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Get To Know: Boxing’s Heavyweight Division

By Alan Conceicao

(Like David Hasselhoff: despised in the US, beloved by the masses in Germany. WBO/IBF Heavyweight champ, Ring #1 heavyweight, Wladimir Klitschko. )

This Saturday night sees the return of the closest thing to a unified heavyweight champion in combat sports with the return of Wladimir Klitschko, WBO and IBF Heavyweight champion in a mandatory defense of his belts against the lightly regarded Tony Thompson (HBO, 4:30PM Saturday). Who? Anthony “Tiger” Thompson. You know, the #1 American heavyweight? Oh wait, if you live outside of continental Europe, you probably don’t know much about the heavyweight division. Well, fear not US/Canadian citizen, I can help with that, and what better way than to talk about the 50 best heavyweights on the planet?

edit: already slightly tweaked from last night! THE EXCITEMENT~

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UFC 84 - Ill Will Preview

By Lee Casebolt

With Zuffa’s latest ill-titled PPV offering fast approaching, it’s time for a thorough analysis of the bouts on offer this weekend. The card is one I expect to have, at best, limited appeal to the casual viewer. Neither Penn nor Sherk, the putative headliners, is renown as a draw. The only man on the card who has any drawing history, Tito Ortiz, is third from the top and fighting someone who appeals only to hardcore fans. Make that “a few hardcore fans”. There are a pile of guys even most hardcore fans haven’t heard of. That said, there are some intriguing matchups in store.

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In Between A Brock and a Hard Place

By Bill Thompson

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By: Bill Thompson
Powerful, energetic, exciting, fast, freakish, and highly skilled are all adjectives that can be used to describe Brock Lesnar. All of this was put on display last night in his bout against Frank Mir. From the start people wanted to dismiss the UFC’s signing of Brock as nothing more than a sideshow attraction. Their signing of Brock was certainly nothing more than an attempt to make a few bucks off of a former professional wrestling superstar, correct? Last nights fights should have shown that not to be the case, that Brock Lesnar is all the adjectives described above and that he is a great addition to the UFC’s heavyweight roster. Unfortunately I think somewhere along the line the UFC themselves forgot this fact and as described above decided to try and make a quick buck off of Brock instead of waiting for the long term investment to develop. There is still time to rectify that erroneous assessment, but the real question lies in whether or not the UFC will be smart enough to take advantage of the best heavyweight to possibly ever come down the pipe line or if they will watch him fall to the wayside.
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