23.04.06 – By Craig Parrish: Jack Johnson. Dempsey. Louis. Marciano. Ali. Foreman. Frazier. Holmes. Tyson. The list goes on and on and on. For the last century or so, the heavyweight division has been ruled by fighters from the United States. Occasionally, as in the case of Max Schmelling, a fighter from another country would come along and surprise everyone. But the division was quickly retaken by the Americans.. For many years, it seemed as if the United States was practically the only participant in heavyweight boxing. While other divisions were dominated by fighters from Mexico, Central and South America, European nations, and combatants from Africa, the heavyweights were an American bunch. That is until recently.
Lennox Lewis of Great Britain swept in during the late nineties and had an admirable run, solidly cementing himself as the best heavyweight in the world during his reign. But Lewis retired, and even though the Klitschko brothers were doing well, the division was still mainly ruled by Americans. As recently as a few months ago, the four “major” heavyweight champs were Chris Byrd, John Ruiz, Lamon Brewster, and Hasim Rahman, who inherited the WBC strap when Vitali Klitschko retired due to injuries. All Americans. By my, how quickly things change.
John Ruiz was the first to fall, to the delight of many. Ruiz, even though he had fought and won against decent opposition, was despised by the boxing fan base as a whole for his awful “punch and grab” style and the circus like antics of his handler, Norman Stone. Ruiz traveled to Germany to fight the massive Russian challenger, Nicolai Valuev. One must give Ruiz credit for just surviving this fight with the Russian giant, and some feel that Ruiz actually won. But Ruiz lost on points, Valuev took the belt, and one less title belonged to an American.
The next match was a thriller and probably the most exciting heavyweight fight this writer has seen in nearly a decade. “Relentless” Lamon Brewster took his all or nothing style against the unheralded Sergei Liakovich, who had not fought in 16 months. The fight was a bruiser, with neither fighter backing up for the entire 12 rounds. Each fighter was in trouble at moments, but Liakovich won the thriller with his superior boxing skills and perhaps….because he just wanted it more? More on that later. Now Brewster was gone, Liakovich had the title and another American went home. I must take a moment to mention that I think that both of these fighters are class acts, and something that we need more in boxing: Gentlemen fighters that are gracious in victory and defeat. They were both as impressive in their post-fight interviews as they were throwing hands in the ring. Hats off to both of them.
This leads us to this past Saturday night, April 22nd. Chris Byrd traveled to Germany to fight the resurgent Wladimir Klitschko, who had recently pulled off a victory over the division’s next “savior” Samuel Peter. Klitschko had already pummeled Byrd soundly when they had fought five years ago, but many writers that had lost confidence in him, picked against the massive fighter from the Ukraine, and felt that Byrd would revenge himself. Byrd had finally freed himself from Don King and was ready for a big fight and a big payday. He looked to be in terrific shape and surprised people when he requested the smallest ring possible for the fight with Wlad. Many wondered what strategy the slippery Byrd had in mind. We’ll never know, because Byrd was pummeled from pillar to post by Klitschko who scored a 7th round KO and sent Byrd packing back to the US. So within a period of a few months, the 4 American heavyweight champions are now down to one, Hasim Rahman.
Rahman has just come off a lackluster performance against the walrus-like James Toney, a super inflated cruiserweight. Indeed, if Toney had more power in his punches he would have KO’d Rahman whom he was tagging at will. However, Rahman survived with a split decision. The WBC has deigned that Rahman must next fight Oleg Maskaev of Khazakhstan, a fighter that Rahman has lost to before and that has won his last 10 fights.
So very soon, the heavyweight division could not have a single American representative. And after so many years and so much talent, so many incredible champions, the question must be asked: why? What has happened to the great American heavyweights?
Boxing is a sport of desperation. There are not many individuals that are born with a silver spoon in their mouth that would choose boxing as their profession. How many times have we heard the story of nobody from nowhere that had nothing that became the champ? It almost seems to be the script if you want to make it, it seems like you must have an “I’ve got nothing to lose” attitude to get in that ring and throw punches until you raise your arm at the end or you’re out. And if we look at the recent influx of Heavyweight champions and where they are from, it doesn’t take a lot of thinking to understand that these men came from hard places, places where literally the best and perhaps only ticket out are your fists.
Sergei Liakovich commented after his fight with Brewster that he came to the United States with a hundred dollars in his pocket, and he had to borrow that. That’s desperation. That is betting everything on your talent and skills and it means going into the ring with the attitude “I cannot lose.” When you have that in your mind and in your chin, you are a dangerous man, in or out of the ring. Either way, you are a man that is going to be hard to put down, as the wild-swinging Brewster found out. Brewster hit Liakovich with shots that had put down many opponents before him, but not Liakovich. Something kept him on his feet after those monster shots. Desire, drive, and desperation. It’s a powerful thing. He could see that belt in front of him, the pinnacle of the dreams for a kid from Belarus.
Now, obviously all Americans aren’t fat and happy. We still have major problems in this country with poverty, racism, and inequality. But at the end of the day, there are social programs to help out. There is a bit of a safety net. And many of the athletes that could potentially be great fighters are opting to go into other sports where they can be paid well, work more years, and not get punched in the face. So it is a combination of factors, I believe. However, these things have been in place for years, so this seemingly sudden change is remarkable. What makes this even more strange is that even though boxing in the States is not as popular as it used to be, by far, lately there has been a resurgence in interest in the “sweet science”, and ratings are pretty good. However, the latest Olympic teams submitted by the US have been particularly bad, especially in the heavyweight division.
You don’t see boxers as spokesmen in the US like you do in Mexico. Other than George Foreman, who has seemingly created an image of more of a businessman than a boxer, they are not sought out to endorse products like they were in the seventies. Boxers in the US don’t seep into popular culture anymore. Unless they are characters in movies.
But all hope is not lost. There are a few American prospects, such as Calvin Brock, who may still make some noise. Joe Mesi is fighting again, although in this “land of giants” he will probably not fare well. Indeed, it seems like the future of the heavyweight division is slipping more and more out of the American grasp.
All one has to do is look at the American boxing champions of the early twentieth century to see a pattern. Many of the champs were either immigrants or the sons of immigrants, people who came to America to make it, very few were long term American citizens. I believe that with the fighters from Easter Europe and more from Asia, we are finally truly seeing boxing on the world stage, and we will continue to see a plethora of fighters from countries that many have not even heard of stepping up to hold a belt aloft soon. Although as an American, I am saddened that my Countrymen are not the heavyweight titleholders at this point, I feel it’s an exciting time for boxing as more and more fighters are emerging onto the world stage. As they say the more the merrier, and the heavyweight division has needed a transfusion of new talent for a long time. Certainly Sergei Liakovich has given us a great fight, a fight that heavyweight fans have needed for a long time, and the more fighters like him that begin to populate the heavyweight ranks the more robust our sport will be.
I look forward to the future with a somewhat wistful look to the past. Let’s go.