FROM KINGS TO CONTENDERS: AMERICA’S HEAVYWEIGHT FALL

For quite literally over a century, American boxers have dominated the heavyweight division. From the likes of Jack Johnson to Jack Dempsey to Gene Tunney to Joe Louis in the first half of the 20th century, then to the likes of Muhammad Ali, George Foreman, Joe Frazier and Larry Holmes, and then to Mike Tyson, the 20th century was well and truly the century of the American heavyweight.

However, the 21st century so far has been quite the opposite, especially the second and third decades of it.

In the past 16 years, the USA has had just four heavyweight world champions. Yes, FOUR. Compare that to the previous 16 years, when they had 20 champions, and then the 16 years before that, when they had 26 champions in the same time period.

The drop-off is that bad, to call it a heavyweight crisis could well be the understatement of the century so far.

When Bermane Stiverne was dethroned of his WBC world title by the dynamite-fisted Deontay Wilder, the future looked somewhat bright. No one could touch the 6’6” monster with a barge pole, and he just kept knocking them down like they were boys.

That’s until he came across Tyson Fury. Despite retaining his world title in their first fight after a controversial draw, Wilder was stopped by Fury in the next two fights between the pair.

In the same time period, Andy Ruiz shocked the world by upsetting Anthony Joshua in New York, and for the second half of 2019, American fighters held every world title in the heavyweight division, with Ruiz holding the WBA, IBF and WBO titles and Wilder keeping hold of his WBC title after his draw with Fury.

However, in the space of just over three months, they went from holding four world titles to holding none, with Joshua getting the better of Ruiz in their rematch and Fury emphatically stopping Wilder in their rematch. Since then, none of the four recognised world titles has been held by an American fighter.

Damning.

As it stands, only two American fighters, Jarrell Miller and Deontay Wilder, find themselves ranked in the top 10 of any of the four sanctioning bodies, with NONE ranked in the top 10 by Ring Magazine.

Their best hope of a world champion at the moment is Jarrell Miller. He is currently ranked #2 by the WBA and looks set to be in line for a world title shot in the first half of 2027, but at the age of 38, time is by no means on his side. He will likely end up facing Moses Itauma for the world title, who, you would think, would be just too good for Miller.

There’s a chance that Wilder may find himself in position for a crack at the Ring Magazine title in his next fight, with Oleksandr Usyk heavily rumoured to be his next opponent, but even then, you could only give Wilder a puncher’s chance at best in that fight.

A dark horse to be the USA’s next world champion could be three-weight world champion David Benavidez.

He destroyed unified cruiserweight world champion Gilberto Ramirez on his cruiserweight debut last time out, and he will more than likely be looking at becoming undisputed at the weight before even considering moving up to heavyweight.

Even then, though, he will be, by some distance, one of the smaller fighters in the division, and with monsters like Daniel Dubois, Moses Itauma and Teremoana Jr still years off their prime, he’d probably find the waters a little too deep when swimming with the big boys.

In terms of fighters coming through, 2024 Olympian Joshua Edwards probably looks their best bet when it comes to novice pros, but in the amateurs, there are no real standout stars who you can confidently predict will be fighting for world titles over the next decade.

Has a lack of funding for USA Boxing finally caught up with them, and are we now seeing a domino effect in the pro game? More than likely.

In a country that is home to nearly 350 million people, there are currently around 67,000 registered amateur boxers. That might sound like a lot, but for context, that’s around 0.019% of the population. England Boxing, meanwhile, currently has around 35,000 paid members, which is around 0.06% of the population. A staggering amount more.

It’s clear that amateur boxing has been neglected in the States, and if they are to have any success in the professional ranks any time soon, then funding must be increased — not just to improve young boxers, but to improve coaches, make them more knowledgeable and, overall, better coaches.

The glory days of the 20th century are long gone, and to recreate that type of dominance in the division again will be near enough impossible to achieve. But even now, despite the lack of success from American fighters, heavyweight boxing is still enormous in the States, and it may well take just one superstar to claim a world title to trigger a new generation of American heavyweight superstars.