Hall Of Famer Jerry Izenberg Talks Heavyweight Megafight This Saturday On Showtime

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) — Jerry Izenberg is going to be 87 years young this September and is one of the shrinking group of sportswriters to have covered every Super Bowl in person. Izenberg, an International Boxing Hall of Fame inductee, is also one of the rare few to have seen some of the titanic heavyweight fights in boxing history.

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Izenberg, the author of a fantastic book titled "Once There Were Giants," about the glory era of the heavyweight division, spanning from Sonny Liston to Mike Tyson, is very intrigued by a very special event this Saturday—the heavyweight title fight between rising superstar Anthony Joshua (18-0, 18 KOs) and fading superstar Wladimir Klitschko (64–4, 53 KOs) for Joshua's IBF title and the vacant WBA (super) and IBO heavyweight titles on the line

While the United States, and particularly Philadelphia, will be entranced by the later rounds of the NFL Draft this Saturday—and rightfully so—the rest of the world will be mesmerized by this fight at Wembley Stadium in London, England. The tickets for the fight sold out in hours (boxing is not dead apparently in other parts of the world as it is here in Philly). There will be an overflow crowd of 90,000 that will pack the soccer stadium (who needs the U.S. when you can get that kind of gate) and many more will be able to watch the live version of the fight in the U.S. on Showtime at 4:15 PM ET.

The era of Muhammad Ali, Joe Frazier, George Foreman, Sonny Liston, Ken Norton, ect., ect., is long gone and most probably will never return. But Joshua gives the division some hope. He's 27, knocks his opponents out, is sculpted like a Greek God and could be the face of the weight class for years to come.

"The English are starved for a champion, and they had a great, great heavyweight at one time in Henry Cooper, and people forget that Joe Louis' first heavyweight defense was against Tommy Farr, a Welshman, who took Joe 15 rounds," Izenberg said. "This fight will get the attention that it merits and it's a very, very important fight for Showtime, which has Joshua.

"It's live from Wembley and there's a whole country that's backing Joshua. What's happened here in this country is that good pupils with bad teachers make poor students. How many great trainers are left in America today? We had all of the heavyweight champions in this country, because we had great teachers. There are very few great teachers left."

Another point is that boxers, as a whole, Izenberg states, don't make the kind of money fans think they do. The Floyd Mayweathers and Manny Pacquiaos are very rare. The other guys get hit in the face for what is comparatively very little money.

"So if you're a big guy with athletic ability, you become a tight end, or wide receiver in the NFL, or a power forward in the NBA," Izenberg said. "The other thing that's happened in America is hunger. Walk down any street in America and ask them if they know who the heavyweight champion is, or if they care. You probably won't get an answer.

"Hunger is a driving force in what makes guys get in the ring. The hungriest people in the world right now are in Eastern Europe. And look at all the champions and contenders the sport has from part of the world. You have GGG and Lomachenko. I believe the future of heavyweight boxing, because it's been so bad, is good. If Joshua were to win this fight, it's huge for the sport and, believe it or not, boxing in this country.

"Joshua wins the fight, he comes over here to the U.S. for a fight with (WBC heavyweight champ) Deontay Wilder. Wilder reminds me of a young George Foreman, who didn't know how to fight when he came up. Ali exposed that. When George came back, he taught himself how to fight, with a lot of help from Gil Clancy, and became an accomplished fighter during his comeback. We're looking at the future with Joshua."

What it all may lead to is a genuine heavyweight champion, between Wilder, Joshua and emerging Joseph Parker, from Las Vegas, by way of New Zealand.

"If a fight between Wilder and Joshua can take place, don't be too surprised if Jerry Jones makes a strong bid for that fight here in the United States, because he has a 100,000-seat stadium," Izenberg said. "That's the way we can go. We'll see how Klitschko fights. It's a shame, because he's 41 and each time he fights, the flame seems to dim a little bit more."