And my friends are among the most fervent (usually spurred on by alcohol-aided self-righteousness).

For boxing is the one sport that ALL men feel they have the right to know about.

Never mind my spending hours on the web researching my sport, or staying up until 4am every Saturday to watch a weigh-in and subsequent cancellation of the prospected fight.

No, they are allowed to know all about boxing, because they have testosterone.

For boxing is nothing more than fighting and all men can fight, seems to be the code.

Well this doesn't cut it for me.

"There are loads of great fighters around!" I contest.

Except for the fact that there aren't. My friends are right.

Ok, so we've got Joe Calzaghe, Floyd Mayweather, Ricky Hatton, Bernard Hopkins, but they are all middle and welterweights*, and the general public, as with the fans themselves when they dare to admit it, are crying out for someone to save the heavyweight division.

Since Lennox Lewis and Vitali Klitschko retired, we have had a gaping chasm where the heavyweight division used to be.

"Champions" such as John Ruiz (beaten by a blown up middleweight in Roy Jones) and Rahman (known solely for his knock out of Lennox Lewis, which was avenged) had been in the limelight for too long.

Even they couldn't believe their luck.

Until one day, whilst these children were playing in the yard, laughing and frolicking with their respective belts, the sun was blocked out by a shadow.

That of the seven foot tall Nikolai Valuev, "The Beast from the East"...

Many an argument has been put forward for the decline in heavyweight icons. Some say that we are still suffering the hangover of the best heavyweight era of all time, where Muhammad Ali ruled over the likes of Patterson and Liston then Foreman, Frazier and Norton. Others say that the big boys in America are tempted by more lucrative and less dangerous careers in the NFL and NBA.

Well I say that the void is on the brink of being filled.

I am not going to attempt to argue the merits of Valuev, he is a circus freak. He has no speed or power to talk of, and very limited boxing abilities. But he is an attraction (and he has won a world title!).

Already, non-boxing fans know his name (although they're probably more familiar with his height). Can you think of another heavyweight name that they could utter, from the last three years?

At a push they may remember James Toney, who barely tips the scale as a heavyweight when you add up his belly, his gold and his ego.

No, my belief in the future of the world's greatest sporting prize doesn't come in the form of this hulking mass, but in the man who beats him.

Who is this man I predict to save our 'two-hundred-pounders'?

ANYONE!

The man who beats Nikolai Valuev will be lauded as a giant slayer. His home country, when shown photos of the giant, will back their man from the moment the build up starts.

Much like when Jack Dempsey annihilated the massive Jess Willard and when Max Baer tore apart the huge Primo Carnera, the man who beats Valuev will go down in history.

Can we honestly say that Dempsey and Baer would have been so highly regarded was it not for the undoing of these enormous champions?

In the last five years we have seen more and more fighters, led by Valuev, coming out of the old Soviet states and heading for America and a shot at a heavyweight title.

The most exciting prospect for me is Sultan Ibragimov.

The 6' 2" Southpaw, trained by Panama Lewis, has an unblemished record of 19 wins, 16 by knock out.

And in his last outing, he showed impressive movement, power, combination punching, and heart to 'technically knock out' Lance Whitaker in the seventh round.

Not an easy task against a man of 6' 8" with 26 knockouts and only four losses on his own record.

Yes, Sultan Ibragimov, a relatively small yet mobile heavyweight, has worked out how to chop down a much bigger man.

So, can he save the heavyweight division?