By Money Messer: There are those who would like you to believe that Chauncy Welliver (51-5-5) has the chance to be the future heavyweight Champion of the world. They point to his 51 heavyweight wins, his 350 heavyweight rounds without going down, his #6 WBC ranking, his #11 WBO ranking, and they say that his chance is right around the corner. At 28 years young, for the heavyweight division, youth is one of Team Wellivers major asset claims. This does not however, keep Team Welliver from also letting folks know how much experience the man has in the ring, both in heavyweight prize fights and in top heavyweight sparring camps.
They say that his 50+ pounds of lost weight makes him a much different and better fighter than when he faced the Olympic Gold Medalist, Odlanier Solis, in Berlin, Germany, back in October 2008. They also like to point to that fight, the only fight Welliver has ever been stopped in, to demonstrate the ability of his chin and skills at the upper levels of the division. He was stunned mildly and never close to going down in this fight. Yet the ref stopped a man who had never been down, like he was looking for a reason to bail the Olympic Champion out of a much longer than expected night. They say this was a good performance for a heavyweight who had 10 days notice and came in at a staggering 283 pounds. Even at that weight, in the opening rounds, Welliver more than held his own with one of the best.
Team Welliver also has expanded their ranks since 2008 and many point to this being the real key to Welliver’s shot at the heavyweight Title. The very successful and knowledgeable boxing manager, Roland Jankelson, is now the captain of Team Welliver. Another of his former proteges, Native American heavyweight boxing legend, Joe “The Boss” Hipp, has been brought in to train Welliver up and to put the finishing touches on his style. And then there is Ali Crosbie, who has been tag teaming with Joe Hipp to keep Chauncy in top shape, as his strength and conditioning coach. The other major expansion of team Welliver has been the Foreign Legion Internet Effect. The French have nothing on Welliver when it comes to diversity in recruitment. Being one of the most active boxers in the online boxing community gives Welliver a huge edge over others in terms of world wide support.
It also doesn’t hurt Welliver to be the New Zealand National heavyweight Champion, The WBO China Zone heavyweight Champion, the WBC Asian Boxing Council heavyweight Champion, The WBC Continental Americas HW Champion, the interim WBO Asia Pacific heavyweight Champion, the #1 rated heavyweight in the Native American Boxing Council, the Washington State heavyweight Champion, former WBC Youth HW Champion, former WBC Fecarbox heavyweight Champion, former CAM – Canadian/American/Mexican – heavyweight Champion, and former NWBA heavyweight Champion. The only title that has ever alluded Welliver when he had a chance to capture it was the WBC International heavyweight title against Odlanier Solis. He’s 16-1-1 in title fights and currently on a 12 title fight win streak.
The internet is a double edged sword though. For the same reasons that Welliver has legions of fans, he also has many detractors. These types of people, henceforth referred to as “haters”, like to point to some of the flaws, especially early flaws, in Welliver’s game. These “haters” still like to reference Chauncy as a fat heavyweight. They point to his level of competition and say that it is less than to be desired. They say that his KO% (31.15) against his level of competition, is also less than stellar. These “haters” say that Chauncy doesn’t deserve his current status with the WBC or WBO. They say that he needs to fight some very top heavyweight’s and that his jig is up when he does. Some of these “haters” are even brash enough to tell Chauncy so when he is personally participating in an online boxing discussion. Of course, most of these “haters” have never put on gloves or ever been punched in the face for cash. Fact.
So when are we gonna find out who gets the last and best laughs? I think soon, very soon. Welliver is due his shot at the Top HW Brass. With his high level rankings and ability and willingness to fight all over the world, Welliver is surely headed for a HW showdown in the not so distant future.
I’m a bit biased, I’m openly on the side of Team Welliver. But I think my base of knowledge is more fundamentally sound than the “haters”. I don’t rate Chauncy’s beard on only his Boxrec resume. I rate his chin also on the staggering amount of top heavyweight sparring he has done. I don’t rate Welliver’s chances against fellow Top 10 HWs based on his Solis fight in a negative way, I rate that fight as being the absolute minimum and worst that Welliver could bring to the table. I’m not considering Welliver’s entire career as being reflective of the fighter he is today. I’m not going to hold a loss against him from a fighter who he had already beat and then drawn with when he was 19 years old. I’m not even going to base him off of his 31-1-2 record over the last 6 and a half years. To me he is 16-0. 7 KO’s and it easily could and should have been 9 or 10 KO’s. When he was ripping off 5 straight KO wins, knocking out guys faster than Rahman could do it a month later,(Galen Brown) I knew that Joe Hipp had been successful in his mission. Welliver is much more powerful, much faster, and a much more determined fighter than he was 3 years ago when Vitali came back in Germany.
I think that Welliver is going to prove that he is a Fact, and a major factor in the heavyweight division in 2012. I think that his Iron Chin will hold up as Fact against the worlds best as he passes Oliver McCall for most heavyweight Rounds (397) without ever going down. I think that his lack of power will become known as Fiction when he takes down some of the heaviest hitters in HW boxing. At the very least, the Fact of the matter is, Chauncy Welliver is ready to give us some damn good fights against the best the world has to offer. Those “haters” who say he will crumble against the top heavyweight’s are spewing Fiction, in my opinion. There is nothing in this mans resume that would suggest that his chin is anything other than a modern wonder of the world and a potential historical wonder of the world. Backed up with one of the highest punch outputs in the division and some of the most proven 12 round stamina in the division, this guy is going to be hard to beat. Fact!
From the Klitschko Brothers to the WBC World Cup Tournament possibilities, to other top heavyweight showdown possibilities, team Welliver is close to achieving their goal of rewriting the history books. Putting a permanent Welliver/Hipp/Jankelson stamp on the heavyweight Title. History is there for the making, and Chauncy Welliver is taking on all comers to make it happen in 2012. May the best men win and may they get the full credit they deserve for giving us the best show on earth.