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.