Da'Mazion Vanhouter: Does the US finally have a heavyweight who can become world champion?

It's been a long time since the US dominated the heavyweight division. For decades, it went practically without saying that the best heavyweights were American. Jack Johnson, Joe Louis, Rocky Marciano, Floyd Paterson, Sonny Liston, Muhammad Ali, Larry Holmes, Mike Tyson - a seemingly never-ending conveyor belt of heavyweight world champions from the US.

So what went wrong? Well, the collapse of the Soviet Union was a major factor. Boxers behind the Iron Curtain were barred from turning professional. They did extremely well in the amateurs but that was as far as they could go.

Some thought that even if they were to turn pro, they would still be no match for the top American pros, because their amateur style - based around point scoring rather than knockouts - would limit their potential. A whole generation of former Soviet boxers that suddenly crashed into pro boxing, quickly proved that thinking wrong.

Yes, they were well-schooled and mobile and knew how to pile up the points. But fighters like Ukraine's Klitschko brothers showed that they also knew all about delivering knockouts.

Between them, the brothers dominated heavyweight boxing for more than a decade. The US had to get accustomed to second place. Or worse. 

Britain is the birthplace of modern boxing but it was unable to produce a heavyweight champion to follow Bob Fitzsimmons at the end of the nineteenth century. The US grew scornful of Britain's plucky challengers, labelling them the  "horizontal heavyweights."

And then, a certain Lennox Lewis burst onto the scene in the early 90s. Suddenly the Union Jack fluttered above the heavyweight king. Lennox paved the way for a new wave of British heavyweight champions, including AJ, Fury and Dubois.

Where were all the athletic big Americans? One theory is they were choosing football over boxing.

The US has continued to excel in the lower weight divisions. It's fair to say that many of the most exciting and skilled boxers in the world today are from the US. Ryan Garcia, Shakur Stevenson and Gervonta Davis are clearly world beaters and potentially all-time-greats.

But there is nothing like a heavyweight fight when it comes to making an impact. It is often said that whoever has the best heavyweights controls boxing. Right now, the best heavyweights can be found in the UK, Ukraine and Germany.

But do we finally have a man who can bring the belts back to the US?  Da"Mazion Vanhouter at 21 has the intensity and hunger of a young Mike Tyson. He's taller than Iron Mike and has a more conventional style, but he has the same desire to hurt his opponents.

He boxes behind a tight guard and uses a lightning-fast jab to set up his combinations. He displays impressive composure and maturity, never looking to rush things in search of the knockout. If Britain's prodigy, Moses Itauma had had a similar mindset, he might not have punched himself out against Filip Hrgovic. 

Of course, the quality of his opponents has het to be stepped up, but there are very encouraging signs. His most noteworthy win was against the 6'8 Nigerian, Raphael Akpejiori in September. 

While trying to survive, Akpejiori twisted Vanhouter's left arm back and leant all his considerable weight on it. Da"Mazion was left in agony with a separated shoulder. He responded like a true champion. He used his good arm to score a massive knockout just a few seconds later.

Performances like that strike fear into the heavyweight division and lead Americans to hope that Vanhouter can one day bring the greatest prize in sport back to the US.