Okay?Here?s where we currently stand in the shaken, stirred, and donkey-punched heavyweight division:
Tyson Fury will be fighting another ?tune-up? in the fall?something that?s only palatable if it?s as entertaining as his two-round, nose-exploding dismissal of Tom Schwarz last Saturday in Vegas. Then, he?s at least verbally tied to a rematch with Deontay Wilder early next year.
WBC heavyweight champ Deontay Wilder will be re-matching Luis Ortiz sometime this fall in a revisiting of the match that, in many eyes, legitimized his title reign. Wilder has also verbally tied himself to a return bout with Fury after Ortiz.
Former three-belt champ Anthony Joshua will have his chance to take his straps back from the ?Mexican Rocky? Andy Ruiz Jr. at some point in the fall. If Ruiz can once again beat up and beat down the UK star (overcoming what will surely be a deck stacked against him), it seems likely that he?ll be headed towards an all-belts unification with Haymon Boxing stablemate, Wilder. If Joshua regains his titles, he may have to wait on the winner of Wilder-Fury 2 before having another chance at putting on a really big show.
On the outside looking in is Dillian Whyte, who will be taking on Oscar Rivas on July 20 in what stands to be a pretty good battle of contenders.
He-man, woman-masher Kubrat Pulev is also looking through the window as the IBF?s mandatory challenger.
Then, there?s former WBO champ Joseph Parker versus heavy-handed truck driver/former world title challenger Alex Leapai and blobby-but-talented Andy Ruiz-type Adam Kownacki against blobby, but not-as-skilled or as fresh Chris Arreola in August.
Even mega-juiced Jarrell Miller is starting to worm his way back into the heavyweight picture, rumored as a potential Tyson Fury foe or as a feature in a humble pie-eating comeback on someone?s undercard.
All of the above, of course, is only interesting if there?s a legitimate and timely path to getting the really big fights actually signed?and we?re talking Wilder vs. Fury vs. the winner of Ruiz vs. Joshua 2, in any and all possible combos. Otherwise, this is the boxing equivalent of a gorgeous, flirty cock-tease, stringing fans along before sending them off with raging blue balls and a willingness to settle for cheap release via ?world? title fights on dingy cards featuring the likes of Charles Martin and Hughie Fury.
If this is all played right, there could be lots and lots of money in this wide-open field for everyone. And we?re not talking ?sell out a soccer stadium in Wales? money?we?re talking big-fish-in-the-big-ocean money. All of the top 4 can carry a promotion and Dillian Whyte makes for a compelling and capable outsider waiting to play bandito and snatch up as many of the belts as he can carry. Maybe Pulev can make for some naughty, bawdy comic relief before or after being dispatched by whoever owns the IBF title. There?s a lot of potential with this current crop of big man.
The problem is that boxing is boxing. A big business run like a handful of small-time outfits, the sport always seems to lean towards hustling a dime even when there?s an honest dollar to be made.
If boxing could avoid nibbling at its own tail out of spite, jealousy, and/or greed, Tyson Fury?s entertaining blowout of Tom Schwarz, along with Andy Ruiz?s massive upset of Anthony Joshua and Deontay Wilder?s face-rattling KO of Dominic Breazeale, would?ve been on basic cable or maybe even free-to-fan internet stream, funded through actual advertising and not a passing of the hat to collect from already tapped-out loyalists. The nation would be enamored with the characters atop the heavyweight division and they?d be good with paying top dollar to see them fight one another in blockbuster mainstream-level events.
But that stuff about common sense and good business practices is fantasy talk in the boxing world of today. The most we can realistically hope for in the here and now is that, somehow, we get to see at least a couple of the best heavyweight matchups out there before boxing business steps in to ruin everything.
