Avila Perspective, Chap. 348: British Heavyweight Sovereignty and More

Once upon a time the heavyweight championship was dominated by Americans. No longer. In the 21^st century Europeans grabbed one heavyweight title after another and now have a clamp on the division.

Need more proof?

This Saturday, Oct. 25, Joseph Parker (36-3, 24 KOs) defends the interim WBO heavyweight title against England’s Fabio Wardley (19-0-1, 18 KOs) at the O2 Arena in London. DAZN pay-per-view will stream the Queensberry Promotions card. New Zealand’s Parker isn’t European – his family roots are in Samoa – but he trains in England and hails from a British Commonwealth nation.

Ever since the turn of the century, Europeans from England, Russia, Ukraine and parts of the British Commonwealth have taken turns wrapping one or all the heavyweight world title belts around their waists.

Occasionally an American will interrupt the European domination. It didn’t used to be that way.

From Jack Johnson until Evander Holyfield, the American black heavyweight dominated the division for decades. Joe Louis had a stranglehold from 1938 when he defeated Germany’s Max Schmeling to 1950 after losing to Ezzard Charles. Then after Rocky Marciano dominated, he was succeeded by Floyd Patterson who battled with Sweden’s Ingemar Johansson three times, winning the final two meetings. Then came Sonny Liston followed by Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier and George Foreman. It was American heavyweight domination.

During the 1980s Larry Holmes ruled until the arrival of Mike Tyson. All were American heavyweights. Next came Riddick Bowe and Holyfield who battled during the 1990s until along came Britain’s Lennox Lewis.

Lewis ruled through 2003 when he defeated Vitali Klitschko by technical stoppage after the Ukrainian suffered a severe gash near his eye. The savage fight took place in Los Angeles and was Lewis’ final victory. He retired and was succeeded by Klitschko and later by his brother, Wladimir Klitschko, who held a stranglehold on the IBF title from 2006 and then added the WBO belt in 2008. He was the champion until 2015 when he lost to England’s Tyson Fury.

What happened to the American heavyweights?

Though American heavyweights still exist, and a few did claim one or two heavyweight titles after the year 2000 such as John Ruiz, Roy Jones Jr., and Andy Ruiz, the number of American heavyweights dwindled in terms of talent.

Many of the top American athletes were no longer in boxing. Instead, other professional sports — basketball in particular — were luring away the bigger athletes.

Angelo Dundee, famed trainer of Muhammad Ali and Sugar Ray Leonard, once told me the top American black athletes were no longer interested in boxing. They preferred basketball and football over prizefighting.

“Who wants to get their brains scrambled,” said Dundee explaining the rationale of today’s American athletes. “The worst that can happen in basketball is you slip and sprain an ankle.”

Dundee passed away in February 2012.

The winner of Parker vs. Wardley has a clear path to Ukraine’s Oleksandr Usyk. It’s the clever technician Joseph Parker against the explosive finisher Fabio Wardley.

More on Muhammad Ali Revival Act

The APBC or Associated Professional Boxing Commissions voted down the proposed Muhammad Ali American Boxing Revival Act on Monday which was previously approved by the California State Athletic Commission 6-0. The APBC consists of boxing commissions nationwide.

“It is clear that the members, as well as the board of the APBC, are unified in the objection to this abomination of an act, that literally will reverse all the good the original Muhammad Ali Boxing Reform Act has done for the protection of the boxers from unscrupulous managers and promoters,” said Albert Low, the president of the APBC, adding that the original Muhammad Ali act was designed “to keep the business side of boxing honest, or at least transparent, and to give fighters the information and freedom to make the best decisions for their careers.”

Low also said the act was originally intended “to prevent organizations like TKO Group from having complete control to ensure boxers are protected from the very conflicts of interest the latest TKO amendment risks bringing back.”

Fundora Fight Postponed

In case you haven’t heard, the Sebastian Fundora versus Keith Thurman fight in Las Vegas was postponed due to an injury suffered during training by the super welterweight champion Fundora.

No future date has been announced.

Sat., Oct. 25 Fight to Watch

Joseph Parker vs. Fabio Wardley, DAZN: ring walks expected at 2:30 pm PT; the first preliminary at 8 am PT.

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