Buffer's the man!!!!

walshb

I found this clip a while back and it just reminded me why the Heavyweight champion of the world was the most prestigious prize in sport.
Buffer's introductions are amazing. The look Tyson directs at Spinks (I'm assuming) just before Buffer finishes is scary. It's just a pity the division has sunk since this

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p3Ypfh5xggk...

Big Ears

We won't be seeing an introduction like that , at least not for a long time . But the reason for that is because Buffer's voice has declined with age not because there isn't up and coming boxers who are going to bring quality back to heavyweight .

Walsh the heavyweight division has seemed to(roughly) go in 10 year spells since the 70's . 70's-high , 80's-low , 90's high , 00's low , 10's ??? , my prediction is high .

We finally have a heavyweight that is establishing himself above the rest . Wladamir is beaten DaVarryl Williams , Eliseo Castillo , Sam Peter , Chris Byrd , Calvin Brock and Ray Austin since his loss to Brewster . He is going to attempt to avenge his loss to Brewster in his next fight and I believe he will be successful .

Byrd was ranked #1 when Wlad beat him .
Calvin Brock and Sam Peter were both in the top 10 and Ray Austin had drawn with Sultan Ibragimov who was also in the top 10 . These are Ring rankings which are usually pretty good for heavyweight and I don't disagree with them . Williamson was a top 20/25 guy and Castillo was a blown up Cruiser and he still is a (top 25) contender at Cruiser .

Sam Peter has come on in leaps and bounds since his loss to Wlad . He no longer looks a one dimensional slugger and showed his skills dominating Toney in his last fight . He will face Maskaev next and you have to fancy him to beat Oleg . The winner of that will face either the comebacking Vitali Klitschko or the winner of Sinan Samil Sam v Oliver McCall .

Maskaev beat Sam to earn his title shot and then fought a very good fight against Rahman , ko-ing him while ahead on the cards in the last(bringing about a dramatic cry of 'it's over' from Lennox Lewis in commentary ) .
He then defended against the limited Peter Okhello . Maskaev is seen as a weak champ , and I have to say rightfully so . He can box a bit but is no slickster and he can punch a bit but not hard anough to Ko Peter . His chin also has massive questions as all his 6 losses are by stoppage . I think Peter will eventually land big and stop Maskaev . As for the winner against Vitali , who knows what's left of him .

So if Peter does beat Maskaev and then fights Vitali , for the sake of the division Peter needs to win . Vitali will not fight his brother however both Peter and Wlad will look to unify . If Peter wins I think we will see Wlad v Peter II which will be #1 heavyweight v the #2 . Essentially this wouldn't just bring the WBC and IBF(/IBO) titles together it would start a new linear championship . The first linear champ since Lewis , the first true champ since Lewis .

Chagaev looks a decent fighter and may eventually be matched with Wlad but I have the feeling he'll have to come through a good few defences first . Chagaev is definitively an improvement on Valuev or Ruiz as a title holder and he will be a decent champion .

Briggs is a terrible champ , Ibragimov may beat him , then again he may not . The point being is that Briggs could lose to anyone he's matched against . If Frank Warren actually did want one of his fighters to win a World title , here is a guy they have a decent shot against .

But what is promising about the division is not the small improvement that has been made in the last 2 years . But what is ahead of us . Povetkin , Solis , Boytsov , Haye . This guys are the future and fantastically they all fit into the styles of the 4 great heavyweights from the 90's . Povetkin-Holyfield , Solis-Bowe , Boytsov-Tyson , Haye-Lewis , Okay not all of them fit quite perfectly but I think I've done well with that comparison .

Povetkin looks great and he really does look like the second coming of Evander Holyfield . He fights Monte Barret in a months time in only his 13 th fight . Barret is 31-5 and was top 15 until recently . His last two fights have been title fights , losing to Valuev and Rahman . This will give a real indication of where Povetkin is at . I believe Povetkin will stop Barret before the 6th , which is much better than Valuev(who took 11 rounds) and Rahman(who won a decision did) . Povetkin is the saviour everyone has been looking for , he just doesn't look like it . He's not exactly ripped shall we say , but watch him fight and you'll start to remember what a top class heavyweight is like . Povetkin has an amazing amateur record and was the 2004 Olympic Super Heavyweight Gold medalist .

Odlanier Solis also has a great amateur record , He won the gold medal at heavyerweight in the 2004 Olympics . He has only had one pro fight so far but it was an impressive one . He fought 32-7 German champ Andreas Sidon and ko'ed him in the first . He is economical with his punches but very precise , Sidon had gone 9 rounds with decent heavyweight Taras Bidenko the fight before that . Solis fights Alex Mazikin(10-1-0_ next in just over 2 weeks . Mazikin is a decent fighter and only lost to Bidenko himself by MD . I thought Povetkin was the fastest moving heavyweight I had seen in a long time but they seemed determined to really push Solis . Just like Povetkin , wel will learn a lot about him in his next fight .

Dennis Boytsov , very raw Russian slugger who has a style very alike Jack Dempsey and a bit like Tyson . He has 16 ko's in 17 wins and all he needs is the correct training to develop him into a real killer . He has been matched pretty easy but is only 21 and hasn't fought in a few months due to injury . I suspect they will start moving him up next year . This guy has the potential to become a real destructive slugger , and he would certainly benefit from some time in the US .

David Haye , you will be more familiar with the British Cruiserweight . Loads of power , speed , decent skills , with the main question being on his chin as he seems to have improved his stamina . I'm interested to know how he'll cope with a big heavy leaning on him , and the physical strength aspect of being up at Cruiser . But believe it when I say he has the potential to knock out any heavyweight , and I mean any heavyweight , Peter , Brewster , McCall . He fights Mormeck for the undisputed Cruiserweight title next . I fancy him to win but if he doesn't it's not the end of the world . he does have to drain to make Cruiser .

There's plenty of average fighters to fill up the rest of the division and I feel we are on the up again . Hopefully Peter can defeat Vitali and set us up with a fight for a new champion .

Briggs is something I want rid of badly , he is a very weak champion and you can be sure with King he has no intention of unifying .

The Russian revolution begins , Povetkin TKO Barret in 5 .

walshb

That is one detailed post. You certainly put a lot of effort into your replies.
Appreciated.

As for the clip, I think no heavyweight in history had such an aura of invincibility or so looked the part of a beast as Tyson did in the 80's and with Buffer's introductions it just furthered this view.

When you think of all the great stars in sport through the 80's like Maradona, Carl Lewis, Redgrave, Jordan etc etc, none had the real global appeal that Tyson had. I suppose it was because the heavyweight division had fouind a new super star since Ali and the heavyweight champion of the world is the number 1 athlete on the planet. Then the fact that Mike looked so mean and deadly and was a fierce KO machine.

henryb

walshb wrote:

I found this clip a while back and it just reminded me why the Heavyweight champion of the world was the most prestigious prize in sport.
Buffer's introductions are amazing. The look Tyson directs at Spinks (I'm assuming) just before Buffer finishes is scary. It's just a pity the division has sunk since this

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p3Ypfh5xggk...

That was great to watch again walshb, and so were the rest of the clips that went with it!
As you say, it just reminds us of why the heavyweight title was the most
prestigious prize in sport.
Its such a pity tyson peaked so early in his career!(At his best at 21??)
If only he could have stayed with ,kevin rooney, bill clayton and jim jacobs
ive no doubt he could have remained unbeaten for a lot longer than he did!
I've been watching a fair bit of the eastern european heavy weights lately
and it seems some people are fairly excited about what they see
but ive yet to be totally convinced by them!!
Its certainly not like it was in the good ol' days, but we'll see!

Big Ears

Tyson would possibly have gone off the rails no matter who was around him . He is a mentally unstable person who can be fine for months on end , even over a year but then he'll do something stupid like take a lot of drugs and start driving around the place at high speed(that's one of the last things he got in trouble for) .

I think the only thing that can hold back unification and a true champion now is Vitali Klitschko and those fecking brothers 'dream' .

Peter or Maskaev will fight Wlad when possible , but the winner of their fight does have to fight Vitali and if Lurch wins he won't fight his brother so that'll be that . I still feel Ibragimov will fight another champion soon enough even if he doesn't do it straight away but one guy holding two belts(especially if his name isn't Wladamir Klitschko) isn't going to help us that much .

I believe Heavyweight boxing will become recognized by the general public again once we have a true champion but currently with 4 different contenders claiming their piece of the title and their mandatories there is a lot of work to be done .

henryb

I know where youre coming from big ears and like myself you want boxing
to flourish but seriously there doesnt seem
to be that much, shall we say, 'star quality' in the heavy weight
division at the minute!

Big Ears

henryb wrote:

I know where youre coming from big ears and like myself you want boxing
to flourish but seriously there doesnt seem
to be that much, shall we say, 'star quality' in the heavy weight
division at the minute!

In 1 months time Povetkin will have fought Monte Barret and Solis will have fought Alex Mazikin . By then we will know if the star quality is there or not .

henryb

Big Ears wrote:

In 1 months time Povetkin will have fought Monte Barret and Solis will have fought Alex Mazikin . By then we will know if the star quality is there or not .

Theres no doubting povetkin and solis were at the very top
of their game in the ameteur divisions, won practically everything.
I fancy povetkin to beat barret, povetkin looked good
lasy weekend. Not to sure how solis and mazkin will go!
How do you see it big ears? Its only a 6 rounder i think!

Big Ears

henryb wrote:

Theres no doubting povetkin and solis were at the very top
of their game in the ameteur divisions, won practically everything.
I fancy povetkin to beat barret, povetkin looked good
lasy weekend. Not to sure how solis and mazkin will go!
How do you see it big ears? Its only a 6 rounder i think!

From what I've heard of Mazkin he is meant to be a decent boxer with a solid jaw but little power(backed up by his record) . Him getting a MD with Taras Bidenko(ranked #7 by the WBA) shows he certainly has some quality about him . He is only a novice himself really with just 11 fights , which makes the Bidenko result more impressive . Mazikin is not meant to be the quickest of opponents and I fancy Solis to use his extra speed of both foot and hand to win . If you saw the job Solis did on Sidon you would agree with them moving him fast as they're doing .

I'm going to go with a points win for Solis and it to be fairly clear .

As for Povetkin , I think he'll get Barret out of there within 6 as I said earlier , I think Povetkin has got a good style for stopping guys even if he isn't a one punch knockout sort of guy . Barret will provide a better test than he has faced before and Povetkin will get hit in this fight . But his chin seems solid so I've no worries there .

I will be disappointed if Povetkin goes the distance , and Solis doesn't with by UD(presuming there is judges) if there isn't judges then by more than 1 point . If either of them lose it will not be the end of them but it would expose them as certainly not being the saviours we are looking for .

Big Ears

Barrett has pulled out for family reasons and has been replaced with the very durable and fairly talented Larry 'The Legend' Donald .

As replacements go they've done very well for themselves . Infact it's not that hard to argue that Donald is a greater test than Barrett . He is much more solid , more experienced , more sound defensively but doesn't hit quite as hard(not that Monte is a killer puncher anyway) .

Donald's last fight was a while back but(against Valuev) which was a closely contested and controversial defeat in many peoples eyes by decision .

Before that he drew with Ray Austin and beat Holyfield .

It will be very interesting to see if Povetkin can stop Donald as Donald has only been stopped once and that was by Vitali Klitschko .

He's gone the distance with Riddick Bowe , Kirk Johnson and Valuev in losing efforts and has got a good defence to go with his strong chin .

The test now for Povetkin is stopping Donald at all , in any round . If he can do that it'll show he's something a bit special .

Big Ears

Solis blew away Mazikin in a round , 43 seconds to be precise . I haven't seen it yet but that result is extremely impressive .

He came in at 252 lbs which is still very heavy but an improvement on the 258 he came in a month and half ago .

I wouldn't be surprised if they put him in with a guy like Ray Austin real soon . The only problem will be getting good opponents to agree to fights with few rounds . Presumely the next fight will be a 6 rounder as I can't see them getting anyone above the level of Mazikin to fight for 4 rounds .

walshb

Big Ears wrote:

Solis blew away Mazikin in a round , 43 seconds to be precise . I haven't seen it yet but that result is extremely impressive .

He came in at 252 lbs which is still very heavy but an improvement on the 258 he came in a month and half ago .

I wouldn't be surprised if they put him in with a guy like Ray Austin real soon . The only problem will be getting good opponents to agree to fights with few rounds . Presumely the next fight will be a 6 rounder as I can't see them getting anyone above the level of Mazikin to fight for 4 rounds .

Solis was 91 kg as an amateur wasn't he. My god that's some weight gain and to me it seems unnaturally high. He's bigger than Bowe was in 92 and Lennox, yet he's about 4 inches shorter than both. What happened there I wonder

Big Ears

walshb wrote:

Solis was 91 kg as an amateur wasn't he. My god that's some weight gain and to me it seems unnaturally high. He's bigger than Bowe was in 92 and Lennox, yet he's about 4 inches shorter than both. What happened there I wonder

Ya he was 91Kg and the weight gain was very worrying . However the drop of about half a stone in 6 weeks shows he's trying to address it anyway .

With that said looking at his body currently 225/230 is as low as he'll get , even in tip top shape .

It is a habit of the Cubans though , just look at Juan Carlos Gomez . Speaking of Gomez he got a points win over Dennis Bahktov on the same card .

Here is Solis' win over Sidon :http://www.kewego.com/video/iLyROoaftcf1.html

and here is highlights of the Mazikin win:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XvdfGKL60RI and yes that is a very tame punch to go down from .
It did catch him around the side/back of the head so maybe you could make a case for it that way .