I'm going to be pretty brief as I can't be assed typing out a prolonged spiel. But here's how I see it...coming down the stretch of Lennox Lewis' career boxing fans and press began to speculate about the next great heavyweight fighters that could feasibly fill the void left by Lewis...Wladimir Klitschko was the man they elected to fill that void. He was big and strong and athletic, with an unbeaten record and a phd. He had beaten some okay fighters like Jameel McCline. The litmus test hadn't yet arrived. Either way he got blown apart by an elder statesman of the division, Corrie Sanders, in two rounds. **** goes heavyweight contender mark 1. Enter his brother, Vitali. The pair have similar styles; I've never liked their styles; upright, stiff, no style or grace or canny footwork; I tend to like fighters with these attributes, Pernell Whitaker, Joe Walcott, Ray Robinson, Tommy Hearns, James Toney etc. So I was never endeared to the Klitschkos. I quite liked Lewis - he was big but he could move well, and he was all round fighter. He was clever in the ring too, and had a tremendous right hand. He was proven.
Vitali had no big names on his record prior to fighting an out-of-shape and undermotivated Lennox Lewis in 03. It was a bloody battle. Both of them were gassed, Lewis landed big, Klitschko landed big, they stood firm; it was sloppy, engrossing, bloody. Klitschkos face got shredded and the docs understandably stopped it...Klitschko made a name by fighting in level terms with an out of shape Lewis, in the champs final fight.
Imagine Ray Mercer had sustained a cut in his fight with Lewis after a few rounds, and it got halted...Vitalis elevation to the top of the HW crown was the equivalent of doing the same to Ray back in 95 (?) when he fought Len first time out, which woulda been bull****, as it was with VK..
Anyway look, Vitali is a goddam myth, he aint fought nobody. Danny Williams, what? He quit against Byrd because of a shoulder problem. He's got a nothing record. He hasn't fought in years. If he fights Sam Peter he's gonna get run over, Sam is the best fighter he'd have fought save for Lewis, and given Lennox' flat footed and lackadaisacal performance then Peter, the shape he's in now, his workrate, is the BEST he'd face.
Wladimir has carved out a good spot for himself in boxing, but still I ask, who has he beaten? He's still found ways to get his ass knocked out. By chumps. He's a good puncher, and he's pretty solid. But his style sucks. His last fight was a disgrace. HW champs do not perform like that; they dont just jab. It was embarassing.
I think neither of them have did anything of merit to be considered great heavyweights, they're merely filling a big void in HW boxing, it's like if there had been no Holy, Lewis or Tyson in the nineties and big, athletic but styleless fighters like Tommy Morrison or Shannon Briggs would be at the top of the tree. The Klitschkos dont impress me at all, and I'm backing David Haye and Sam Peter, two genuinely exciting and crippling punchers to inject some life into this wasteland of a division
Vitali had no big names on his record prior to fighting an out-of-shape and undermotivated Lennox Lewis in 03. It was a bloody battle. Both of them were gassed, Lewis landed big, Klitschko landed big, they stood firm; it was sloppy, engrossing, bloody. Klitschkos face got shredded and the docs understandably stopped it...Klitschko made a name by fighting in level terms with an out of shape Lewis, in the champs final fight.
Imagine Ray Mercer had sustained a cut in his fight with Lewis after a few rounds, and it got halted...Vitalis elevation to the top of the HW crown was the equivalent of doing the same to Ray back in 95 (?) when he fought Len first time out, which woulda been bull****, as it was with VK..
Anyway look, Vitali is a goddam myth, he aint fought nobody. Danny Williams, what? He quit against Byrd because of a shoulder problem. He's got a nothing record. He hasn't fought in years. If he fights Sam Peter he's gonna get run over, Sam is the best fighter he'd have fought save for Lewis, and given Lennox' flat footed and lackadaisacal performance then Peter, the shape he's in now, his workrate, is the BEST he'd face.
Wladimir has carved out a good spot for himself in boxing, but still I ask, who has he beaten? He's still found ways to get his ass knocked out. By chumps. He's a good puncher, and he's pretty solid. But his style sucks. His last fight was a disgrace. HW champs do not perform like that; they dont just jab. It was embarassing.
I think neither of them have did anything of merit to be considered great heavyweights, they're merely filling a big void in HW boxing, it's like if there had been no Holy, Lewis or Tyson in the nineties and big, athletic but styleless fighters like Tommy Morrison or Shannon Briggs would be at the top of the tree. The Klitschkos dont impress me at all, and I'm backing David Haye and Sam Peter, two genuinely exciting and crippling punchers to inject some life into this wasteland of a division
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