11.12.04 – By Umar ben-Ivan Lee: The boxing economy is a trickle-down economy in its basic nature. Wealth trickles down from the heavyweight division to the lower weights; because the majority of casual fans and media are most interested in seeing the big men fight. If the heavyweight division is prosperous then other boxers in lower-divisions will see bigger purses and more exposure and if the division is weak, as it is now, then all of boxing will suffer..
Boxing definitely needs a great heavyweight champion and great championship bouts. At this time it is obvious that Vitali Klitschko is the best heavyweight in the world. Danny Williams, who may not be in everybody’s top-ten, does have name-recognition and street-cred from beating Mike Tyson, has been a rather exciting heavyweight to watch (something missing in the division) and has the menacing looks and good-natured personality that can be easily marketed.
These two heavyweights offer-up the possibility of an intriguing heavyweight bout. What we do know about these two fighters is that they can punch, are big men and have been most effective when they are the aggressor and those are the ingredients for an exiting bout. An exciting bout would create interest in the division, which could make way for a tournament of sorts to unify all of the alphabet titles or could lead to a rematch.
Many fear the rise of Vitali Klitschko and the possibility of Danny Williams becoming a power in the division. Don King currently controls three of the four heavyweight championship belts and would like to do anything that he can to bring the fourth under his control so he would control the entire heavyweight division. King is upset that his paper-champions have not been able to generate any excitement or make him any money and that HBO, The Ring Magazine and others have gotten behind Klitschko. To make matters worse for King; Williams is promoted by the British version of himself in Frank Warren. If Williams wins then Warren becomes the man in the drivers seat in the division and if he loses all roads will still lead to Klitschko in the division.
In recent days surrogates of King in the boxing media have raised questions over the purse that Williams will be receiving for this fight. Williams’s purse is officially listed as $300,000, but he will probably be getting close to two-million sources say (no concern to me that the IRS will get short-changed). People are trying to get the WBC to remove their sanctioning of the bout so that if Williams wins then the title could possibly be declared vacant and King could step in with Hasim Rahman fighting the Monte Barrett-Owen beck winner for the title and King will control the entire division.
Fight fans tonight can enjoy a well-matched heavyweight bout between two interesting
personalities. Klitschko will be wearing the orange of Ukrainian Presidential candidate Viktor Yushenko and Williams will be sure to speak on behalf of Islam if he is victorious. Besides the dismal undercard for a PPV we will all be winning and let us hope that the heavyweight division will provide more intriguing match-ups in 2005.
Umar ben-Ivan Lee may be contacted at keepslugging@hotmail.com