Anthony Joshua is just one reason boxing’s heavyweight division could be on an upswing. (Getty)

There is a commonly held perception that boxing is on the decline (or dead, or dying, whichever you prefer) because of a lack of quality in its heavyweight division.

And while it’s true that the talent has been relatively barren in the division for the last dozen years or so, that is about to change.

It won’t change much about the way the sport is perceived by the public – at least not in the U.S., anyway, but there should be much to look forward to in the next few years.

Anthony Joshua (17-0, 17 KOs) defends the IBF heavyweight title against Eric Molina on Saturday on Showtime from Manchester, England.

Joshua is big and mobile, has a powerful punch and has had only four fights go past the second round.

In Auckland, New Zealand, on Saturday, Joseph Parker (21-0, 18 KOs) faces Andy Ruiz (29-0, 19 KOs) for the vacant WBO heavyweight title. Parker, who will turn 25 next month, is 6-4 and while not the pure puncher that Joshua is, he hits hard enough and is a good boxer.

They don’t project to be Evander Holyfield and Mike Tyson, or Riddick Bowe and Lennox Lewis, by any stretch, but in an era when heavyweights have largely been slow, non-athletic stiffs, Joshua and Parker qualify as future stars.

Deontay Wilder (37-0, 36 KOs) holds the WBC title and could be included among that group, though he is 31 and doesn’t have the upside that Joshua and Parker do.

Wilder, though, is a formidable foe and bouts against the likes of Parker, Joshua or Luis Ortiz would be wildly entertaining.

Still, between Joshua, Parker and Wilder, there figures to be a series of quality fights between them. Ortiz (26-0, 22 KOs), the 37-year-old Cuban who fights David Allen on Saturday on the Joshua-Molina undercard in Manchester, also has high-level ability and is a powerful puncher. He doesn’t figure to be around as long as others given his age, but he can hit as his 22 knockouts in 26 fights proves.

He was highly impressive in tearing apart Bryant Jennings, who though not elite is a skilled professional who went 12 rounds with Wladimir Klitschko.

Ortiz stopped Jennings in seven and doled out serious punishment along the way.

Ruiz has long been regarded as a major-league talent, but his inability to get into and/or stay in shape has caused some in the industry to cool on him. He’s switched trainers and is now working with the highly regarded Abel Sanchez, who expects Ruiz to show well on Saturday.

Ruiz has shown quick hands and surprising pop despite appearing well over weight. If Sanchez can reach him and get him in the kind of shape that his promoter and management team have been hoping for, he has the talent to beat just about anyone.

In addition to those, there are a pair of cruiserweights who also figure to be in the heavyweight mix before long. Oleksandr Usyk, who fights Thabisu Mchunu on Dec. 17 on HBO, and Murat Gassiev, are elite fighters who could ascend to heavyweight.

Gassiev defeated veteran Denis Lebedev on Saturday to win the IBF cruiserweight title. Usyk, 2012 heavyweight gold medalist in London, won his WBO cruiserweight belt in just his 10th pro fight when he defeated Krzystzof Glowacki on Sept. 17 in Poland.

Another potential factor at heavyweight is 2016 super heavyweight bronze medalist Filip Hrgovic, who is expected to turn professional soon.

That group of eight – Joshua, Parker, Ruiz, Wilder, Ortiz, Usyk, Gassiev and Hrgovic – will give the division a solid base of talent from which to make quality fights.

There hasn’t been a group of heavyweights with that potential since the late 1990s, when Tyson, Holyfield and Lewis were the standard bearers but Wladimir & Vitali Klitschko, Ike Ibeabuchi, Chris Byrd, David Tua and Hasim Rahman were winning big fights.

Only Wladmir Klitschko from that group is still active, and he’s down to just a handful of fights remaining in his legendary career. The lack of quality opposition has negatively impacted his legacy, as he doesn’t get nearly as much credit as he deserves for his long, sustained run of success.

The heavyweights have long been blamed for nearly every problem in boxing, though it largely hasn’t been true.

The sport will do well when the best fights are regularly made and the elite fighters are marketed properly.

That hasn’t been the case recently, and so instead of tagging the heavyweights as the source of boxing’s ills, put the blame on its struggles squarely where it belongs: Promoters who don’t take a long-term view as well as on TV networks which are far too eager to put fights onto pay-per-view or sign off way too often on mismatches.

Things are cyclical in boxing, and it appears to be on the verge of an up cycle for heavyweights.

At the very least, it’s a division worth keeping an eye on.