lb monsters are actually just fat. The commentator last night was going on about how Chisora was in the shape of his life and he still had moobs and a gut. I think lack of talent in the divisions is the problem. Definately in my lifetime since I began watching boxing the talent is at an all time low. Compared to the 80s and 90s its shocking.

HW division has 2 hall of famers in vitali and wlad. It also has a former unified CW champ and former WBA cham in David Haye who has bags of talent and an unbeaten olympic champion in povetkin. It is also the only era with such big men who not only weigh 250lbs but all seem to be 6ft 6 and above with many of them 6ft 8 and 6ft 9.

Doesn't matter who they are or what they won. Turd is still turd regardless of how much you polish it.

Who cares if the heavyweights are 250lbs and 6'9? There is so little talent. The fact the Klitschkos and Haye are being touted as greats with bags of talent says it all.

sittingringside wrote:

catchweight wrote:Alot of the cruisers weigh in at about close to the 200lb mark now so they shouldnt be too small for the heavyweights. I just dont think they are good enough. Haye was considered an outstanding cruiserweight and he looked like he didnt know how to slip a ajb against Valuev and Klitschko. Plus alot of the heavyweights that are 250lb monsters are actually just fat. The commentator last night was going on about how Chisora was in the shape of his life and he still had moobs and a gut. I think lack of talent in the divisions is the problem. Definately in my lifetime since I began watching boxing the talent is at an all time low. Compared to the 80s and 90s its shocking.

Haye slipped the jab pretty well against both I thought, suffered no significant damage in either bout.
As to your original title, the athletic talent is most likely in other sports, particularly in the heavyweight division where America has declined to the extent that it is unrecognisable as the powerhouse it was. Various factors mean that boxing is not mainstream anymore, and therefore it has been missing out on a great deal of the best athletic talent for a while now.

Haye didnt really slip jabs within the context of trying to be aggressive. He wasnt able to slip and get inside a jab. I would agree with your point on the American athletes going into other sports. Its the only plausible explanation. But Europe are just churning out these oversized, often overweight one dimensional, one paced heavyweights. There is no guile, or craft or finesse. The talent really seems to have dried up in the 90s. Ive never seen the light heavyweight division looking worse either.

I'd say the growing prominence of the super middleweight division naturally drained some of the prestige from the light heavyweights. Without it, the 175 division would have Ward as its ruler. The talent pool at 168 has generally been pretty good over the past few years. Personally I think both Froch and Ward should be P4P top tenners. Have done for a while, but Froch never seems to get in despite having such a list of names.

The same cannot be said of cruiserweight, otherwise there would at least be an argument for it draining the heavyweight division's talents. As it is, cruiser is even flatter than heavy.

John Bloody Wayne wrote:Personally I think both Froch and Ward should be P4P top tenners. Have done for a while, but Froch never seems to get in despite having such a list of names.

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There's no place for Froch because every time Goldenboy have a big PPV event on they artificially elevate their fighter into the Top 10.

British boxing has taken a few knocks this year.

John Bloody Wayne wrote:I'd say the growing prominence of the super middleweight division naturally drained some of the prestige from the light heavyweights. Without it, the 175 division would have Ward as its ruler. The talent pool at 168 has generally been pretty good over the past few years. Personally I think both Froch and Ward should be P4P top tenners. Have done for a while, but Froch never seems to get in despite having such a list of names.

The same cannot be said of cruiserweight, otherwise there would at least be an argument for it draining the heavyweight division's talents. As it is, cruiser is even flatter than heavy.

Ward might be a light heavyweight champion now if he wanted to be I suppose but what if the division contained fighters like Jones, Hill, Qawi, Spinks, the Eddie and Saad Muhammad, Hearns, Toney, Moorer or fighters like these? This kind of talent just isnt around anymore.

I reckon he would still be champion. He would beat most of those guys with Spinks' awkwardness being very difficult plus Qawi's sheer nastiness and toughness being an issue.

azania wrote:I reckon he would still be champion. He would beat most of those guys with Spinks' awkwardness being very difficult plus Qawi's sheer nastiness and toughness being an issue.

Theres no way of knowing because those kind of talents are not around. Ward could be easily be one of these fighters like Hopkins who is good and shutting down fairly one dimensional fighters but struggles with with more talented boxers or speedsters. Id pick most of the above mentioned names to beat him.

We can never know for sure, but Ward is supremely gifted.