By Richard McManus

Making no sense whatsoever, the Heavyweight division in boxing remains the sideshow of the sport.  Several top 15 Heavies are in action over the next several weeks so I thought this might be an opportunity to shed some light on the confusion and mire that is Heavyweight boxing in 2006.  The only mention I will make of Mike Tyson on this page is to say right here that I will only mention him one more time.

Important Upcoming Fights

James Toney (69-4-2, 43KO) vs. Hasim Rahman (41-5-1, 33KO) - March 18

This Saturday two top 10 Heavyweights will enter the ring to once and for all make the division even more confusing.  Former Middleweight, master of self-promotion and great boxer, James Toney, will put his 69-4-2 record on the line against the only man other than Mike Tyson to get knocked out by the top two Heavyweights of the past generation, Hasim Rahman. 

Now, Rahman is not amused by Toney’s mouth and it is that same mouth that seems to have earned Toney residence under Rahman’s skin.  But Rahman isn’t exactly afraid to mix it up at the press conference either.  So if the pre-fight hype means anything we might actually be in for a pretty good Heavyweight scrap on Saturday.  Look for Toney to try to outbox and out-move Rahman and look for Rahman to try to land a big shot with the intention of ending the fight inside the distance.  The winner takes home the WBC trinket and will temporarily be considered the “baddest man on the planet” (for what it’s worth).  

Lamon Brewster (33-2, 29KO) vs. Serguei Lyakhovich (28-2-1, 14KO) - April 1

The underrated WBO belt holder Lamon Brewster (33-2, 29KO) returns to action on April 1st this time against Serguei Lyakhovich (22-1, 14KO).  Brewster is coming off a dramatic 9th round knockout win over contender Luan Krasniqi in a bout that took place last September.  The Indiana native has above average power and an excellent knockout percentage.  Some think that Brewster may be the one to emerge from this current Heavyweight knot. 

He seems to have the power and sensibility to be able to compete at the top of the division for an extended period of time.  If he can get past Lyakhovich hopefully (in a perfect world) the powers that be will be able to line up Brewster with the winner of Toney-Rahman.  Since Brewster has already beaten one Klitschko and the other Klitschko is retired, the winner of that fight, should it ever happen, will probably end up being the consensus top Heavyweight.  Let’s keep our fingers crossed.   

Chris Byrd (39-2-1, 20KO) vs. Wladimir Klitschko (45-3, 40KO) - April 22

This fight is a rematch of their title bout six years ago but this time around Byrd holds the belt (and Ring Magazine #1 Heavy status) and this time it’s the IBF sanctioning the fight.  However, the result might just end up being the same.  Their first meeting turned out to be a one-sided demolition of Byrd by Klitschko.  In that fight, Wladimir won every round and had Byrd on the canvas in the ninth round and again in the eleventh.

If styles make fights I’m not quite sure why we should expect anything different this time around.  Byrd, a former middleweight, doesn’t have much of a punch but has plenty of heart.  However, since their first fight Klitschko’s chin has been exposed on a few occasions.  Can Byrd take advantage? 

More Contenders/Pretenders

There are several other Heavyweights that could make or have made some noise inside the division.  Below I will look at some of the contenders and pretenders in an effort to shed some light on just how confusing this division is.

Nikolay Valuev (43-0, 31 KO) - Borderline quality wins over John Ruiz (MD 12), Larry Donald (MD 12) Clifford Etienne (KO3) and Gerald Nobles (DQ 4).  Valuev has freakish size (7’0”, 350 lbs.) but it remains to be seen if he has the skills to be a legitimate factor in the division.  He currently owns the WBA championship belt by way of his defeat of Ruiz.

Calvin Brock (28-0, 22KO) - Brock is an undefeated Heavyweight with a few decent wins.  He’s hanging around just below the upper tier biding his time and waiting for an opportunity.  He’s probably about one or two fights away from taking on a top guy but in a division like this it’s sometimes a little tough to tell exactly who the top guys are.  His biggest wins have come against Jameel McCline (UD 10)and Clifford Etienne (TKO3).

Samuel Peter (25-1, 21KO) - Like Brock, Peter is another young Heavyweight with a good record and good power.  The Nigerian boasts wins over Taurus Sykes (KO2), Jeremy Williams (KO2), Charles Shufford (UD 10) and he lost a close unanimous decision to Wladimir Klitschko in 2005.

Monte Barrett (31-4, 17KO) - Barrett was on a bit of a roll compiling some decent wins after his knockout loss to Wladimir Klitschko, including a win over Dominick Guinn, when he lost an extremely close decision to undefeated Heavyweight Joe Mesi.  Barrett lost a Unanimous 12 round decision to Hasim Rahman in 2005.  He’s still a minor factor in the division.

Jameel McCline  (34-6-3, 22KO) - Recent losses to Chris Byrd, Calvin Brock and Zuri Lawrence eliminate him from the Heavyweight picture.

Shannon Briggs (45-4, 39KO) - Briggs records shows extended periods of inactivity.  The low point on his record has to be the 8 round Majority Decision loss to the then 9-9 Sedreck Fields, ironically the highpoint was probably his loss (TKO 5) to Lennox Lewis, back when Lewis was Heavyweight king.  In that fight, Briggs had Lewis hurt early in what was one of the most exciting Heavyweight fights of the late 1990’s.  He has a nine fight winning streak, all by knockout, dating back to 2003. 

David Tua (44-3-1, 38KO) - Tua is a limited boxer with exceptional power.  He endeared himself to boxing fans by knocking out John Ruiz in 19 seconds back in 1996 but he lost every time he stepped in the ring with top-level competition (Lennox Lewis, Chris Byrd, Ike Ibeabuchi).  In October 2005 he won a close decision over Cisse Salif (17-4).  Salif has since lost to Henry Akinwande.

Ed Mahone (23-5-2, 23KO) - It’s interesting to note that the St. Louis native and former Forum Boxing fighter Mahone has never won a fight by decision.  He takes on Ty Fields March 24.

Ty Fields (35-1, 32KO) - He boasts knockout wins over “name” fighters like Bruce Seldon and Saul Montana.

Audley Harrisson (19-1, 14KO) - Harrisson is an over-hyped British Heavyweight who lost last December to Tyson killer Danny Williams.  Before that loss he was building up a list of wins against known commodities like Robert Wiggins and Robert Davis.

Dominick Guinn (25-3-1, 18KO) - He had a record of 20-0, 17KO with wins over Michael Grant, Otis Tisdale and Duncan Dokiwari and then things went sour.  In his last 5 fights he has a record of 1-3-1 with losses to James Toney, Serguei Lyankovich and Monte Barrett. 

John Ruiz (41-6-1, 28 KO) - John Ruiz is a former belt holder who has hung around the top tier of the division for the better part of the last ten years thanks to solid connections.  He lost his WBA title on two occassions, once to former middleweight Roy Jones and recently to heavyweight carnival attraction Nikolay Valuev.  He also lost by knockout in 19 seconds to David Tua.  In 2005, he squared off with James Toney.  After being thoroughly out-boxed for 12 rounds the decision was originally awarded to Toney and as a result Ruiz retired from boxing.  Shortly after the bout however, the decision was changed to a No Contest because Toney tested positive for a banned substance.  Ruiz then came out of retirement.

Others - Andrew Golota, Luan Krasniqi, Fres Oquendo, Oleg Maskaev, Danny Williams, Juan Carlos Gomez, Joe Mesi, Sultan Ibragimov, Sinan Samil San, Larry Donald.

The Future

So what’s going to happen?  Well, you’re guess is as good as mine.   Probably the best that could happen for the division would be for Lamon Brewster to emerge as the unified champion and begin to take on some of the young up-and-comers like Calvin Brock and Samuel Peter. 

But if history is any guide, John Ruiz will probably be made mandatory for Brewster and hold his way to a gift decision, further ruining things for all of us. 

Contact Richard at rmcm12@hotmail.com