The White Heavyweights

Winter 2008 reveals a bizarre, unheard-of situation in the heavyweight title scene that I thought I would never witness. Overshadowed by Roy Jones vs. Felix Trinidad on January 19^th, Ruslan Chagaev defends his WBA title. On February 23^rd, Wladimir Klitschko and Sultan Ibragimov square off in a IBF-WBO unification bout. Finally, on March 8^th, Oleg Maskaev defends his WBC belt against Samuel Peter. What is so strange about this, you ask? In three world title events, four of the fighters including all of the champions are Slavic white guys. If you take a peek at the current Top 10 heavyweights in the world, you will see that 7 of 10 are white boxers, all from countries that were once a part of the Soviet Union.

What gives? The last white fighter to reign as Undisputed World Heavyweight Champion was Ingomar Johansson of Sweden, and until the rise of the current crop of Slavic heavyweights, the only white heavyweights to earn even part of the world championship were former WBO title holders Tommy "The Duke" Morrison and the South African Corrie Sanders. The forty years from 1960 to the dawn of the 21^st Century was truly the era of "The Great White Hope," a time when you might see a white contender (Jerry Quarry being the greatest of the Great White Hopes), but rarely ever a champion, and never a dominant one.

Now the heavyweight picture is awash in white fighters, all of them from the former Soviet Union. It is as if the Red Army decided to lay siege to the greatest prize in all of professional sports! Who are these fighters, and how did the heavyweight division come to a state not seen since before Joe Louis first won the championship in 1937.

Wladimir Klitschko (Ukraine)
49-3, 44KOs; former WBO champion and current IBF champion; 6'6", approx. 240lbs, 31 y/o

The best of the current crop of heavyweights is Wladimir "The Steel Hammer" Klitschko, the younger of the Klitschko brothers. Wlad's best wins are his two decisive victories over the determined and slick-but-undersized Chris Byrd; Klitschko won both his WBO and IBF titles from Byrd. He also has a decision victory over the current #2 heavyweight in the world, the Nigerian Samuel Peter. However, he has also been knocked out by the fast, hard hands of the now-retired South African Corrie Sanders, and the journeymen Lamont Brewster and Ross Puritty. Note that all three of Klitschko's losses were by knockout.

Wladimir Klitschko has a style typical of the Continental European fighter, which emphasizes the kind of linear movement and straight punching that scores well in the amateurs, but is less effective in the pros. While he has a smashing right hand and a telephone pole left jab, he is leans on the jab too much, which makes him a bit robotic.

Klitschko moves around a lot and throws many inaccurate punches. Whether this creates or merely aggrivates his stamina problems is unclear, but Klitschko certainly has a tendency to fade badly in the later rounds (both Puritty and Brewster pounced on a spent Klitschko).

Despite his flaws, Klitschko's athleticism combined with his sheer size and power make him the leading heavyweight champion.

Oleg Maskaev (Russia)
34-5 (26 KOs); current WBC champion; 6'3", approx. 235lbs, 38 y/o

Although he is a tough customer with a hard right, "The Big O" has been knocked out by David Tua, Kirk Johnson, Lance Whittaker, and Corey Sanders, leading many to think he has a suspect chin. He is now also old and getting slow. His biggest wins are his two knockouts over Baltimore's Hasim Rahman. Maskaev is essentially a good, veteran journeyman who has risen to the WBC title through sheer perseverance.

Ruslan Chagaev (Uzbekistan)
23-1 (17 KOs); current WBA champion; 6'1", approx. 220lbs, 29 years old

Chagaev might be the most exciting of the Slavic heavyweights. He is a southpaw with an aggressive style and power in both hands, and a good chin. However, he is still largely unproven. His only notable wins were both very narrow decisions over former WBA champions John Ruiz and Nikolai Valuev.

Nikolai Valuev (Russia)
37-1 (34 KOs); former WBA champion; 7', approx. 330lbs, 34 y/o

The towering giant Valuev has often been compared to the paper champion Primo Carnera, a big man who couldn't fight (he was briefly depicted being demolished by Max Baer in The Cinderella Man). A more appropriate analogy would be Jess Willard, the big ox who overcame an aging Jack Johnson. While a very limited boxer, he can fight and is much bigger and stronger than even the biggest of his heavyweight rivals. So far, that size advantage has been enough to make him a formidable contender. He knocked out Clifford Etienne and Jameel McCline, narrowly decisioned John Ruiz and Larry Donald, and narrowly lost to Ruslan Chagaev.

Sultan Ibragimov (Russia)
23-1 (17 KOs); current WBO champion; 6'2", approx. 220lbs, 32 y/o

Ibragimov won his WBO strap with a unanimous decision over Shannon Briggs. Although he is usually a busy southpaw, he recently fought a very cautious game against a very aged Evander Holyfield in Moscow, and looked unimpressive doing it.

Great White Hopes, or the Rise of the "Red Army"

Before the fall of Communism, all the Eastern Bloc fighters were unable to compete in the professional ranks. They continued to ply their sport as state-supported amateur fighters. This is the reason why so many Slavic fighters all have what is basically the same style of boxing: they came up in gyms that were about turning out really solid amateur fighters, with no thought given to the different demands of the pros.

The consistent story of the tide of white heavyweights from back in the USSR is one of limited or flawed talent. Oleg Maskaev's resume is the most revealing in this respect: all the men with victories over him have either retired, self-destructed, or have seen their careers stall. At the age of 38, he has simply outlasted all his former rivals. A younger Evander Holyfield would have destroyed Sultan Ibragimov, and even the aged version gave him plenty to be cautious about. In fact, both Maskaev and Klitschko were defeated by the (white) South African Corrie Sanders, who is now retired. The heavyweight division is weak these days, with men who would have been little more than fringe contenders or gatekeepers ten years ago wearing world titles around their waists. The great talents of the previous generation - such as Lennox Lewis or Evander Holyfield - grew old and either faded or retired, and were not really replaced. A group of merely average, former Soviet fighters filled the vacuum.

All the current top Slavic heavyweights were in their mid-teens when the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, and represent only the first generation of Slavic heavyweights. Historically, boxing has been driven by fighters from poor, urban backgrounds. There are plenty of young men who meet that description in the former Soviet Union, plenty of promotional muscle in Germany and Britain looking to cultivate them, and the next generation of Slav heavyweights will be brought up with a later career in the pros fully in mind. While the current bunch might be nothing spectacular, in the long term the Slav heavyweights are here to stay.