Thursday 14 January 2016 11:41, UK
The WBC world heavyweight title belt is arguably the most desirable clothing item in sport, and it's most commonly worn by Americans.
Unbeaten Alabamian Deontay Wilder is the man currently in possession of the famous green strap, and he makes his third defence on Saturday night against Artur Szpilka - live on Sky Sports 1.
Founded in 1963, the WBC is predated by the WBA (by a year) but is seen as the sport's blue-riband governing body and boasts former champions such as Muhammad Ali, Larry Holmes and Mike Tyson. Non-American holders like Lennox Lewis have been, on the whole, a rarity.
In recent history, however, America's stranglehold on the belt has loosened. Wilder's victory over Bermane Stiverne in January 2015 returned the belt to US shores after an absence of more than eight years. Given that the trinket spent, cumulatively, around a year away in the first 30 years of its existence, that's some erosion of power.
The whereabouts of the WBC heavyweight title reflects directly on the state of US heavyweight boxing. Until Wilder, who has stopped 34 of his 35 professional opponents but continues to attract criticism for their standard, there was still the gaping void left by Tyson.
Many have auditioned for the role of America's new heavyweight hero since 'The Baddest Man on the Planet' began to wane in badness. Even before his incarceration in 1992, Tyson's career had been irrevocably changed by the death of his mentor Cus D'Amato and his air of invincibility shattered by James 'Buster' Douglas.
Tyson returned to reclaim the belt by stopping Londoner Frank Bruno in March 1996 but when he vacated just six months later to finally face Evander Holyfield, it signalled the start of a relatively unsuccessful period for American heavyweight boxing that yielded just one WBC champion before Deontay Wilder.
That man was Hasim Rahman, a Baltimore fighter who had already been stopped by David Tua and Oleg Maskaev by the time he shocked Lennox Lewis in the fifth round in South Africa in 2001. While that finish was memorable - Lewis smiling at Rahman before being knocked out by a thunderous right hand, America wasn't quick to claim a new era of success had begun.
Their scepticism proved justified the same year, when Lewis won the rematch with an emphatic fourth-round knockout of his own. Rahman would briefly reign again as WBC king when he was elevated from interim champion in 2005 - only to suffer another stoppage at the hands of Maskaev the following year.
What strikes you in terms of the disparity between early American dominance of the top division and the here-and-now is a contrast in depth. The first WBC champion was St Louis' Sonny Liston, and when he was famously stopped by Ali (then Cassius Clay) in 1964, it kicked off a period of 22 years of the belt passing through American hands.
Joe Frazier, George Foreman, Ken Norton and Holmes would all take their turns before the belt left the US for the first time in 1986 when Canada's Trevor Berbick outpointed Michigan's Pinklon Thomas. If professional boxing was a national team sport, Tyson recapturing the prize was followed by supporting roles from the likes of Evander Holyfield, Riddick Bowe and Oliver McCall.
Then, American influence faded as Lewis and Vitali Klitschko assumed control of the division - the Klitschko brothers' empire rising alongside a crop of other eastern world champion heavies such as Alexander Povetkin, Ruslan Chagaev and Nikolay Valuev. Chris Byrd's surprise 2000 stoppage victory over Vitali was an exception to a rule; a light in the dark.
So, if Wilder is to be the leading light of a resurgence in American heavyweight boxing, he'll need some help.
Although he holds the marquee title, opinion is divided as to whether he'd be able to overcome WBA Super and WBO champion Tyson Fury if the pair met in a unification bout. If he does, which other heavyweights can he rely on to fly the Stars and Stripes at the very top of boxing?
Clues may come on the same card as Wilder v Szpilka, when California resident Charles Martin (22-0-1-KO20) bids for the vacant IBF crown against Vyacheslav Glazkov. Andy Ruiz Jr (26-0-KO17) is another unbeaten US heavyweight, but he was taken to points by Raphael Zumbano Love last time out - hardly a ringing endorsement of world class given the way Anthony Joshua dispatched the Brazilian.
Wilder undoubtedly embodies progress and there's no doubt the Americans are happy to house the WBC title again, but as it stands there is little sign of the US of A returning to 'dominant force' status.
