It has been said for a decade now that the heavyweight division is complete and utter garbage. A bunch of foreigners and journeyman Yanks with an occasionally great natural Super Middleweight/Light Heavyweight American like Roy Jones or James Toney mixed in. What irks us Americans the most is the fact that for the last 10+ years with the exception of former Linear Champion Hasim Rahman and Lamon Brewster who held an alphabet title for an hour and a half, the division has been ruled by a European. Those hiccups aside, subsequent to the great Lennox Lewis (another European) for the past several years the division has been ruled by something even worse than a European: two Europeans!
WBC Heavyweight champion Vitali Klitschko (43-2 with 40 KO?s) and his younger brother WBO/IBF/IBO/Ring Magazine Wladimir Klitschko (56-3 with 49 KO?s) have ruled the heavyweight division with an iron fist. Vitali has arguably never lost a round as champion, prior and subsequent to regaining the WBC title at the age of 37 from Sam Peter off a 4 year layoff and no tune up fights. Wlad as stated earlier had a couple hiccups against Lamon Brewster, along with South African Corrie Sanders who Vitali exacted brotherly revenge against shortly afterwards. Ever since Hall of Famer trainer Emanuel Steward took the helm Wladimir has looked nothing short of amazing and has become a dominant champion who appears to be able to remain so for 4 to 5 more years if he chooses to. The Ukrainian brothers will never fight each other and should never have to, but if they did my money would be on Vitali due to being the mentally tougher, more solid chinned fighter with the psychological edge of being the big brother.
The division clearly isn?t what it was in the 70?s and the 90?s which were the two best decades in heavyweight history, but that doesn?t mean that the Klitschkos do not deserve more credit, love, and respect than they currently receive. They are a two giant, athletic monsters who are never out of shape, have PhD?s, carry themselves with class and dignity, speak multiple languages (including English), defend their titles all around the world, and oh yeah —they?re white. Can you imagine if they were also American? Two white American siblings holding heavyweight titles simultaneously, are you fucking kidding me? They would be gods in America! Nobody would be complaining that they were ?boring? or ?robotic? or that the division was ?garbage?.
Did anyone complain that the division was garbage when Rocky Marciano was champion? Marciano was a white American heavyweight fighting in a crappy heavyweight era that won the title from a 38 year old Jersey Joe Walcott and defended it 6 times against Walcott in a rematch, Roland La Starza, a 33 year old Ezzard Charles twice, someone named Don Cockell, and a 39 year old Archie Moore. Before winning the title he beat a 37 year old Joe Louis. Keep in mind, this was an era when being over 30 was a lot different than being over 30 now. If thirty now is the new twenty, back then thirty was the current forty. I am not looking to discredit Marciano and I do view him as a special fighter for his time, but my point is that if Marciano was not a white American, but rather a white European like the Klitschkos I?m pretty sure he would not have received the love he did back then and continues to receive to this day. It?s time to salute the Klitschko brothers and give them their just due. They are great fighters who would have been very competitive in any era. If you think the current heavyweight era is bad, imagine how bad it would be if they weren?t fighting in it.
