I missed last night's B.A.D. main event on the original airing, but thanks to the wonder of multiple HBOs and the replays they carry, I have now seen the fight.
I knew the result going in, but when I read that it was a boring fight, I just figured it would be, you know, dull. Instead, I got a supremely underwhelming, almost non-fight. Ibragimov simply ducked and swooped the majority of the fight, which gave Brock no room to work. It was smart by Ibragimov, but I don't have to like it or anything. The fight fell outrageously short of anything even remotely near excitement or intrigue.
You know what my issue with the heavyweight division is? It's not any good, and I don't think it's going to be any good any time soon. I don't think it needs One Guy, as a lot of people seem to argue for. It needs a lot of guys. That One Guy right now would steamroll everyone in such ridiculous fashion that unless he was a wildly entertaining KO artist like prime time Tyson, I can't see that helping the division a whole lot. Sure, you'd have the One Guy on top, but how do you sell fights between a One Guy type of fighter and Calvin Brock, or Wlad Klitschko, or Hasim Rahman? Chances are, that One Guy is just way too good for even the best of the current heavyweights.
Thankfully the lower weight divisions are saving the sport right now, at least from my perspective. I think that if the heavyweight division doesn't have some out of nowhere superstar (or two, or five) come along in the next couple of years, promoters, analysts, fans, and everyone else might need to just accept that the heyday of heavyweight boxing is absolutely over, and that the money is now elsewhere. It's come to that already, but people still spend a lot of time bemoaning the faults and lackings of the heavyweight division, and personally, I just don't even care that much anymore. I wonder how many other people are getting to that point? I'll still watch heavyweight fights, but I don't go in expecting or even hoping for a star to emerge.
Calvin Brock certainly couldn't deliver that last night, even though he clearly won the fight. And Ibragimov will now have a hard time advancing much further, because he was (1) outclassed, and (2) made Brock look bad in the process. Never a good combination.