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Who will emerge at Heavyweight?
Is it just me or is there an unspoken feeling that despite the winner, neither Evander Holyfield nor Lennox Lewis will reign for long as the undisputed heavyweight champion of the world.
Like an old, wise woman who can sense the rain before it falls, I can feel it in my bones. A groggy feeling that things are getting stale. That its just a matter of time before some beast will emerge like Godzilla from dark, salty waters to shake things up a bit.
Throughout heavyweight history men have come forth to declare, by way of violent means, their physical dominance. As far as boxing as sport is concerned, it probably all started in the brain numbing, knuckle busting, bare-fisted era.
The legendary John L. Sullivan would saunter into hostile drinking establishments with a fist full of lead and belly full of whisky and declare, "I can lick any man in the house." Eventually, he got licked and a new terror emerged.
Since then,they've come in all shapes and sizes. Jack Johnson, Joe Louis, Rocky Marciano, Muhammad Ali, all the way up to that ball of muscled mayhem known as Mike Tyson. After Tyson, however, things got a little blurry. The playing field evened out and the heavyweight division became a pot pourri of talented, but not exactly dominant fighters. No single man emerged from the blinding blackness of Mike Tyson's thick necked shadow to strike fear in the hearts of mortal men. Evander Holyfield and Riddick Bowe came the closest. Michael Moorer, Lennox Lewis, and the ageless George Foreman gave it their best shots. Still, as we sailed through the 90's, the void became dreadfully obvious.
Today, a new breed of heavyweights lurk dangerously close to the surface. A breed that's a little stronger, a little faster, and a little hungrier.
While most of the world is looking towards Holyfield vs. Lewis II, those possessing ultra sensitive tentacles of perception are picking up powerful vibrations from elsewhere. The source of these vibrations may be fights set to take place immediately before and after the Holyfield vs. Lewis affair. On Saturday November 6th, a relative unknown named Oleg Maskaev (16-2) takes on Hasim Rahman (30-2). On November 20th, behemoth Michael Grant (30-0) takes on Polish powerhouse and chronic ball buster, Andrew Golota (34-3).
It's safe to say that the winners of these bouts will be thrust into a position of leverage in the heavyweight division. Topping out the new breed of heavyweights are David Tua, who owns victories over both Maskaev and Rahman, Ike Ibeabuchi, whose troubles with the law have put him on the back burner, and the most recent addition, Vitali Klitschko. A golden opportunity awaits the most determined of these young men.
One of them will eventually take on the unified heavyweight champion of the world, with a better than average chance of success.
Evander Holyfield has absorbed too many beatings from naturally larger, stronger men and will undoubtably consider retiring if he's not beaten into unemployment after one roll of the dice too many. If he beats Lewis, it will simply be a matter of time before he's knocked off by some 240 pound young buck with bad intentions and a thirst for the spotlight. Lewis may last a little longer, but his lack of killer instinct and suspect chin put him in an equally precarious position.
November 13th will come and go and, fingers crossed, a new unified heavyweight champion will be crowned. Let's keep our heads about us. The nature of the sport will soon have someone crashing down familiar doors like agents on an early morning drug sweep. You might catch a glimpse of the future in the Maskaev vs. Rahman or Grant vs. Golota bouts. If not, you can be sure that somewhere just below the surface in some dark, mysterious waters, a beast is growing restless, waiting to emerge.
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