A Brief History of Boxing’s Heavyweight Division – Part 4: 2000-Present

Following his victory over Evander Holyfield, Lennox Lewis was the undisputed heavyweight champion of the world. Unfortunately for him, this reign would only last five months, as he was stripped of his WBA title for deciding to fight WBC mandatory Michael Grant instead of WBA mandatory John Ruiz. Despite losing this title Lewis had a very successful 2000, with two 2nd round stoppages against Michael Grant and Francois Botha and a unanimous decision against David Tua.

The vacant WBA title was put on the line in a match up between John Ruiz and Evander Holyfield. Holyfield was awarded a unanimous decision but the fight was extremely close which prompted an immediate rematch to take place. This time round Ruiz came away with the decision, this back and forth led to a third and final fight between the two to take place in December 2001. The third fight was ruled a draw, meaning that Ruiz retained his WBA title.

Lennox Lewis vs Vitali Klitschko – 21/6/2003

Lewis next defended his titles against American challenger Hasim Rahman in South Africa. At the time Lewis had been appearing in the film Oceans Eleven, which meant that he wasn’t entirely focused or prepared going into the fight. Rahman capitalised on this and knocked Lewis out in the 5th round. The two had a rematch in late 2001, and Lewis got his revenge, landing a perfect 2 punch combination that floored Rahman in the 4th. Lewis was now a 3-time heavyweight world champion. Following him regaining his titles, Lewis finally got the fight that he had been chasing for so many years: Mike Tyson. This was a far cry from the Tyson of the late 80’s, and Lewis looked very comfortable, stopping the former world champion in the 8th round. Following the Tyson fight, Lewis vacated his IBF title for refusing to fight their mandatory challenger Chris Byrd. In June 2003, Lewis defended once more against Vitali Klitschko, a last minute replacement for his original opponent Kirk Johnson. This fight would infamously go on to be known as ‘TKO6’, as, despite the fact that Klitschko was leading on the judges scorecards, the fight had to be stopped at the end of the 6th round due to a horrendous cut caused by a Lewis punch. Lewis successfully retained his WBC and lineal titles for the final time, and retired from professional boxing after the fight.

A year later Vitali Klitschko fought Corrie Sanders for the vacant WBC title. Sanders was coming off a shock 2nd round stoppage victory against Vitali’s brother Wladimir, but Vitali got revenge for his brother, as he stopped Sanders in the 8th round. Vitali made one defence of his title before retiring in 2005, following a snapped ACL injury. This meant that the WBC title was now vacant.

Following retaining his WBA title against Holyfield, John Ruiz successfully defended his title against Kirk Johnson, before former middleweight, super middleweight and light heavyweight champion Roy Jones Jr. stepped up to challenge for the title. Jones completely outclassed Ruiz and won by unanimous decision. He was the first former middleweight champion to win a heavyweight world title in 106 years. Following the fight, Jones vacated the title and moved back down to light heavyweight. 9 months later Ruiz faced off against Hasim Rahman for the interim WBA title, and won by unanimous decision. Following Jones vacating the title, the WBA reinstated Ruiz as the champion.

Evander Holyfield attempted to become a 5-time heavyweight champion on the 14th of December 2002 against Chris Byrd. Holyfield was beginning show his age at this stage of his career, and lost by unanimous decision to Byrd. Byrd successfully defended his title 4 times, before he lost by 7th round TKO to Wladimir Klitschko in 2006. This was the beginning of one of the longest reigns in heavyweight history.

Following Vitali Klitschko’s retirement, Hasim Rahman was named the new WBC champion, but only successfully defended once, in a draw against James Toney, before losing his title to Uzbekistani fighter Oleg Maskaev. Maskaev successfully defended once before being stopped in the 6th round by Nigerian Samuel Peter. However, Peter’s reign was short lived, as he faced former champion Vitali Klitschko, who had come out of retirement, and Peter retired at the end of the 8th round.

Nikolai Valuev vs David Haye – 7/11/2009

John Ruiz defended his WBA title twice, before the 30th April 2005 when he fought James Toney, initially Toney won by unanimous decision, but failed a drug test following the fight. The fight was ruled a no contest and Ruiz was reinstated as champion. Later that year Ruiz would officially lose his title however, against 7 foot tall Russian, Nikolai Valuev. Valuev was, and still is, the tallest boxer to ever win a world title. Valuev remained champion until 2007, when he lost by majority decision to Ruslan Chagaev. Chagaev retained his title against Matt Skelton, but was stripped of the title soon after, for being unable to face his mandatory challenger, Nikolai Valuev. Valuev instead fought John Ruiz for the vacant title, and again won by decision. Valuev defended his title against former champion Evander Holyfield before losing his title to former Cruiserweight world champion David Haye by majority decision.

In February 2007 the World Boxing Organisation (WBO) became recognised as a major governing body. At the time of this decision, the WBO champion was Shannon Briggs. Just 4 months later Briggs lost his title to Sultan Ibragimov. Ibragimov attempted to unify his WBO title with the IBF in February 2008 against Wladimir Klitschko, but lost by unanimous decision. Klitschko won the vacant The Ring and Lineal titles in 2009 against Russian Chagaev, after Chagaev retired in his corner following the 9th round.

David Haye scored two stoppage victories in his two defences against John Ruiz and Audley Harrison, before facing off against unified champion Wladimir Klitschko. The fight didn’t really live up to the pre-fight hype however, as Klitschko won a comfortable unanimous decision. The Klitschko brothers now held every major world title in the heavyweight division.

Vitali made 9 defences of his WBC title, before announcing his second and final retirement from boxing in 2013. He retied with a record of 45-2 with 41 KO’s. On the 10th May 2014, Bermane Stiverne and Chris Arreola fought for the vacant title. This was a strange decision from the WBC, as the two had fought less than a year earlier and Stiverne had won by unanimous decision. Stiverne made much quicker work of Arreola this timee however, stopping him in the 6th round. Almost a year later Stiverne would attempt to defend his title against unbeaten challenger Deontay Wilder. At the time Wilder had a record of 32-0 with 32 KO’s. This fight was the first time that Wilder went the distance, beating Stiverne by unanimous decision.

Wladimir Klitschko vs Tyson Fury – 28/11/2015

From 2006 to 2015, Wladimir Klitschko made 18 successful defences of his titles, unifying the division multiple times. In November 2015, Klitschko faced unbeaten British challenger Tyson Fury. Fury outclassed, outthought and frankly confused his opponent for twelve rounds, before winning by unanimous decision. Klitschko’s 9 year reign had ended. Just 10 days after the fight, the IBF stripped Fury of his title due to his plans to rematch with Klitschko. The IBF wanted him to face their mandatory challenger, Vyacheslav Glazkov, but Fury refused. The rematch was initially scheduled for July 2016, but the fight was postponed due to Fury being unfit to fight. In September Fury failed a drug test due to the presence of cocaine, and vacated his titles one month later. Fury temporarily retired following this.

In January 2016, Glazkov and Charles Martin faced off for the vacant IBF title. Glazkov injured his knee significantly in the 3rd round and was unable to continue. Martin was ruled the winner and became the new IBF champion. Glazkov never fought professionally again. Just 3 months later Martin was defending his title in the UK against unbeaten Olympic gold medalist Anthony Joshua. Joshua landed two perfect right hands in the second round and won by second round KO. Joshua was now 16-0 and the new IBF heavyweight champion.

In December 2016, Joseph Parker and Andy Ruiz Jr. faced off for the vacant WBO title. The fight was incredibly close, and there are arguments that can be made for both fighters winning, but Parker walked away with the majority decision victory in his home city of Auckland.

In April 2017, former long reigning champion Wladimir Klitschko challenged Anthony Joshua for his title. The vacant WBA title was also on the line. The fight was an instant classic, as both fighters got up off the canvas before Joshua eventually stopped Klitschko in the 11th round. Joshua was now the unified heavyweight champion. One year later, Joshua unified again, this time against WBO champion Joseph Parker in Cardiff. This fight saw Joshua adopt a more cautious style, as he went the distance for the first time in his professional career, and won by unanimous decision. Joshua now held the IBF, WBA and WBO titles.

Following winning the WBC title, Wilder made 6 relatively light defences of his title, before facing his first big step up, Luis Ortiz. The fight was a back and forth chess match in the early rounds, before each boxer landed some huge power shots, with both nearly being stopped. Wilder ultimately ended the fight in the 10th round, with a right uppercut. Then, in December 2018, Tyson Fury challenged Wilder for his title. Fury had had two easy fights before stepping up to face the feared puncher. Many didn’t give Fury a chance, but to many peoples surprise, Fury completely outclassed Wilder, and looked like he’d never been gone. Wilder dropped Fury in the 9th and 12th rounds, but Fury would not stay down, and fought on right until the end. The fight was ultimately ruled a draw, in the biggest robbery of a British fighter in the US since the first fight between Lewis and Holyfield in 1999.

Anthony Joshua vs Andy Ruiz Jr. – 1/6/2019

In June 2019, Joshua was originally set to face Jarrell Miller, but two months before the fight, Miller failed two separate drug tests. A replacement was needed and Andy Ruiz Jr. stepped up. Joshua dropped Ruiz mid way through the 3rd round with a perfect two punch combination, but when he then went in for the kill he got careless, and Ruiz caught Joshua with a left hook to the temple that completely threw Joshua’s equilibrium off. Ruiz dropped Joshua twice in that round, and he was lucky to make it to the bell. Through the 4th, 5th and 6th rounds, Joshua didn’t seem himself, although he was slowly beginning to regain his legs. Ruiz went in in the 7th round however, dropping Joshua twice more before the referee stopped the fight. This was arguably the biggest heavyweight upset since Hasim Rahman knocked out Lennox Lewis. The two agreed terms for an immediate rematch that took place later that year. This time, Joshua was far more cautious and Ruiz was far more out of shape. Joshua arguably won all but one round of the fight and regained his titles by unanimous decision.

In February of this year, Wilder and Fury had a rematch of their epic encounter from 15 months before. This time however, Fury completely changed his game plan, as he walked down Wilder and dropped him twice en route to a 7th round TKO finish. Fury winning this fight meant that all of the major heavyweight titles are now held exclusively by British fighters for the first time since the establishment of sanctioning bodies.

Deontay Wilder’s Disappointing Response to his Loss to Tyson Fury

I really like Deontay Wilder, he’s an incredibly entertaining boxer and a charming and polite man too. Showing people his highlight reel of KO’s has fast become one of my favourite past times of recent years just to see their reactions, as it’s always fun to see. However, the way that Wilder has responded to his first professional loss against Tyson Fury is really, really disappointing.

I will first address the prediction that I made for the fight. I predicted a Wilder KO in the 10th round, and whilst I said it could absolutely go either way, I simply did not expect Fury to pull off what he did. Fury controlled from start to finish, with just the 2nd round being close enough to potentially score it for Wilder. Wilder looked like a broken man going back to his corner between rounds, and it seemed clear that following the first knockdown of his professional career in the 3rd, he had run out of ideas of how to cope with Fury’s pressure and powerful punches.

In Wilder’s first interview since the loss with Yahoo Sports, Wilder blamed his loss on the costume that he chose to wear to the ring. Apparently it weighed roughly 18KG, and is the reason why his legs were all over the place for the majority of the fight. This is a very disappointing statement to make, mainly considering that he didn’t give any credit to Fury for his absolutely sublime performance. This excuse is also just so insane to me, because it’s like he’s trying to make out that it was absolutely necessary to wear an 18KG costume to the ring, and like we all needed to see that. I’ve also heard that it cost him $50,000 as well which just adds to the ridiculousness of the situation. There must have been some idea in Wilder’s head, or any member of his team’s, that this might not be the best idea. You’re going into the biggest fight of your career, and you decide to wear a costume that looks like Sauron from Lord of the Rings.

Another disappointing element to his interview with Yahoo is that he reveals that he has chosen to stop working with his co-trainer Mark Breland. Breland has been absolutely key towards all of the success that Wilder has achieved in recent years. He threw the towel in in the 7th round, and it was 100% the right decision to make. Wilder seemed to be concussed, he was bleeding from his left ear and there seemed like there was no way that he could possibly win the fight from that point on. It’s disappointing that Wilder doesn’t see that, but he should thank him in many years time when he doesn’t get brain damage sustained from a one-sided beating at the hands of ‘pillow fists’ Tyson Fury.

Anthony Joshua gets a lot of criticism for many different things online, but I think at times like this it’s good to compare Wilder and Joshua. When Joshua suffered the first loss of his career at the hands of Andy Ruiz Jr., Wilder went on a tireless tirade of the former champion, saying that he quit, that he had no heart, and that he wasn’t a true champion. In stark contrast, Joshua’s only public response to the fight so far was him posting a photo of Wilder on his Instagram story with the caption ‘Gladiator’. Joshua deserves a HUGE amount of respect for the way he has handled the whole situation. He could’ve gone in on Wilder but instead chose to take the high road. After losing to Ruiz, Joshua made no excuses and simply said that Ruiz was the better man. When Wilder lost to Fury he blamed it on an overpriced costume and his loyal trainer.

I want to make it clear that I am a fan of Wilder, and I have absolutely no doubt that he’ll bounce back from this defeat, but the way he has conducted himself is incredibly disappointing and frankly disrespectful to Fury. Wilder needs to except that he was simply outclassed and there are flaws in his game. There’s no shame in admitting you have flaws, and I have more respect for fighters who are willing to admit that after losses, but I’m simply not a fan of responding to losses like this, and it’s made me lose a huge amount of respect for Deontay Wilder.

Fight Preview: Deontay Wilder vs Tyson Fury 2

Tomorrow night the two best heavyweights on the planet go head to head, 14 months after their first encounter. The first fight was a thriller, with Fury dominating the majority of the fight with his jab and superior movement, but he was still unable to stay away from Wilder long enough, getting dropped in the 9th and 12th rounds. The fight was ruled a draw, somewhat controversially as many people, including myself, thought Fury had done more than enough to win. But how does the second fight play out? More of the same or will it be completely different?

Deontay Wilder is the reigning and defending WBC heavyweight champion, and is arguably the hardest puncher in heavyweight history. In 2019, Wilder scored two devastating knockouts, the first coming against Dominic Breazeale in the 1st round, and the second coming against Luis Ortiz in the 7th. Wilder has made 10 successful defences of his world title since beating Bermane Stiverne for it in 2015. To give some context, that puts him one ahead all time greats like Joe Frazier, Mike Tyson and Lennox Lewis, and draws him level with the great Muhammad Ali. There have often been questions raised over the level of competition that Wilder has defended against, but he’s proved time and time again that he can battle through hardship to still win.

Tyson Fury is the current lineal heavyweight champion, and is easily the best technical heavyweight boxer around today. In 2019 he made two relatively underwhelming defences of his lineal title, squaring off against Tom Schwarz and Otto Wallin. Fury disposed of Schwarz inside two rounds, looking better than he was against Wilder, and then beat Wallin by unanimous decision, having to fight through a horrible cut above his right eye. Fury won his lineal title by absolutely bewildering Wladimir Klitschko in 2015 with his bizarre and unconventional movement and punches. He also won 3 major world titles but had them stripped due to inactivity after he very publicly fell off the wagon.

To get into the debate for who wins, I’ve got to be honest I’ve been thinking about it since the rematch was announced, and I’m still not 100% sure who I think will win. Fury put on a masterclass against Wilder the first time round but I personally think that a rematch benefits Wilder far more than Fury. Fury is wild and unpredictable but by studying what he did the first time round, Wilder can start to gain a better understanding of what he needs to do in the rematch.

Fury will have the added benefit of being far better prepared physically for this fight, bearing in mind that he took the first fight just 6 months after his first fight back in 2 and a half years. Fury obviously did incredibly well to get into the shape that he did for that fight, but he’ll no doubt be at peak physicality tomorrow evening. He is set to weight in at around 270 pounds, or 123 KG, which is roughly 14 pounds and 9 KG heavier than the first fight with Wilder, meaning he should pack some more power behind his punches. His switch in trainer suggests that too, as he split with Ben Davidson and signed with Sugar Hill Steward, son of the great Emmanuel Steward, with the hope of learning one punch knockout power. Fury has said throughout the build up that this time he will knock Wilder out, many times he’s said inside two rounds, but I honestly doubt it. He says that he aims to come forward and get in Wilder’s face, which is an interesting strategy, but I think that would only play into Wilder’s hands. Fury has made it a dog fight in the past, most notably against Wallin and Steve Cunningham, but to compare these two fighters to Deontay Wilder is sheer madness. If Fury comes into range of that right hand too often, he will get knocked out.

I instead think that Fury needs to be even more unpredictable than he was in the first fight. It’s been noted by many analysts that Fury always rolled away from Wilder’s punches to the right in the first fight, which will probably be something that Wilder’s team will have noticed too. He instead needs to mix it up and keep Wilder on his toes. He also needs to sit on his punches a lot more, and punish Wilder when he misses any of his wild swinging punches. He certainly hurt Wilder once or twice in the first fight, but he needs to do that more often this time round, and make Wilder not want to come looking for him.

What does Wilder need to do? I think the main thing is to throw more punches to the body. Fury’s head is going to be moving wildly, but his body will be moving significantly less. If he can land some solid jabs to the chest and unleash some vicious power shots to the body then he will slow Fury down massively and will set himself up with openings later in the fight. I think that is really key for Wilder. He can’t be patient and wait for the openings like he did against Ortiz, because Fury has incredible cardio and will easily go 12 rounds if Wilder lets him. If he invests to the body early, then he’ll be able to be patient later in the fight as Fury begins to slow and tire.

I can see Fury coming forward at periods in the fight, putting pressure on Wilder, and it would be a smart tactic to employ if he can counter with a big power shot, but I don’t think it’ll be wise for him to do it right the way through the fight, as he will probably get knocked out. This is such a difficult fight to make a prediction on. Going into the first fight, I was 100% confident that Fury would win on points, but this second encounter is a genuine 50/50 fight. Right now however, I’m leaning towards Wilder, as I think it’ll benefit him so much to watch back the fight footage and work out how to beat him. Therefore, my official prediction is Wilder to win by knockout in the 10th round.

My Heavyweight Rankings: December 2019

15 – Jarrell Miller. Record: 23-0-1 (20 KO)

Yes, he’s a drugs cheat, and admittedly he hasn’t had a fight in 2019, but he still has a solid record that needs to be acknowledged. In 2017 he stopped former world title challengers Mariusz Wach and Gerald Washington, and knocked out former Cruiserweight world champion Tomasz Adamek in 2018. He is very good at applying pressure to his opponents, and whilst he isn’t an excellent technical boxer, he has staggering power that has KO’d 83% of his opponents.

14 – Daniel Dubois. Record: 13-0-0 (12 KO)

I would happily say that Daniel Dubois is the second hardest punching Heavyweight in the world right now, behind Deontay Wilder of course. I have to admit, I was sceptical about Dubois’ abilities before his fight in July against Nathan Gorman, but he proved me completely wrong, by outclassing Gorman en-route to a 5th round KO. Dubois won the British Heavyweight title that night, and added the Commonwealth title two months later, blowing away Ebenezer Tetteh in the first round. It looks like Frank Warren is trying to take Dubois’ progression slowly, and not forcing him into top 10 Heavyweight fights already, which I’m perfectly happy with, considering he’s only 22.

13 – Adam Kownacki. Record: 20-0-0 (15 KO)

Kownacki had a very solid 2019, stopping Gerald Washington in January and winning by unanimous decision against Chris Arreola in August. The fight against Arreola actually broke a Compubox record for the most punches thrown in a Heavyweight fight in its 34 year history, with 2,172 punches thrown across 12 rounds. Much like Miller, Kownacki is a brawler by nature, and often comes out throwing power punches within the first 10 seconds of a fight. His style makes for very entertaining fights, but I struggle to see how he’ll cope against a competent top-10 boxer, who would most likely outbox him and deal with his pressure quite easily.

12 – Dereck Chisora. Record: 32-9-0 (23 KO)

He has the most losses on his record in this list by far, but it feels like Chisora has only just reached his full potential at the age of 35. Following his loss to Whyte last December, which he was arguably winning at the time of the stoppage, Chisora had three fights in 2019. The first was an underwhelming fight against Senad Gashi, before two brutal displays against Artur Szpilka and David Price. His training seems to have paid off so much more recently, as he seems more focused and serious than ever. The Chisora of today never would’ve lost to Agit Kabayel and Robert Helenius, and would’ve given Kubrat Pulev a far more difficult fight. The pressure that Chisora applies to his opponents is unmatched in my opinion, and he could seriously make waves in 2020, with a bout between him and Oleksandr Usyk being rumoured for early next year.

11 – Alexander Povetkin. Record: 35-2-1 (24 KO)

Povetkin has been a top 10 Heavyweight for about 10 years now, but unfortunately for him, never managed to secure a world title. Now at the age of 40, he appears to be slowing down, as his last fight against Michael Hunter showed. Povetkin still gave Hunter a great fight, but he was rocked too many times, and looked significantly slower than he was when he fought Joshua. Despite his age he would still probably beat a vast majority of top 25 Heavyweights, with a serious level of power still in his hands, and he’s still got world class conditioning. He outboxed Hughie Fury in August, proving that he can still beat top fighters, but his days are surely numbered at this point.

10 – Michael Hunter. Record: 18-1-1 (12 KO)

Hunter is a very overlooked fighter, despite amassing an impressive Heavyweight record since stepping up from Cruiserweight last year. His power has carried up well, knocking out 4 of his 7 Heavyweight opponents, and he’s outboxed the others. In September Hunter fought unbeaten Russian Sergey Kuzmin in New York, a fight which I gave him all twelve rounds, as he knocked Kuzmin down in the fifth en-route to a unanimous decision victory. He battled it out with Alexander Povetkin this month, in a fight which I thought he deserved to win, but was ultimately ruled a draw. Hunter’s only loss came in 2017, against Oleksandr Usyk, but has remained unbeaten since, and looks like a huge problem for the Heavyweight division in the next few years.

9 – Kubrat Pulev. Record: 28-1-0 (14 KO)

Kubrat Pulev has done very little to get excited about since his only loss to Wladimir Klitschko in 2014, with his best win coming against Chisora in 2016. He was originally due to challenge Joshua for his titles in late 2017, but had to pull out of the fight due to injury, but has maintained his place as the IBF mandatory thanks to some comparatively weaker match ups since. In 2019, he knocked out Bogdan Dinu and won a very underwhelming unanimous decision against Rydell Booker in November. Pulev is a very talented tactician and often opts to sit on his jab as opposed to fully engaging with his opponents. His more reserved style has helped him beat a decent number of top competitors like Alexander Dimitrenko and Tony Thompson, and he may be facing Joshua as the IBF mandatory early in 2020.

8 – Luis Ortiz. Record: 31-2-0 (26 KO) (2 NC)

Luis Ortiz could’ve very easily become a world champion by now, but top contenders avoiding him for a long time probably mean that it’s too late for him now. He turned 40 in March, although that age is slightly disputed due to his extensive amateur career. In his rematch with Deontay Wilder in November, Ortiz outboxed Wilder for 6 rounds, before ultimately succumbing to his freakish power in the 7th round. Ortiz is still an excellent boxer though despite his age, and is still very strong physically, which means he could still land some big fights in 2020, but I think that ultimately Ortiz won’t do enough to become a world champion at this point.

7 – Joseph Parker. Record: 26-2-0 (20 KO)

2018 was not a great year for Joseph Parker, as he lost his WBO title to Joshua and then lost a unanimous decision to Dillian Whyte. Parker deserved to lose both fights in my opinion but that doesn’t change the fact that he is still a world quality boxer. His footwork is excellent, and has the benefit of being an excellent technician with knockout power. He only had one outing in 2019, stopping Alex Leapai in the 10th round, but was originally due to fight Dereck Chisora in October before pulling out due to illness. Parker is due to return in the US at some point early next year, but no opponent has been confirmed yet.

6 – Andy Ruiz Jr. Record: 33-2-0 (22 KO)

At this point Ruiz needs no introduction. He shocked the world by beating Joshua in June and was shot into global stardom. He fought a perfect fight that night, and was the deserved winner. Unfortunately, he didn’t put up as much of a fight against Joshua the second time round, and lost his titles by a lopsided unanimous decision. Ruiz has an incredibly impressive chin, and hand speed that he has no right to posses at 117 KG plus. He magnificently flew under the radar for a long time before his victory over Joshua, despite his previous world title challenge against Joseph Parker, a fight which many viewers thought he deserved to win. I have absolutely no doubt that Ruiz will continue to cement himself in the Heavyweight picture in 2020, but I can’t see a trilogy fight emerging with Joshua any time soon.

5 – Dillian Whyte. Record: 27-1-0 (18 KO)

GIVE THE MAN A TITLE SHOT. Whyte is the only boxer in this top 10 to not yet challenge for a world title, which is staggering to me. He’s been the highest ranked Heavyweight contender by the WBC since his decision victory over Robert Helenius at the end of 2017. But yet the WBC made Dominic Breazeale Wilder’s mandatory earlier this year instead. He has amassed an exceptional record since his only defeat to Joshua in late 2015, beating Parker, Browne, Rivas and Chisora twice. He has changed his style massively as well, switching from a brawler to a far more technical boxer with an excellent jab. He also possesses probably the best left hook in Heavyweight boxing today. His last bout against Mariusz Wach was underwhelming but he still managed a win despite the fight being made at three weeks notice.

4 – Anthony Joshua. Record: 23-1-0 (21 KO)

I’ve been critical of Joshua in the past, but his performance in his rematch against Ruiz Jr. spoke volumes about the man. To come back from what he did and put on a masterclass in the rematch takes a level of heart and determination that I won’t ever have. He learned a lot of lessons from his first fight with Ruiz in June, adapting to a style that kept him at the end of his jab for the vast majority of the fight. I only gave Ruiz one round in that fight, meaning I scored it 119-109 for Joshua. He made a huge statement in Saudi Arabia, but I still don’t think he’s the best in the division, in fact I see him losing to all 3 boxers ahead of him in the list. In 2020, Joshua has two mandatories to choose from: IBF mandatory Pulev and WBO mandatory Usyk, two very tough fights that could go either way. I think that based on the level of adaptability that he’s showed recently that even if he loses his titles again anytime soon he’ll still be a serious competitor for years to come.

3 – Oleksandr Usyk. Record: 17-0-0 (13 KO)

This may be a slightly confusing one to many people, but I think that Usyk is one of the pound for pound best boxers in the world. The former undisputed Cruiserweight champion has an unbelievable ring IQ, great footwork and a phenomenal engine. There are questions whether he’ll be able to make a mark in the Heavyweight division, but there’s not doubt in my mind that he will. He made his Heavyweight debut in October, stopping Chazz Witherspoon in the 7th round. The two opponents that Usyk is rumoured to face in 2020 are Joshua and Chisora, two very, very difficult fights, but I honestly see him winning both of them. Even if Usyk loses to Joshua I still see him becoming a Heavyweight champion in the next few years, that’s how good I think he is. As an amateur, Usyk beat professional Heavyweights Joe Joyce, Junior Fa and Magomedrasul Majidov, so fighting big Heavyweights won’t be entirely alien for him.

2 – Deontay Wilder. Record: 42-0-1 (41 KO)

The hardest punching Heavyweight in the world, it’s as simple as that. He isn’t the most skilled boxer so it is possible to outbox him, just like Fury and Ortiz did, but it’s almost guaranteed that he’ll find a way to land those big power shots at some point. In his rematch against Ortiz I had him losing every round, up until the point that he landed an absolute peach of a right hand. Wilder also scored the most devastating knockout of 2019, stopping Dominic Breazeale in the first round with one of the best straight right hands I’ve ever seen. He may not be the best technical boxer, but his athleticism, heart and chin make up for it in spades. Most other boxers would’ve been knocked out by Ortiz in the 7th round of their first fight, but somehow Wilder remained on his feet and stopped him in the 10th. If this was a list of pure boxers then Wilder would be very low, but it doesn’t matter, because one slight slip up in your defence and you’re left on your back.

1 – Tyson Fury. Record: 29-0-1 (20 KO)

Yes, I still think that Tyson Fury is the best Heavyweight in the world. Compared to 2018, 2019 was a slightly more disappointing year, but he still won both his fights in very different fashions. Fury stopped Tom Schwarz in the second round in June, and won a unanimous decision against Otto Wallin in September. The latter was a far more difficult fight for Fury, as he was dragged into a brawl by Wallin, but he proved that he’s not just an outside fighter, and if needs be he can get down and dirty and brawl it out with someone. It does have to be mentioned however, that he sustained a cut in that fight that probably would’ve stopped the fight if it was on Wallin. It reminded me massively of the cut that Vitali Klitschko sustained in his fight with Lennox Lewis in 2003, a cut that caused the ref to stop the fight at the end of the 6th round. Fury proved that he can adapt his style though, and that will be massive for him in the coming years. His next fight is set to be a rematch against Wilder in February, a fight that can realistically go either way, but I personally see Fury outboxing him again.

My Heavyweight Rankings: June 2019

10. Adam Kownacki – Record: 19-0-0 (15 KO)

Kownacki is the only boxer on this list to currently have a 100% win record, proving his current label as an up and coming prospect in the division. In his last 4 fights, Kownacki has fought two former world title challengers in Gerald Washington and Artur Szpilka, and former IBF world champion Charles Martin. Stylistically he is very aggressive, and generally lands a decent percentage of his power shots. However, his aggressiveness does often tend to leave him with significant bleeding from his nose and above his eye, which could prove to be a weakness against top opposition. Kownacki’s next fight will be against former title challenger Chris Arreola in August, but will ideally need a top 10 matchup in his next fight to properly move up through the rankings.

9. Kubrat Pulev – Record: 27-1-0 (14 KO)

Bulgarian heavyweight Pulev was a huge rising star in the division a few years ago, and was one of the highest ranked heavyweights before the only loss of his professional career at the hands of Wladimir Klitschko. He has more or less remained in most top 10 rankings since then but has not had any big fights since, with his biggest coming against Hughie Fury and Dereck Chisora. He was initially meant to challenge Anthony Joshua for his IBF & WBA belts in 2017, but had to pull out of the fight due to an injury. His last win came against Bogdan Dinu earlier this year, and he is rumoured to be a potential opponent for Tyson Fury later this year.

8. Alexander Povetkin – Record: 34-2-0 (24 KO)

After winning gold at the 2004 summer olympics, Alexander Povetkin went 26 fights and 8 years unbeaten, before, just like Pulev, losing his unbeaten record to Wladimir Klitschko. Povetkin is a very fast and tricky fighter for a lot of taller boxers to deal with. Standing at 6 feet 2 inches tall, he generally has a disadvantage in reach, so he is very clever in his methods of getting inside his opponents jab. He showed that ability against Joshua in his last fight, meaning that AJ seriously struggled to deal with him in the opening rounds. However, Povetkin turns 40 in September, which begs the question, how long has he got left?

7. Joseph Parker – Record: 25-2-0 (19 KO)

Joseph Parker became the first heavyweight world champion from New Zealand in 2016, and was unbeaten until a disappointing couple of losses in 2018. Parker lost his WBO title to Joshua in Cardiff in March, before losing a second unanimous decision in a row to Dillian Whyte in London in July. Parker made a decent account of himself in both fights, especially the latter, but ultimately he wasn’t confident enough, and at times seemed reluctant to throw significant punches. He is still a very skilful boxer however, and can happily say that he is to this day the only man to beat Andy Ruiz Jr., the unified heavyweight champion, as a professional. Many people believed that Ruiz deserved the win in that fight, but I personally scored it 115-113 in favour of Parker.

6. Luis Ortiz – Record: 31-1-0 (26 KO) (2 NC)

For a while, Cuban southpaw Luis Ortiz was considered the bogeyman of the division. As an extremely powerful southpaw, he seemed to many to be an incredibly difficult opponent. Ortiz eventually got his big break in March last year, as he challenged Deontay Wilder for his WBC title. He certainly grabbed the opportunity with both hands, and almost knocked Wilder out in the 7th round before ultimately being stopped in the 10th. Since then Ortiz has kept active, having three fights, the most recent being a unanimous decision victory over Christian Hammer. Wilder has stated that a rematch between the two has been scheduled between the two later this year, but I don’t honestly see Ortiz overturning the only loss of his professional career to date.

5. Dillian Whyte – Record: 25-1-0 (18 KO)

2018 was an incredible year for Dillian ‘The Body Snatcher’ Whyte. In March he knocked 0ut Lucas Browne, in July he beat former WBO world champion Joseph Parker by unanimous decision and then in December, he knocked out long time rival Dereck Chisora in a rematch of their thriller from 2016. It’s been an incredible run for Whyte since his loss to Joshua in 2015, winning 9 in a row, and becoming the WBC’s number 1 ranked challenger, although the governing body decided to make Dominic Breazeale their last mandatory despite Whyte being ranked higher. He’s a boxer who has massively changed his style since his only professional loss as well. He was previously a very aggressive fighter, but has adapted to being more of a calm and sound technical boxer. Even between the Parker and Chisora fights, we saw that he was more reserved and kept a lot of his energy back for those later rounds, which is ultimately what won him the fight. Whyte faces Colombian prospect Oscar Rivas next month, before hopefully setting him up with a huge top 10 fight towards the end of the year.

4. Anthony Joshua – Record: 22-1-0 (21 KO)

AJ is a very talented all round boxer, with good hand speed, excellent power, and decent conditioning. However, earlier this month he was exposed as a boxer with some very serious flaws. Against Povetkin he struggled to keep the shorter fighter outside with his jab, meaning that the Russian caused him a lot of problems, which is something that Ruiz took advantage of. He had mostly been able to get away with little head movement previously as well, simply blocking incoming punches, but Ruiz was able to pick him apart with ease. He also has a tendency to get hurt when he’s being more aggressive and looking for the finish, as shown against Whyte, Klitschko and Ruiz. Joshua has probably the most impressive record on the list however, with almost nothing but top heavyweight opponents in the last few years. His knockout percentage of 91.3 is incredibly impressive as well, and he’s proved time and time again that he’s one of the best finishers in the business. Joshua doesn’t strike me as the kind of boxer that is going to go out in the next fight with the same game plan, and I think we’ll see a different AJ next time out. It seems like his next fight will be a rematch against Ruiz towards the end of the year to try and reclaim his titles.

3. Andy Ruiz Jr. – Record: 33-1-0 (22 KO)

Almost nobody gave Ruiz a chance against Anthony Joshua, but he shocked the world by stopping the undefeated, unified heavyweight champion in the 7th round. Ruiz is an immensely talented boxer with outstanding hand speed and surprisingly good conditioning for a man of his body type. He also has the heart of a champion, which he proved after getting off the canvas in the third round of his last fight. Ruiz had over 100 amateur fights, losing just 5, meaning that the experience he has is matched by very few in the division today. Ruiz’s only loss as a professional so far came in a WBO title fight against Joseph Parker, losing by majority decision in a fight that many viewers believed that Ruiz deserved to win. Ruiz took over a year out following that loss, and had just three fights between the Parker fight and the Joshua fight. As a replacement for Jarrell Miller, Ruiz was an 11 to 1 underdog going into the biggest fight of his career, and proved in just seven rounds that he is a force to be reckoned with in the heavyweight division.

2. Deontay Wilder – Record: 41-0-1 (40 KO)

Deontay Wilder is without a doubt the most powerful puncher in the heavyweight division. With a knockout rate of 95.2%, he has proved time and time again that he can end a fight with one punch. Wilder’s first 39 professional fights were against comparatively weaker opposition however, and since last year his opponents have been considerably tougher. In 2018 Wilder fought Luis Ortiz and Tyson Fury, winning the first fight in the 10th round, and managing to score a controversial draw against Fury. He then made a huge statement earlier this year by knocking mandatory challenger Dominic Breazeale out in the first round. He may not be a particularly technical boxer, but Wilder’s athleticism and heart really set him apart from the vast majority of the competition. His conditioning is excellent and he proved against Fury that he can carry his power right into the final round of the fight. He proved against Ortiz as well that he can come back from the brink of defeat to win in emphatic style, demonstrating a huge amount of heart and determination. Wilder has now made 9 defences of his WBC heavyweight title, and is set to defend it again in a rematch against Ortiz later this year.

1. Tyson Fury – Record: 28-0-1 (20 KO)

I’ve been saying this for a while now: Tyson Fury is the best heavyweight in the world. Fury combines outstanding ring IQ with blistering head movement and hand speed, and as he showed against Schwarz, the power to stop a fight in the second round. Fury’s speed is a complete mystery as well. He stands at 6 foot 9 inches and in his last fight he weighed 263.5 pounds (18.8 stone), yet at times he looked like a prime Muhammad Ali. He should not be as quick as he is, it simply defies logic. In 2015, Fury became the unified heavyweight champion, after beating the long reigning Wladimir Klitschko in Germany. Fury went off the rails shortly after, having to retire from boxing after ballooning up to 28 stone. Fury fought back from this and his chronic mental health issues however, and in just his third fight back he challenged Deontay Wilder for his WBC title. Quite frankly, Fury was robbed, in the biggest robbery of a Brit in America since Lennox Lewis vs Evander Holyfield in 1999. Fury outboxed Wilder for 10 out of the 12 rounds, and got up from 2 knockdowns to get a draw. The lineal champion stays as driven as ever though, and following his demolition job of Tom Schwarz, looks set to return to the ring either in September or October, most likely against a top ten opponent. Simply put, I think Fury can, and probably will, beat anyone that he comes up against in the not too distant future.

Heavyweight Boxing is Alive and Well

Heavyweight Boxing is Arguably the Most Exciting Thing in Sport at the Moment.

Since the thrilling encounter between Tyson Fury and Deontay Wilder in LA last December, many people have been reiterating that boxings heavyweight division has come alive once again. But if it had been simply revived 6 months ago, it has been given a healthy dose of steroids since the 1st of June; A dose probably not all that dissimilar to what’s currently pumping through Jarrell Miller’s veins. Andy Ruiz Jr. beating Anthony Joshua is a result that was only predicted by a handful of people, mostly people who are very close to the first Mexican Heavyweight champion in the history of the sport. But results like this are what make boxing’s marquee weight class so exciting and utterly unpredictable. Ruiz finds himself on a very long list of men who have defied the odds to hold the distinguished title.

Was heavyweight boxing dead before the end of last year? Well, yes and no. Throughout the late 2000’s and early 2010’s, the division was dominated by the Klitschko brothers, with the occasional other champions springing up: Ruslan Chagaev, Nikolai Valuev and David Haye to name a few, but no-one had the ability to well and truly challenge the two brothers for heavyweight supremacy. Vitali lost just two fights in his professional career: to Lennox Lewis in his final ever fight, and to Chris Byrd, which he had to be pulled out of due to an injury. Wladimir had 5 losses, but between 2004 and 2015, he went on an incredible 11 year, 22 fight unbeaten run, picking up the WBA, WBO, IBF, IBO, Ring Magazine and Lineal titles in the process. On paper that sounds outstanding, and to be fair it’s certainly an excellent accomplishment, but he was merely head and shoulders above the rest of the division. Simply put, the point where public interest in the division seemed to diminish was when both Lennox Lewis and Mike Tyson retired. They represented the last of the golden era of the 1990’s, which is arguably the best decade in heavyweight history. Admittedly Evander Holyfield continued on for a few more years but he certainly wasn’t the boxer he was the decade before. Instead, names like John Ruiz, Lamon Brewster and Chris Byrd emerged, and whilst they were all perfectly competent fighters, they were simply not of the level of the 90’s greats. So in the sense that public interest had almost entirely diminished, yes it was dead. But in the sense that it produced two all time greats: the Klitschko brothers, no it was not.

Then, on the 28th November 2015, Wladimir Klitschko’s reign ended as he was completely bewildered and outclassed by Tyson Fury. To many, this was a sign that the heavyweight division could finally make it’s long awaited comeback, and whilst it didn’t immediately change the landscape, it set off a chain of events that brought us to where we are today. After Fury was forced to vacate his titles, it left 3 of the 4 major world titles vacant. Deontay Wilder held the WBC belt, which he had won from Bermane Stiverne in January 2015. Charles Martin soon won the vacant IBF belt in January of the following year, before losing it three months later to Anthony Joshua, and so, the next great British heavyweight boxing sensation was born. Joseph Parker won the WBO title in December 2016 against Andy Ruiz Jr., and then Joshua added the WBA title to his collection after an absolutely thrilling encounter with the former champion Wladimir Klitschko. This was the first heavyweight boxing match to grab the attention of the whole world probably since Lennox Lewis faced Mike Tyson in 2002. The bout was an international phenomenon and propelled Anthony Joshua to the role of a worldwide boxing icon. He added the WBO title after beating Joseph Parker last year, and made one more defence against Alexander Povetkin before everything that he’d worked for came crashing down due to a masterclass display from Ruiz.

Whilst Joshua was busy trying to write his legacy, across the Atlantic, Deontay Wilder was slowly but surely building one of his own. Between 2015 and 2018, Wilder had made 6 defences of his title with relative ease, against relatively low level opposition, before facing Luis Ortiz in March 2018, generally considered to be the bogey man of the division. Despite having a record of 28-0 with 24 knockouts, this was the Cuban power-punching southpaws first world title fight. This was an enormous step up in opposition for Wilder, and was by far his toughest fight up until that point. Despite being seriously hurt for the first time in his professional career, Wilder fought back to win by 10th round TKO. This performance demonstrated not only Wilder’s sheer power but also his heart and determination to come back from the brink of the first loss of his professional career. This seemed like fertile ground then for a matchup between Joshua and Wilder. Joshua held three of the major titles, and Wilder held the other, meaning that a showdown to become the undisputed champion seemed inevitable. That brings us to one of the only things that I don’t love about boxing: the politics. Now you can go back and forward about who’s ducking who, but ultimately, if two fighters want to make a fight happen, then it will happen. We saw that with Fury and Wilder, who negotiated their bout in what seemed like record time. There was a window of 15 months for the fight to be made; between Joshua winning the WBO title and his loss to Ruiz, which just goes to demonstrate how frustrating the backroom dealings in the sport can be for fans.

Midway through 2018, the boxing world was treated to the beginning of the comeback of one of it’s most entertaining and talented boxers: Tyson Fury. Fury hit rock bottom following his momentous victory over Wladimir Klitschko, and seemed to be done with boxing for good. Between sheer weight gain, depression and drug abuse, there seemed absolutely no hope in hell that The Gypsy King would ever step back inside the ring. From 22 stone, Fury simply shed the weight in the lead up to his much anticipated title fight against WBC champion Deontay Wilder. With two tune up bouts against Sefer Seferi and Francesco Pianeta, Fury signed the deal to fight one of the most feared heavyweights on the planet. It was a turn-back-the-clock moment for Fury, as he simply outclassed Wilder for 10 of the 12 rounds. Wilder proved to be able to carry his power late into the fight however, and put Fury down in the 9th and 12th rounds. Miraculously however, Fury rose back to his feet both times, defying the odds, and finishing the 12 round title fight as the clear winner to the vast majority watching, myself included. Unfortunately however, the judges saw it differently, and ruled it a draw, robbing us of the greatest heavyweight boxing comeback since George Foreman.

One of the most amazing things about heavyweight boxing is just how incredibly unpredictable it is. Heavyweight upsets are so common and at this point for most heavyweight fans they’re widely accepted. From Muhammad Ali’s stoppage victory of Sonny Liston to Buster Douglas’ sublime comeback to beat Mike Tyson, the division has never been short of results that have shocked the world. Andy Ruiz Jr. is now added to that list following his outstanding TKO victory over Anthony Joshua. This all puts us in what I would consider to be a very exciting position in the sport. Before the Joshua – Ruiz fight, the vast majority of onlookers thought that the only important fights in the division were the ones between the three top heavyweights: Anthony Joshua, Deontay Wilder and Tyson Fury, but Ruiz absolutely obliterated that point of view. The division is wide open, and there is now a belief that almost anybody could pull of and upset of Ruiz’s level. Fighters like Dillian Whyte, Kubrat Pulev and Luis Ortiz suddenly seem like far more viable candidates for a heavyweight title than they previously did. Making things even more interesting as well is the undisputed Cruiserweight world champion Oleksandr Usyk making the step up this year. It’s certainly an exciting time to be a heavyweight boxing fan.

I’ve seen many people argue that Ruiz’s win over Joshua is a bad thing for boxing; because it robs us of that fight between Joshua and Wilder, and, for the record, I think that’s nonsense. Upsets don’t ruin the division, they’re what make it great. Take a look at the greatest upset in boxing history: when Buster Douglas beat Mike Tyson. Tyson was considered unbeatable by so many, and Douglas was a 42/1 underdog going into the fight. This was merely considered a tune up bout for Tyson before facing off against the highest ranked challenger at the time, Evander Holyfield. Boxing fans were incredibly excited by the prospect of these two facing off, but just because Tyson lost, doesn’t mean we never got to see the fight happen. We saw it happen twice in fact, in 1996 and 1997. Granted these weren’t Tyson’s prime years, but if Buster Douglas could beat Tyson in his prime, then why couldn’t Holyfield? You can also make the argument that if it weren’t for Tyson losing to Douglas, we never would’ve got one of the best trilogies in the history of the sport: Evander Holyfield vs Riddick Bowe. The first fight between these two is easily one of the best boxing matches I’ve ever seen, and if Holyfield wasn’t the undisputed champion of the world at that point then it may never have happened. In the 1970’s, a rematch between Joe Frazier and Muhammad Ali was the most anticipated fight that could be made. A spanner was thrown into the works of that however, in the shape of George Foreman, as he battered Frazier around the ring for two rounds before the referee waved it off. We still got that second fight between Frazier and Ali, it just simply wasn’t for a world title. Ali and Frazier then also fought a third time in 1975 to top it all off. It also meant that Ali vs Foreman happened, a classic fight between two of the greatest of the era. The Bowe/Foreman of the current era isn’t entirely clear at this point, but they emerged from the shadow of other greats of the time to become known as all time greats themselves. Maybe Andy Ruiz Jr. is the new Bowe/Foreman, or maybe he’s simply the next Buster Douglas, and came along merely to open up the division to the rest of it’s competitors. It’s difficult to tell at this point, but there’s absolutely no doubt in my mind that what Ruiz has done is a positive thing, and as fans we will all reap the rewards in future. I personally can’t wait to see what happens next in the heavyweight division, as it simply is one of the most exciting prospects in sport at the moment.