2004 HEAVYWEIGHT
PREDICTIONS
By Michael Amakor
Most boxing scribes and luminaries continually talk about the lack
of depth in the divisions north of the Welterweights. Fightkings.Com
disagrees with this analysis because we have a Pandora box of
talented boxers buried in the heavyweight ranks who lack the star
power or a good promoter to advance them to a title shot. This
situation is further complicated by bad decisions like the bitter
taste Chris Byrd holding on to his title after losing to Oquendo...
or Holyfield in his first fight against Ruiz…or Jones against Tarver
etc that continues to recycle under deserving champions and
frustrates the talent fighting to punch out.
Another factor is leapfrogging an
entire division due to star power and prestige, this especially
makes a laughing stock of a division so by- passed, this is partly
responsible for the dullness in some divisions like the
cruiserweights. Roy Jones would have ignited that decision if he had
fought Jirov or Braithwaite who would have given him a good fight or
knocked him out instead of taking a well foretold move against Ruiz.
He is now down to the Light Heavyweight....such confusion and what a
mess.
On the bright side the there is still
hope for the heavyweight division and without further ado we shall
talk about where the division is heading and who will lead the
charge in 2004.
UNDERVALUED TALENT
John Ruiz
It has often been said he has a lot to
be quiet about.. what with losses to Tua and then Jones. But in all
cases he has regrouped to surprise us with his dogged hugging
tenacity. A closer look at his suppressed resume shows some
decent names and a couple of alphabet titles to his credit……if you
mention his unappreciated ugly wins over Johnson, Holyfield, Rahman...
you begin to get a sense of his mettle that the ordinary bystander
does not see. As is true to his nature look for John to quietly hold
on to the title he regained by hugging his way through spirited
challenges from Oquendo and a few challengers.
Vitali Klitchko
Questions about his heart will continue
to dog him for the rest of his career because smaller fighters like
Hopkins and Gatti failed to quit on their stool after hurting their
shoulder against Echols or Ward respectively…..but Vitali showed us
his championship resolve when be put up a very heartening
performance against veteran Lennox Lewis.... which immediately makes
us want to forgive his past transgression in quitting against Byrd.
His fight with Lewis is the harbinger
of the hurricane set to flood the division and Vitali will become
champion either by design or by default, look for some excitement as
he becomes the next white hope when he tries to unify the
heavyweight title against Byrd, Ruiz, Tyson or defend against
Mesi..Harrison or Guinn..etc... he will look good as he builds a
record knocking out these guys in whatever order the come until
about his 3rd defense when he cannot protect his beard due to his
Ramrod stiff European style and he ends up back in the drawing board
wondering what hit him.
Wladimir Klitchko
How the mighty fall and so soon the
wolves come out of the thicket.
This plodding giant has got the stuff
to be great and as soon as he gets his courage back....look for him
to seize back his WBO title and make a couple of defenses. He has
the power and amateur background to intimidate any of the current
pretender challengers who might come forward. Heavyweight history
will be made as two brothers become champions at the same time...
Everybody will get back on the Wladimir bandwagon as he feasts on
mediocre opponents until he walks into a wild uppercut sometime in
2005.
Iron Mike Tyson
His time is slowly and painfully coming
to an end....But money problems will kick his bad ass back into the
ring along with more spider web tattoos and surrounded by a mob of
tax collectors, hanger ons and pick pockets.
He will be a shadow of himself as he
barely gets past mediocre opposition until one champion lured into a
false sense of security about his press clippings will step into the
ring against the BADDEST man on the planet for a record purse and
boxing immortality.
Everything goes according to plan until
some time in the middle rounds when suddenly, an angry, chastised,
victimized and recharged Mike Tyson unleashes a vicious uppercut
deep down the depths of hell packing all the fury of his
tribulations and ex wives………and in slow motion the world watches as
the referee slowly waves his hands in horror halting the bout and
the fans at Madison Garden rise up in anxious shock and go
completely berserk as Mike Tyson is Champion again.
Lennox Lewis vs Vitali Klitchko
Lewis has been a great champion but his
reign has suppressed a galaxy of talent straining to break loose.
Fightkings.com also holds Lewis for the lack of excitement in the
heavyweight division presently........ his wrongs have been numerous
from getting $1m to toss a belt instead of fighting Byrd, to only
having fought once last year......to not granting Vitali an
immediate rematch.....to congratulating Saunders for knocking out
Wladimir who mind you he should have fought a long time ago.
And since he will not abdicate his
throne, his well deserved ego will push him into a fight with Vitali
Klitchko ...Lewis won the first fight hands down and it is our
opinion, he would have kayoed the stiff Ukrainian if the fight had
continued, but in the year 2004 Lewis will log his 250+ pounds of
fat into the ring to be repeatedly beat to the punch......nothwithstanding
his effort and even if he fights down Klitchko........the
politics....and our resentment against his past intransigence will
force the judges to wrench the title from off his head to open the
floodgate of new blood into the division.
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