How fit and healthy is today’s heavyweight division? Did we fight fans have a better time of it in previous decades, or are today’s big men holding up the “glamour division” in good stead?
Picking up an old issue of Ring Magazine recently, the August 1992 issue, I scanned the top-10 heavyweight rankings. A great bunch of fighters are listed on the page of that 21-year-old issue, that’s for sure – but would the likes of Holyfield, Lewis and Mercer have beaten the cream of today’s crop?
Read on and see what I think!
The heavyweight top-10: Ring Magazine, August issue 1992 VS. Today’s heavyweight top-10: Ring Magazine
On Saturday, March 4th, 2006, at the M.E.N. Arena in Manchester, England, undefeated and long reigning WBO Super Middleweight Champion Joe Calzaghe attempted to silence the fight critics who consistently claimed the slick southpaw was a protected fighter who religiously avoided the best competition in his respective division by facing the hard punching and undefeated IBF title holder Jeff “Left Hook” Lacy.
Light heavyweight contender Andrzej Fonfara (24-2, 14 KO’s) kept himself in position for a title shot by defeating 34-year-old veteran Gabriel Campillo (22-6-1, 9 KO’s) by a 9th round stoppage on Friday night at the U.S. Cellular Field, in Chicago, Illinois, USA. Campillo was pretty much finished in the 8th round after getting hit with a right hand that hurt him by Fonfara. 
“Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!” – Emma Lazarus, 1883
ATLANTIC CITY (August 16, 2013) – IBF Light Heavyweight Champion Bernard “The Executioner” Hopkins will become the oldest fighter in history to make his initial title defense when he faces highest rated light heavyweight challenger Karo Murat in a rescheduled championship event taking place Saturday, October 26 at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City. The 12-round title fight, which was postponed from July 13 due to visa issues experienced by Murat, will air live on SHOWTIME® (9 p.m. ET/PT). With those issues cleared up, Murat has his sights set on ending the reign of the 48-year-old future Hall of Famer.
At today’s official weigh-in on Cardiff’s busy Queen Street, outside the Capitol Shopping Centre, WBO World Light-Heavyweight Champion Nathan Cleverly came in at 12st 6lb (174lb) while the challenger Sergey Kovalev weighed 12st 5lb 8oz (173lbs).
(Photo Credit: Mario Serrano – Gary Shaw Productions) By Robert Uzzell and Chip Mitchell: On Saturday August 17, 2013, HBO presents the IBF Middleweight world title clash between champion Daniel “Real Deal” Geale and “Dazzling” Darren Barker. Oddly enough, the fight between Geale (from Australia) and Barker (England) will take place at the Revel Casino-Hotel in Atlantic City, New Jersey.