u/Straight-Jump-6813

Getting a little misty eyed for what mighta been with Joe Joyce. It's easy to forget how highly rated he was on the come up, particularly the run from Dubois through Parker and ending emphatically with Zhang. I think he probably stayed in the amateur game too long, he lost that physical dynamism that made him so impressive in WSOB.

He's heading over to Moscow to take on this Artem Suslenkov guy on the undercard of the Gassiev-Yoka fight. Wasn't too cognisant of Suslenkov but have watched back what I could find of his fights online. He has a win over Michael Hunter under an IBA pro classification. The rest of his opponents have been fringe world level at best.

Suslenkov is compact and functional. He looks like a pretty good boxer but he is also pretty tactically horrible. It is a lot of getting chest to chest, hitting and holding. A younger Joyce would run through him but at 40 and as the away fighter I fear this will not be a successful night for Joyce. Anyone here got more insight on Suslenkov than I?

Been looking at a lot of Jirov's fights. He was a really tremendous boxer. Won gold and the Val Barker (incredible company for this Stevenson, RJJ, Loma) at Atlanta '96. Turned over and was IBF world champion within two and a half years. Fair to say, whether through top rank failings or otherwise - he simply didn't grow a meaningful following.

In the ring he's absolutely relentless at his best, some of the best body work you're gonna see up the weights. Find his movement around his opponent to be more sophisticated than the awkward banger I remembered from the Toney fight.

The Toney fight is legendary and obviously very close but Jirov was badly robbed in his other two losses against Mesi and Moorer. He'd 6 defences of the IBF at cruiser which ain't nothing.

For sure Golovkin put Kazakh pro boxing on the world stage for most of us but Jirov was a critical trail blazer.

Genuinely believe Shaq deserves more credit. Vargas, Hernandez, Fulton, Ford is a tremendous run. He's knocking on the door of my pound for pound list.

Called out Shakur after the ford fight, think Shakur should bite his hand off, reckon history will look on a victory of Shaq pretty fondly.

Been going heavy on the heavyweight history of late. I find the boxrec summary listings of annual ring magazine top 10 rankings to be a cool resource. It gives a nice snapshot of that year and division in boxing.

2005 heavyweight was a pretty quirky year… vacuum post Vitali/Lennox. Toney at 37 fuelled exclusively by burger king and nandrolone, boring John Ruiz and Samuel Peter!

Found myself thinking about how these guys would have got on 10 years previously or indeed today!

The list was:

1.      Chris Byrd

2.      Hasim Rahman

3.      James Toney

4.      Lamon Brewster

5.      John Ruiz

6.      Monte Barret

7.      Calvin Brock

8.      Vlad Klitschko

9.      Sam Peter

10. Nikolai Valuev

 

In 1995 I think only Klitschko is a world champion, Toney and Byrd would possibly have been title challengers. I think the rest would have been at best fringe world level.

Nowadays I reckon Klitschko could unify/fight for undisputed, Byrd and Toney would manage a world title, Peter, Ruiz and Rahman challengers, the balance at best fringe world level.

With Dick Torrez Jr the latest American hope to come unstuck at the business end of the division, I've been thinking a lot about the past and future of the american heavyweight scene.

The heavyweight strap was once synonymous with America, the revered champions of years gone by are almost without fail American while now it is getting very difficult to see where the next american heavyweight champ comes from.

There are many reasons for this, I think the relative rewards offered by boxing in comparison to other sports has drastically reduced, making the pay-off seem even less worse the risk! Also I think the american public seems to have largely fallen out of love with boxing.

What's your take on the state of the sport in the US? Am I being too negative? Are there any USA HW prospects that I'm missing?

Igor Vysotsky, born in a Gulag settlement in the Soviet Far East, son of two political prisoners, the only man who ever beat Teofilo Stevenson twice and the only man who ever knocked him out. No professional boxing existed in either Cuba or the Soviet Union. In the parallel cold war universe, this was Ali versus Frazier, and almost nobody knows it happened.

Vysotsky never got to the olympics. The soviet sports machine decided the 'child of the gulag' could never be the public face of Soviet sporting glory. He retired at 27 in protest, at the peak of his powers.

Been thinking about Cuba and Uzbekistan.

Cuba produced Rigondeaux, Gamboa, Lara, Casamayor, Ortiz. talent was undeniable. But at pro level, have cuban boxers underachieved relative to the expectaiton set by their amateur brilliance?

Which brings me to Uzbekistan. Five golds from seven divisions at Paris 2024. Madrimov pushing Crawford. A wave of young pros coming through. Are they going to really push on in the pro game, or are Jalalov and Dusmatov setting a trend we'll see repeated?

Often you don't realise how good you've had it, til it's gone. Beterbiev has been appointment viewing in the light heavyweight division for years, pretty much guaranteeing you a wince-inducing power punching performance each time. But the end is nigh sadly.

I expect Bivol to continue his reign over the division regardless of what Benavidez ends up doing. Bivol for all his brilliance is not a puncher.

Got any tips for guys who might fill the vacuum as the go-to destroyer at Light Heavy?

Trying to shine a little light on the european (non-UK which is a category of it's own!) heavyweight scene away from the big guns like Kabayel, Hrgovic and Usyk.

Germany seems to have an endless supply of guys in their late 20s/early 30s with 10/15-0 type records. Majority look poor once you find some fight footage!

Do you've any european heavyweights you enjoy? Or thoughts on the scene in general.