Longtime readers of this space — both of you — know that I am a sports contrarian and hipster. I like obscure sports and obscure leagues in mainstream sports.
But in one way, I am a simp of the masses, and that way is this: I prefer heavyweight boxing to all other weight classes.
I have simpleton reasons, too: I like to see guys getting knocked down. The higher the weight class, the more knockdowns and knockouts you get. I am amenable to women's sports, but women's boxing is hard for me to dive into, because knockdowns are rare at the top of the game.
I intermittently do a "American men's tennis pulse check" to see where the men stand in relation to the fairly dominant American women tennis players, but I've all but stopped doing that because the men have by and large caught up — they haven't won any slams since I started the segment, but they've made a final and boast 16 men in the top 100 (that's even more than the women have).
For American men's heavyweight boxers, the picture is much more bleak. The top rated American men's heavyweight is Richard Torrez, ranked 15th in the world (Boxrec rankings). He is undefeated, but his fights that I have seen don't blow me away. I think his ceiling is being approached, and we will find out for sure on May 23rd in Egypt, when he takes on the Cuban Frank Sanchez. If Torrez wins comfortably, I will join his bandwagon, but I am skeptical.
More distressingly, there are seven heavyweights ranked above Torrez representing the UK. Beyond the natural sporting rivalry we have the UK, there is also to consider that UK boxing culture is terrible. They are happy to trot out guys with 100+ losses and untold long-term neurological damage just because the guy has a chin (that means, "is not knocked out easily"). Referees, not judges, choose the winner of even fairly important fights. Home-country bias is a problem everywhere, but is especially pronounced there. I could go on. I reflexively root against every last British boxer going up against a non-Brit.
I might have to get used to the UK's presence at the top of the heavyweight scene, because Moses Itauma, ranked #13 in the world, is giving us a Tyson-like vibe. He's only 21, but he's dispensed of some pretty big names in the heavyweight game (Dillian Whyte, Mike Balogun, Mariusz Wach, others) all in two rounds or less.
The #1 ranked heavyweight in the world, of course, is Oleksandr Usyk. He's a clear #1 and they've basically run out of guys that might pose a serious challenge (Itauma is still climbing the ladder) to him. So they are trotting in a kickboxer, Rico Verhoeven, to give Usyk a shot. Verhoeven is apparently one of the greatest kickboxers of all-time and his arms look like bull torsos, but boxing purists are pretty annoyed at the circus-y nature of the matchup. I'll put a $1 on Verhoeven to try to win $35. It's the headliner of the same card Torrez and Sanchez are fighting on.
One heavyweight fight of note this weekend (Saturday night on DAZN) features Jarrell "Big Baby" Miller. For quite awhile, he was the second-most-hyped American heavyweight, behind only Deontay Wilder in his prime. Then he failed multiple drug tests (he denies intentionally doping) which kept him out of the ring for about four years. He returned in 2022, and in his last three fights he got waxed by Daniel Dubois, drew with Andy Ruiz (remember him?) and won a close fight with Kingsley Ibeh, the fourth-ranked U.S. heavyweight (51st in the world).
Miller himself is ranked 28th in the world and is facing Lenier Perro of Cuba, who is undefeated, but has given more rounds on more scorecards than you'd like to see from a serious contender. Miller is about -150 favorite, and I am taking Big Baby at that number.
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