While it was difficult to get excited over belts that were essentially Klitschko throwaways, the fighters on Saturday's Brooklyn card are fighting for much more. The WBA has a hundred belts, so Luis Ortiz and Ruslan Chagaev get to call themselves "champions", however the only "heavyweight champion of the world is Tyson Fury. This pretty much makes Chagaev and Povetkin the only non-English speaking heavyweights making any real noise. Ortiz is learning. The winners of the January 16 Barclay Center heavyweight title fights may be sharing a stage, but they will not be able to face each other right away.
While the IBF winner between Martin and Glazkov will likely be allowed a voluntary defense, Deontay Wilder may not have one. He has had 3 already, and is mandated to face Povetkin (a fight he could easily lose) next. That is not all. Tyson Fury is mandated to face Wladimir Klitschko in a rematch in 2016. Klitschko, never known for his busy schedule, is unlikely to get in the ring again until at least summer, therefore the legit title is also in deep freeze. There is also David Haye and Robert Helenius, who are both returning after 3 years on the shelf.
Therefore, without the pressure or ability to face one another, it is more likely that we are staring at yet another year of splintered title fights. This is bad news for continuity, but it is great news for TV, fans of action fights, as well as the bogus sanctioning bodies. In actual prediction, of not only the fights, all of these fights are 50/50. Not Spilka vs Wilder, as while Spilka tends to make fights exciting, unless he scores a home-run ball, Wilder is likely to win by KO. However, Fury-Klitschko 2? Martin-Glazkov? Wilder-Povetkin? Ortiz vs Haye or Helenius? These are all 50-50 fights, that are likely to provide good action.
Bryant Jennings is 2-2 in fairly entertaining scraps over Spilka, Ortiz, Klitschko, and Perez. Men like he and Arreola have shown willingness to face anyone, so even the lower half of the top 10 should be exciting. My official picks are Martin by KO over Glazkov, Wilder by KO over Spilka, then losing by KO to Povetkin. I also pick Klitschko to get his title back against Fury, and then retire. As far as what Haye and Helenius are going to do... who knows? But I cannot wait to see it. Anthony Joshua and Joseph Parker may or may not be for real, but provided all of these men actually fight one another, we could be looking at the best heavyweight era since the early 90s.
Chris Strait
www.convictedartist.com