In the 1996 Ring heavyweight ratings, there were five Americans ranked in the Top 10. Four of them -- Mike Tyson, Evander Holyfield, Riddick Bowe and Michael Moorer -- have subsequently been inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame. Another pretty good American heavyweight you may have heard of, guy by the name of George Foreman, was still active at that point but not in the Ring Top 10. He, too, would go on to be inducted into the Hall of Fame.
That was less than 30 years ago, but the world was such a different place boxing-wise then.
Today, the American heavyweight scene is garbage. There are no elite heavyweights to speak of and none who are on the horizon.
There were two heavyweight bouts showcased on the Riyadh Season USA card Saturday at BMO Stadium in Los Angeles, and three Americans were among them. That those three men -- Andy Ruiz, Jarrell Miller and Jared Anderson -- represent the United States' best hope for another heavyweight champion is frightening.
Deontay Wilder, I suppose, is the fourth American, but after his woeful performances in losses to Joseph Parker and Zhilei Zhang, is there anyone willing to risk so much as $1 to predict Wilder will regain a version of the heavyweight crown?
I didn't think so.
Anderson has been pegged as the next big thing in the heavyweight division for a few years, largely due to the hype he received from former heavyweight champion Tyson Fury. Anderson served as a sparring partner for Fury and Fury raved about him.
Anderson entered Saturday's fight against heavy-handed Martin Bakole with a 17-0 record and 15 knockouts, but there were plenty of warning signs. He looked dreadful in two of his last three bouts, wins over Charles Martin and Ryad Merhy.
He was favored to beat Bakole, and started off strong Saturday. He was going to the body and then coming upstairs and was in command of the first round. Bakole, though, wasn't bothered. He trudged inexorably forward, slowly but purposefully walking Anderson down. Late in the first, with maybe 15 seconds left, Bakole crushed him with an uppercut and dropped Anderson.
The fight would have been over had there been as much as 20 seconds left. But when Anderson got up, the bell sounded and he was saved.
But he couldn't hold off Bakole for long. He got dropped twice more in the fifth and was reeling along the ropes when he was stopped.
America's next big thing was struggling to regain his equilibrium a minute later, and then acted as if what had occurred had been no big deal.
He's been in and out of trouble, he's not that pleasant of a guy and if he doesn't care, why should any fans?
Mark Robinson/Matchroom
Ex-champion Andy Ruiz (L) and Jarrell Miller battle at BMO Stadium during their majority draw.
Ruiz was the big name of the three Americans on the card Saturday by virtue of his lottery ticket win over Anthony Joshua on June 1, 2019, in New York that gave him the IBF, WBA and WBO heavyweight belts. Ruiz got the bout, coincidentally, because Miller failed multiple drug tests.
Ruiz has never re-found that magic and came into Saturday's bout having been sidelined for 23 months.
Ruiz got out to an early lead Saturday but gassed out and it was the 306-pound Miller who was the fresher man at the end. Ruiz blamed what he said was a broken right hand for his trouble in the second half of the fight, but he never explained why he didn't throw his left. After the fourth, Ruiz did little more than move away from Miller.
The Ruiz-Miller fight was scored 114-114 twice, with the third card going 116-112 for Miller. I had it 115-113 for Miller, but it was a close fight and a draw was not an unreasonable result.
Neither, though, is a legitmate contender. Could you imagine either one of those guys winning more than a round or two from Oleksandr Usyk the heavyweight champion who won all the belts when he defeated and nearly stopped Fury in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, in May.
Yes, Anderson is young and could rebound. But the odds are more likely that he's just a guy and nothing special.
It's a sad day for fans of the American heavyweights. It's the division that has historically excited and gotten the casual fans interested. So many of history's greatest heavyweights -- Muhammad Ali, Joe Frazier, Joe Louis, Rocky Marciano, Tyson, Jack Dempsey, Holyfield, Bowe, Foreman, Jack Johnson and Larry Holmes -- were Americans.
Those days are long, long gone and with so many of the athletes who once would have gone into heavyweight boxing opting for either football, basketball or MMA, it doesn't seem like it may change any time soon. Richard Torrez Jr. is probably the best hope, but he's a 230-pounder in an era of heavyweight giants.
It's a mediocre group of American big men and it may be that way for a long time to come.