Our debate topic last week was whether former longtime cruiserweight world champion Johnny Nelson (45-12-2,29KOs ) deserves to be inducted into the international hall of fame. You’d have to be familiar with Nelson’s career to know that his record does not reflect of how successful he was and for how long. He was fighting in the cruiserweight division during an era when it was really peaking. There are some major numbers that stand out for Nelson. The fact that he fought nearly 20 years and was still fighting at a high level until his last fight was quite impressive. His reign was for more than 7 years successfully defending his title 13 times. This is a record that still stands today now shared by former champion Marco Huck. It was a unanimous consensus on the feedback from followers. Everyone thought Nelson belongs to be in the international Hall of Fame. This speaks volumes of those who knew of his career but also of Nelson the respected Sky Sports broadcaster and gentleman.
Boxing has been once again gotten quite exciting and we are still in January. The two divisions that have taken center stage are that of the welterweights and the heavyweights. This past weekend alone had two very exciting fights in those perspective divisions. The undercard pitted heavyweight Amir Mansour against unbeaten former U. S. Olympian Dominic Breazeale Mansour had Breazeale down and nearly out but it was Breazeale who stormed back to stop Mansour. There is not speculation that Breazeale could challenge newly crowned IBF heavyweight world champion Charles Martin. The main event saw former world champions Robert Guerrero and Danny Garcia square off. Guerrero got off to a fast start vs. Garcia. It was Garcia who made adjustments to defensively to take over the vast majority of the second half of the fight. The 12th and final round was a thriller that saw both slug it out until the final bell. In the end Garcia won a competitive but well deserved decision to become the newly crowned WBC welterweight world champion.
There are a number of high profile fights to happen in each division in 2016. Former world champion Shawn Porter will challenge WBA world champion Keith Thurman March 12th. This fight has been talked about and anticipated for many months. Tyson Fury scored a huge upset of long time unified heavyweight champion of the world Wladimir Klitschko this past November. There is no official date yet but the two will square off in a rematch in 2016. Timothy Bradley and Manny Pacquiao will square off in their third match against each other April 9th. The very explosive WBC heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder is said to fighting his mandatory and former world champion Alexander Povetkin. It would be a major step up for Wilder but one that he seems anxious to step up and take. United Kingdom unbeaten heavyweight prospect Anthony Joshua seems destined for big things and we could see him in a major fight before the end of 2016. Former heavyweight champion David Haye came back in a big way recently scoring an explosive 1st round KO in his comeback fight. There you have just a few of the things on tap and possible in 2016 in both of these divisions. Please give us your feedback on which division you feel is the most exciting. The heavyweight or welterweight divisions.
