The Look of Boxing's Heavyweight Division

In watching the Samuel Peter-Eddie Chambers heavyweight fight over the weekend, the realization of one seemingly obvious fact came to light—most of the best heavyweights in the world are fat.

Let’s exclude the Klitschko brothers (Wladimir and Vitali) who are actually at the top of the division and in great shape for their size. But the rest, the so-called contenders, are a menagerie of pudgy, out-of-shape pugilists lacking the conditioning and the stamina to be true, enduring champions.

Peter was a WBC titlist just six months ago before he was battered by Vitali Klitschko who made his return after nearly four years away from the ring. In his supposedly important comeback fight against Chambers, the 6’0 ½” Peter came in at the highest weight of his career by far: 265 pounds.

Chambers was not much better coming in at a portly 223 pounds. Considering he started boxing nine years ago at 210 pounds, this was not progress. And though it was not as dramatically bad as his opponent, he looked quite soft in the ring.

His best wins were in 2007 against Calvin Brock and Dominick Guinn at 213 and 214 pounds respectively.

Yet this fight was a major contest in order to help shape the future of boxing’s prized division. And since someone had to come out on top, it was Chambers.

In a fight of economical punching proportions he did just enough to win a majority decision. It’s on to bigger and better things for Chambers but let’s hope he doesn’t get any bigger because it won’t make him any better.

For the “Nigerian Nightmare” Peter, the last six months have been his own personal nightmare—in the ring, and on the scales. In the first year of his career in 2001, he came in for fights under 240 pounds. He will probably need to get a lot closer to that if he wants to seriously contend again.

In his recent fights he has looked slow and had poor stamina. The most distressing thing though is he seems to have lost his trademark punching power. It’s either that or at least the ability to apply it with any effect. With his poor conditioning, he can’t generate a high enough punch output to make up the difference.

The days of Mike Tyson, Evander Holyfield, and Lennox Lewis were when heavyweights looked like the champions they were. They were cut, well-muscled, well-proportioned and always came into fights in the best shape.

The new breed who had the look proved not to have their skill, will, or determination. Guys like Calvin Brock, Dominick Guinn, Michael Grant, and Lance Whitaker all fell, making way for the current crop of behemoths.

Peter and Chambers are not the only heavyweights suffering from the overstuffed affliction. Over the past few years, the top contenders have all conspired to make up the slow and plodding division.

One guy getting a lot of publicity now is Chris Arreola. He started his career in 2003 at 236 pounds and has since ballooned up as high as 258 last year. However, he is undefeated.

The list of guys with soft middles is long including past champions and contenders Hasim Rahman, John Ruiz, Oleg Maskaev, Kirk Johnson, Shannon Briggs, and James Toney.

Toney is an interesting case because he is one of the most skilled fighters in the division. If he paid more attention to his conditioning he could have been a real force. In the lighter weight divisions he was a champion many times over and at one time a top pound-for-pound guy.

He actually started his career as a middleweight at 160 pounds. Then his middle just kept expanding until he rounded out at 233 for a title fight with Ruiz. He won that fight and was WBA heavyweight champion for a minute until a positive steroid test took away that result. His highest fight weight was 237.

The lighter guys (200-220 pounds) either gain the weight to compete with everyone else in the heavyweight division or they work hard to drop below 200 and try their hand at cruiserweight.

Those guys come into fights in peak physical condition and that’s the reason the cruiserweight division has become so exciting lately, if not underrated. This occurs as the 200-plus pounders plod along at a boring pace.

The counter to Arreola and the round contenders is England’s David Haye. The former cruiserweight champion just joined the heavyweight fray with a resounding knockout victory against Monte Barrett.

He was a cut 215 pounds at 6’3” and certainly looks the part. He is also a charismatic character and hard puncher who could inject the division with some life if his power translates with the bigger boys.

Aside from Haye, there is just a bunch of round, out-of-shape pretenders as far as the eye can see. This is just one of the reasons you will see the Klitschko brothers reign with iron fists (and relative washboard stomachs) at the top of the division for the foreseeable future.